The beginnings of Heritage Roots Fine Gardens were born in my life at an early age. At 6 years old I discovered my fascination for soil. I was introduced to a tumbling compost bin in my elementary school community garden. I watched reverently as the bin was filled with different materials and stirred together. I kept opening the lid expecting to see it full of black dirt. When I understood that what was happening in that bin was a biological process, not a physical weathering, my world cracked open. I realized there is a microcosm of life beneath our feet.
Gardening has been my entire world since. No subject or hobby has ever even come close. I’ve had an unquenchable thirst to learn everything I can about how the world works at our roots. My urban farm Dirt Breath Farm was born while I was studying Environmental Studies at UNCA in 2021. Despite living in a tiny apartment complex in North Asheville, I started the farm using leased urban plots in Black Mountain.
The farm is so much more than a farm to me. It is a laboratory, community gathering place, medicine pantry, and womb. I am constantly astounded when I observe something in the system I’ve built that teaches me something. Something as simple as adding more places for birds to perch and predate completely eradicated my caterpillar damage. Cover cropping a bed that did poorly last year and ending up with the most beautiful crop in the field planted in the residue. This learning through observation is an alchemy to me.
In 2022 I travelled to France to visit Courrens, the first community to use the term “organic” in the country. I worked on an organic farm that was a member of a farmer cooperative made up of 50+ farmers. The entire region had virtually no need to import produce. It was a closed circle food system, and I was fascinated. I realized I wanted to participate in closing the system in my own community back at home. Since then, I’ve been an active participant in the local foods system as farmer, organizer, panel participant, etc.
Over the last few years, I realized I was still hungry to participate with my community in more ways and exercise my creativity differently. After training intensively for over a year with a horticulturalist and master gardener, I discovered a new way to satisfy my thirst to create. Heritage Roots was woven into the tapestry. In addition to my participation in my local foods system, I now participate in increasing our community's biodiversity. Visiting a meadow I installed years ago and seeing thousands of insects supported by it lights my flame.
We offer consultation, design, maintenance, and food garden mentorship. We invite you to support our local ecology and help us weave your own living tapestry in your gardens.
