Sun Scope Farm & Gardens

09/27/2026

some end of september close ups today 🌸

09/10/2026

some scenes from the Small Farm Bus Tour. we visited a goat creamery, commercial composting operation, vermicompost operation, flower farm and venue, market garden-style farms, heritage cattle and sheep farm, non-profit food hub and commercial kitchen, a research center + incubator farm, and got to ask as many questions as we wanted. as a beginning farmer faced with a world of obstacles for my career, it was enriching, enlightening, and inspiring.

09/10/2026

Last weekend, i went on the Sustainable & Organic Small Farm Bus Tour with NC Agricultural Extension. we visited 8 farms and a central food hub across Madison & Buncombe counties (Marshall, Asheville areas). Two jam packed days meeting new folks who are doing all sorts of creative, unique things in agriculture from all around the region. there was a load of new information for me, and every operation was wildly different from the last, but the one thing we all had in common? Taking care of the land the best way we know how with the unique skillsets & opportunities we have.

09/10/2026

09/07/2026

a bushel and a peck!! 150 lbs of pear harvest with The Dandy Lion Farm and Fire Belly Farm. can’t wait to share them with everyone in the coming weeks! fresh fruit + value added jam, shrubs, pear butter, and more on the way 🍐

08/29/2026

left a gift for Dolly. grateful that the Samantha Kern Leslie is right down the street from this beautiful mural, and the courthouse where she got married. a little piece of Sun Scope Farms rests with the Queen of Tennessee.

08/21/2026

some lovely mid-august moments; bold sunflowers inspiring my next hair color, huitlacoche corn mold, chinquapin chestnuts coming in, maypop passion fruits coming in! the burn of august uses its energy to create beauty!

08/15/2026

sweet reminder at this time of year: bees work so hard, AND they take naps!! take care of yourselves this month while it’s so dang hot- listen to your body and rest when you need it. we are just little animals running around after all.

06/28/2026

announcing…. the FIRST PUBLIC FARM EVENTS at Sun Scope Farms! A lot has changed on this land since I first walked the grounds in November. What’s in store? Farm Tour, Beautification Day, Farm lunch, and what i’m most excited for: Tomato Pruning Workshop! Links in bio! These are small group events and tickets are limited.

Come out for an in-depth Farm Tour on Sunday, July 12th at 9 am. Learn about the practices used to revive abandoned garden spaces into new, no-till production beds. Then, stay to have fun with some farm beautification and work with the team, get a little dirty, get some good sunny exercise, and enjoy a very fresh shared lunch with the team. $1 to reserve your spot with $10 suggested donation to reimburse the farm for produce at lunch.

Sunday, July 26th at 9 am, tomato keepers new and experienced alike will learn hands-on the many methods to pruning (or NOT pruning) and trellising tomatoes. There are lots of opinions about pruning tomatoes, and we will go over the pros and cons of each method, so that you can effectively make decisions about how to care for the tomatoes in YOUR garden. We will also go over both easy and complex organic control methods of common pests and ailments on these beloved plants. This workshop is only $15, because learning how to grow food for yourself should not be limited to those with higher incomes.

06/18/2026

preparing new beds, no-till style in the southern heat. it’s a little late to start a three sisters plot but it’s not an instant process starting from a patch of hardened clay under grass to soil soft enough to sow seeds into. wish i had more pictures of the process, but here’s what we did:

using 15x30’ silage tarps (visible in the background of the 3rd photo), i mowed down the area i wanted and laid out the tarps. they stayed there for five weeks, keeping sunlight and moisture off of the “weeds” beneath, and concentrating heat into the surface of the soil to (hopefully) invalidate the upper seed bed.

moving the tarp to a new spot and the real work begins! using a broadfork, we wiggled and wobbled down five new rows. using a hard rake, we pulled any loose soil out of the paths and hilled up each row into about 6-8” high beds. at just under 90 and sunny today, we sweated out most of our sins doing this, and traded off frequently, as if either job was milder than the other 😅

then, using organic compost, spread a humble amount down each row. using 1 of a 3-tine cultivator, we created a little furrow on top, blending some of the compost with the soil.

lunch break!
now that the beds were formed, i seeded two types of super-sweet corn and a row of sunflowers into the furrows, then covered with more compost, and watered everything in. once the corn is a few inches tall, i’ll seed pole beans and winter squash in the beds too, and after all of that is done with, this area will get a nice winter cover crop broadcasted by hand to really step up the process for a productive no-till cycle.