How would you like to produce more food for your family right in your own backyard?

How would you like to have greater production and less weeds?

Allan Kennedy, who grew up in Polk County, will share his knowledge of gardening with greater produce yields at the Tryon Seventh-day Adventist Church Morgan Center. There are two different sessions covering various topics.

Soil samples will be collected to be tested to see what minerals are lacking in your soil to make a more productive garden. For information on the soil samples, call Lorna Dever at 828-817-1544. Soil samples will be mailed on Sept. 9 in order to have the results available at the meeting on Sept. 26.

The first seminar is on Thursday, Sept. 26 at 6:53 p.m. – Super Food Production. This seminar discusses an integrated growing system for production of vegetables. This comprehensive seminar will outline specific methods used to produce your own food including tools, soil amendments, seed and all the components used to produce up to 2 tons of nutritious food on a 12’ x 36’ space or in appropriate containers.

This integrated growing system virtually eliminates the challenges of past gardening experiences – of planting seeds in the ground and wondering if they will come up, growing a good crop of weeds with your vegetables (bottom watering and the production methods used virtually eliminate weeds), having a good garden only to have it burn out in August (the ability to bottom water uses 20 to 25 percent of the water used in open production), and enjoys the benefits of greenhouse production (three to four times the volume). The seminar will be easily understandable for beginners and yet have valuable new information for the experienced gardener.

The second seminar is on Thursday, Oct. 3 at 6:53 p.m. – Year Round Real Food. Learn how to grow, pick, prepare and store your own food year round. Seminar participants will discuss year-round growing; selection, harvesting, preparation and long term storage of your production; use of a root cellar and long-term cold storage; sprouting, freezing, canning, dehydrating and fermenting.

“As a boy, I had my own garden in addition to our family garden, and then was the only grandchild allowed to help in my grandfather’s “Pops” Klady’s truck garden,” Kennedy said. “My approach to food production has been shaped by being a medical technologist with a master’s in public health. Not only do I want good yields, but I’m concerned with getting the most nutrition from what was produced. With research done in the last few years, we know not only how to increase the nutrient density of what we grow from 4 to 582 times and establish a 20-plus year fertility reservoir, but we can easily raise over 2 tons of food from a 12 by 36 foot area. Participants and the speaker will also discuss producing, storing and having your fresh produce available year round.”

In addition to the books written on the three topics we will be covered, Kennedy has also written Growing Money – 29 Profitable Growing Niches, highlighting profitable cash crops; Affordable Alternative Energy Systems, which details the use of new technology to make alternative energy financially feasible and practical; and The Self-Sufficient Homestead, outlining design and construction considerations for small self-contained homesteads.

“After serving for a short time as farm manager at Fletcher Academy, I especially enjoy sharing with people committed to help action-gardeners increase their production and nutrition, in addition to living in the country,” Kennedy said.

For more information, call Lorna Dever at 828-817-1544.

– article submitted

by Lorna Dever