Backyard Everything
Tour Ken and Emily's suburban homestead with me.
I was talking with Mandy Blankenship and Lib Ramos this week about the middle-ground:
The space between people who think they can’t keep a cactus alive and the sold-my-house-bought-100-acres-live-off-the-land homesteader movement.
There’s a lot of space between those two extremes.
Gardening is NOT all-or-nothing.
Ken and Emily, in my opinion, are firmly in the middle of that middle-ground.
They live in Greenville in one of the established neighborhoods. They’re definitely not beginners, but at least as of today, they’re not off-the-grid either.
I first connected with Emily over Instagram through her backyardeverything handle, where they share the most incredible How-To Reels on various things: pickle some zucchini, braid some garlic, test your garden soil.
Y’all, it’s such a gift to learn from fellow gardeners in your own area. Hyper-local knowledge is precious! Previous generations did this so naturally; I’m hoping we’re reclaiming that tradition.
Ken and Emily were kind enough to let me tour their suburban Greenville homestead earlier this summer.
Here’s my interview with Ken and Emily:
Originally from:
We’re both originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania!
How long have you been gardening in Greenville?
We started dappling in gardening in 2016, but really got serious gardening in 2020.
Garden wisdom: What’s something you swear by (a product, a practice, a plant, etc.)?
Growing garlic and elderberries for easy wins in the garden and a low maintenance bountiful harvests.
Also composting and using grass clippings and leaves from the yard! Such great free materials so many people put at the curb!
What’s something new you’re trying this year? What else are you growing?
Trying to localize all our inputs—like using JLF (a kind of compost tea) and wood ash for fertilizer. Also keeping more active composting system. Making sure to stay on top of adding plenty of carbon (leaves/woodchips, keeping moist, and turning). We aren't at 100% yet but it feels great to feed our garden from waste materials in the yard!
Husk Cherries, tromboncino squash, suyo long cucumbers, and sweet potatoes have been our favorite new additions to the garden this year! All have been incredibly prolific. (Well, fingers crossed on the sweet potatoes.)
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