Looking Back: Connecting in the Garden

For 27 years now, I have been the master gardener here at Blackberry Farm. My work at the Farm includes providing heritage heirloom vegetables for our chefs and to grow out heirloom varieties for seed production and for our seed bank here at the Farm.

From the very beginning I began to realize that although raising crops and seed saving were my main undertakings, there were feelings that there was something that was missing, and what was missing was giving our guests the opportunity to experience first-hand our gardens and farm here at Blackberry Farm.

Going back to 1999, which was my first year here at Blackberry, I have made it my mission to treat every guest as my own personal responsibility and involve them in our gardening experience as much as possible. Sharing knowledge with guests can take place in many ways, including a walk through the gardens and identifying all of the vegetables, flowers and herb varieties that we grow every year.

One of my favorite interactions with guests is sharing what we refer to as “memory banking,” which is the story or history associated with any variety. Guests find it fascinating to hear the background stories of the turkey craw bean, the washday pea, the purplehull whippoorwill and numerous others. 

Every day when I come to work at the Farmstead, I always wonder, who will I meet today and hopefully enhance their time spent with us? In any way possible, I strive to ensure that all of our guests have meaningful experiences during their stay with us.

Some of my most memorable times spent with guests have been sitting around the woodburning stove in our Garden Shed and relaying old time stories, tales and legends about our area in the Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee. A good number of friendships have developed in our cheerful Garden Shed.

One of the most rewarding experiences has been that a number of our guests have taken up gardening for the first time due to their experiences at our Farmstead, and that gives all of us here at the Farmstead a good feeling of having made a difference.

– John Coykendall, Blackberry Farm Master Gardener