10/25/2026
From hard ground to living soil 🌱
This fall, our horticulture students gave the hoophouse a full soil makeover, guided by Krisi Olivero of Alter Eco Farms!
In the hoophouse:
🔸 Broadforked the soil to crack the compaction without flipping the layers
🔸 Broadcasted a cover crop to get living roots working deep in the ground
🔸 Crimped the cover crop, leaving roots to decompose, and aerial parts to lie down
🔸 Shaped permanent rows and paths so we never walk on our growing beds
At the same time, students built a thermophilic (hot) compost pile from chicken and alpaca manure, cracked corn, timothy hay, kudzu, mimosa leaves, dried leaves, pine straw, and mulch donated by Padden Tree People. The pile got hot enough for long enough to kill off pathogens and w**d seeds while cultivating beneficial microorganisms. 🔥
Then we ran aged compost through our Hiwassee Products compost extractor. That gave us a compost extract full of beneficial microbes, and we used it to inoculate the hoophouse soil.
Next up: transplanting our cut-flower crop! 💐
A huge THANK YOU to our partners:
🌿 Alter Eco Farm, for sharing Krisi's expertise with our students
🌿 Padden Tree People, for the mulch donation
🌿 Hiwassee Products, for the compost extractor
