Who We Are
It all started with the earth....
My name is Lorri Bura and I garden with the help of the Spirits (Devas) of the Plants, the land and with Nature herself to create an environment that brings out the best the plants have of offer. A few years ago I went to a meeting of Buyers and Sellers of Medicinal Herbs in my area. I listened to several kinds of buyers from small to huge wholesalers and met with an owner of a local medicinal herb company who was willing to take a chance on me and began with a small crop of Calendula. I have doubled the production of the farm every year since and last year I obtained USDA Organic Certification on all 20 acres of my property. Even the Poison Ivy is certified (I’m told this is the ONLY in the US). This certification allows me to both cultivate and wild craft on my land. There are 98 plants on the 2017 Certification, including some in the woodlands.
Our community is very supportive and there are many opportunities to learn to farm in a sustainable fashion and market crops.
I am a graduate of the Organic Growers School Farm Beginnings Program, gone through two sets of Gaps (Good Agricultural Practices) trainings, and attended ASAP’s (Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project) the Business of Farming Conference a few times. I am also a regular helper at the NC State/Cooperative Extension Research Station in Mills River, NC. I am currently studying the cultivation of Woodland Medicinals as part of the Appalachian Beginning Forest Farmer Coalition, and have several kinds under cultivation.
The vast majority of work at GHG is done intentionally, by hand. We only tilled once by machine.
Our fertilizers are made using 95% of our own plants. The other plants are obtained from a friend’s farm which is certified Biodynamic. There are different compost bins for various purposes. We have just purchased a chipper and will be making our own mulch next season (it needs to sit for a year to let the nitrogen leach out). We have water from a choice of our well, a clean flowing creek and lots of springs running through the fields. My goal is to bring in as few possible inputs as possible from the outside.
