Getting Back to Basics: Lessons in Nature

Do you have a homesteading, farming, foraging, or gardening story you’d like to submit to the Sunday Edition Weekly Newsletter? We want to hear from you! Please send your story to info@fetchyournews.com with the subject line “Sunday Edition.” All photos are courtesy and property of Ever Wilder Farms. 

Far away from the stirring chaos of the city life of Atlanta, and on the outskirts of the even slower-paced styles of Ellijay and Blue Ridge’s mountain life lies a quaint seven-acre property right next to the Rich Mountain Wilderness where you can pause long enough to get back to basics.

Ever Wilder Farms, owned by nature gurus, enthusiasts, and teachers Caleb and Bethany, serves as the vessel for locals and tourists alike who want a full experience in all that the North Georgia Mountains have to offer. In a passionately driven effort to preserve natural traditions, Caleb and Bethany host a myriad of instructional and hands-on classes that demonstrate skills like foraging, Appalachian food and plant identification (part of their Survival Series), making tulip bark baskets, identifying edible tubers and roots, identifying, propogating, and utilizing native vines, and more. Additionally, you’ll find free classes like plant walks available to those who want to learn all things nature.

Amid the natural and wild setting of Ever Wilder Farms are trails, a creek, and wildlife like deer, bears, and turkeys. You’ll learn valuable, lifelong skills, and you’ll gain respect for the art of slowing down with a community of those from all walks of life with a common love for nature. More than just a lesson in nature, though, you’ll walk away with an experience you can recall to friends and family upon returning to the hustle and bustle of the day-to-day, and one that you will certainly cherish forever.

One of the most treasured items you can walk away with, however, is a native plant from their nursery. As a member of the United Plant Savers and a recognized plant sanctuary, Ever Wilder Farms also offers several native species for sale for you to take home with you. By adding native species to your property, you’ll be improving the environment for pollinators, diversifying food sources for yourself, birds, bees, and other wildlife, and becoming a better steward to our natural heritage.

The preservation of our Appalachian tradition of foraging and nature skills isn’t lost after all. With a few lessons in nature, you’re so much closer to getting back to basics.