Unruly Gardening was originally started by a Gen Z whippersnapper who likes to write and garden, but eventually turned into a family project, with article and photo contributions from multiple kinfolk – including mom, the head herbalist, best selling author, and founder of The Nerdy Farm Wife.

This site is our family’s platform to share the growing, foraging, and making stuff that we love to do!

man holding basket of lion's mane mushrooms
basket of wild-harvested lion’s mane mushrooms

The Land

We grow on, forage, and roam about 100 acres of land in zone 7 USA, Appalachian Mountain range. Our landscape features a considerable amount of red clay, regular rabbit and deer raiders, and a lot of lemon balm no one can quite manage to get rid of.

The land it resides on features a wide array of micro-climates, from creek beds to full woods to open fields.

wildflowers by a creek
wild blue phlox by the creek

We battle persistent invasives: 3+ acres of kudzu, plus autumn olive, Japanese knotweed, bush honeysuckle, wineberries, and bittersweet oriental, all organically with a lot of manual labor and the help of 14 myotonic goat wethers, with the goal to help preserve the forest and creek area filled with treasured natives such as black cohosh, bloodroot, slippery elm, lady slippers, and more.

loofah vines in the garden
a little spot in the back garden

We have gardens of various sizes, beehives, are working on establishing a food forest, and enjoy farming our woods, especially with mushrooms.

We have lots to share, so we hope you find something useful, helpful, interesting, or inspiring here!

dog and friend under an apple tree
Under an apple tree, planted from seed by grandpa many years ago!

PS: You can view an informal walk around our gardens and farm at this video: ?