The expanding, lush green land stretched for miles as the sun stared down at the tomato plants of Early Girl volunteers were working with. The sky was clear and volunteer gardeners were spreading across the 1,200 acres of land. Eighteen-year-old Clara Coffey caught the scene and told herself she would only be here three months and then return to Boone to graduate from college.
It had taken a break from the town she grew up in and heading to central Arkansas to volunteer on a farm sounded like the perfect escape to the Watauga County native.
But she never expected to fall in love with the feeling of dirt under her knees, the textured touch of plant stems, and the sense of community that Heifer International Ranch gave her.
Clara eventually stayed for a year and then returned twice for three-month sections.
“I just couldn’t stay away,” says Clara.
Her parents always had a garden growing up, but her time on the ranch sparked her passion for gardening and she couldn’t imagine her life without it afterwards.
“I loved working on the farm. I loved working in the gardens and I just tried to soak up as much of it as possible, ”says Clara. “From that moment on, I knew I had always wanted to do this, and I’m so happy that I found that out so early.”
After her time at Heifer International, Clara returned to North Carolina, but not for long. Her time was running out when a friend invited Clara to WWOOF with her.
WWOOF stands for World Wide Opportunities at Organic Farms, a print subscription online database that provides volunteers with contact information for farms willing to provide room and board to volunteer gardeners in exchange for work on the farm.
Time commitments varied, and places of work ranged from small gardens to large farms across the United States – a perfect opportunity for a 21-year-old Clara.
From there, Clara traveled across the United States, working on farms and land very different from western North Carolina. She also relearned a lot of what she knew, such as how to shape the soil around tomato plants depending on the climatic conditions.
Clara volunteered and traveled through WWOOF for six months. She has worked in a wide variety of locations, from dry land in southern Colorado to a large blueberry farm in Washington.
However, Clara’s time at WWOOF ended when her father offered her the opportunity to run her own farm at home in Watauga County.
“It was obviously life changing and literally a circle,” says Clara. “We drove in a circle from the east coast to the west coast and back.”
Clara moved back to her parents’ house and started running her own farm. Now, years later, married and with children, Clara’s passion has remained. She now has chickens and ducks and is doing her best to grow and provide some of her own food.
With the help of a friend, Clara also gardens and sells produce at the Watauga County Farmers Market.
“I always want to be connected to the land I live on,” says Clara. “It helps me feel more connected to my roots and the earth, and I love that my kids grow up knowing where their food is coming from.”
In 2018, a friend of Clara left her position as garden coordinator at the Hospitality House of Northwest North Carolina, a Boone shelter that helps people with homelessness.
After hearing about the site, Clara was immediately drawn to the position where she could share her passion for the garden and its therapeutic benefits with the residents. However, Clara says the position gave her extreme impostor syndrome in the beginning.
“When I started, I was scared,” she says. “It’s been about two and a half years now and I just feel like it’s exactly where I need to be.”
The Hospitality House laid out the gardens in 2011 to improve access to fresh vegetables, herbs and fruits for the Food Pantry, Bread of Life communal kitchen and the Hospitality House’s hunger relief programs.
The gardens are located in the animal shelter on Brook Hollow Road, a bit away from the building near the Greenway Trail. There is also a chicken coop with 25 laying hens on around one hectare of cultivated land.
As garden coordinator, Clara looks after the gardens and helps organize volunteers. She can also share her experiences and joys of gardening with the residents of the hospitality house, such as the vitamin D she gets outside and the endorphins from physical work.
Clara guides residents in maintaining the gardens with the assistance of interns and volunteers such as Appalachian State University students, retired Watauga County residents, and high school students.
They and the residents use organic methods to tend the gardens and the plants they tend such as carrots, tomatoes and various flowers that grow behind the hospitality house.
Clara says she enjoys how gardening brings everyone together and putting them on what she calls “literally level ground.”
“When you work together over a garden bed, there are no barriers between you and you learn from each other, so it’s so great to see,” says Clara.
Now she also works as a volunteer coordinator and heads the food pantry in the Hospitality House.
Gardening isn’t Clara’s only passion, however. After the birth of her first child, Clara struggled to find a creative opportunity for her new role as a mother. From high school, Clara decided to turn to her love of art and discovered a passion for embroidery that gave her the control she craved.
“Embroidery … I can control every tiny detail,” says Clara. “So it was very therapeutic for me when I started.”
After teaching herself through YouTube videos and developing a knack for embroidery portraits, Clara decided to open an Etsy shop to sell her work.
“I loved selling my art for the first time in my life,” says Clara. “It was really empowering, but obviously also has its own challenges.”
The balance between gardening, embroidery, her work in the hospitality house, and an additional business has its challenges, but Clara says it wouldn’t be possible without the help of her husband and family.
Thanks to her support system, Clara can pursue her passion for gardening that began on the ranch as a teenager and continue to share that passion with others.
“I am so afraid of being bored and I am so afraid of not using life and the privileges that have been given to me,” says Clara.
