Narrator> "Making It Grow" is brought to you in part by Certified South Carolina.

This cooperative effort among farmers, retailers and the South Carolina Department of Agriculture helps consumers identify foods and agricultural products that are grown, harvested or raised right here in the Palmetto State.

McLeod Farms in McBee, South Carolina.

Family owned and operated since 1916.

This family farm offers seasonal produce, including over 40 varieties of peaches.

Wesley Commons a full service continuing care retirement community located on more than 150 wooded acres in Greenwood, south Carolina.

Additional funding provided by the South Carolina Farm Bureau Federation and Farm Bureau Insurance and Boone Hall Farms.

♪ opening music ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Well, good evening and welcome to "Making It Grow."

We're so happy that you can be with us tonight.

I'm Amanda McNulty.

I'm a Clemson horticulture agent, and I'm here with Terasa Lott, my good friend and fellow Clemson and employee.

Thanks, Terasa, and you always bring wonderful gardens of the week.

Well, that's thanks to our viewers at home.

I'm always excited to be here, be part of the show.

Our viewers give me inspiration, as do all of our extension employees who really have a passion for serving the citizens of South Carolina in such, a diverse area of programs.

We think about agriculture, but it's not just big agriculture and row crops.

We help homeowners as well and then branch into everything from rural health and nutrition, to livestock and forages.

So a little bit of everything.

Amanda McNulty> Yes it is, it's wonderful.

And I think that the water resources team, which may be the last one that was instituted, I can't remember, but, you know, we just used to think water was everywhere and that we didn't have to worry about it, but it is really a, a scarce resource in some places.

Terasa Lott> In some places, yes, yes.

And the good news is that all of us can play a role in protecting our water resources, keeping it clean and safe and fishable and swimmable.

Amanda McNulty> There you go.

Yeah.

I love to swim in ponds and lakes.

Just the most wonderful thing in the world.

But at any rate, Carmen Ketron, you're an urban hort agent, and we're so happy when you come and you usually bring fun things.

I think you'll have something fun, maybe.

Yes.

Lots of fun things for the springtime and to kind of brighten up your spring.

Amanda McNulty> Yeah, yeah, it really is here, you know?

I mean, the weather's been kind of iffy, but, I mean, the plants seem to know that it's springtime and all the bulbs are setting up foliage and even some flowers.

And the pollen's dropping.

Yeah, yeah.

We're going to take the good and the bad.

Yeah, that doesn't bother me, fortunately.

Anyway, glad you're here.

And Brandon Huber, PhD, 1890, research and extension over at South Carolina State University.

And, you particularly do like enclosed structures or, not enclosed necessarily, but kind of modified structures.

Yeah.

So greenhouses, I'm mean it's a controlled environment agriculture.

So everything that we can control a little bit, the greenhouse, high tunnels.

We do a little bit of hydroponics indoors.

We do some, we do a few field crops outside too.

I love fruit trees and horticultural crops, so.

Amanda McNulty> Oh, do you?

Okay, okay.

And, you yourself, start things early, watermelons and pumpkins and, your pumpkin this year was how big?

Dr.

Brandon Huber> It was just shy of 500 pounds.

So 499 and a half pounds, growing rate in Saint Matthews, South Carolina.

<Sensitive scale> Yeah, yeah, [laughs] It should have, the plant, it came off the plant just a hair too early, but yeah, well, turn brown, the stem, but, it was over 500 I'm sure at one point.

Amanda McNulty> Oh, yeah at one point.

<They lose some weight> Lose some weight.

Yeah.

Okay.

Anyway, it's fun to see them.

Dr.

Brandon Huber> Thanks.

Thanks for having me.

Amanda McNulty> Anyway, we're all in blue, and, that's for a reason because we went down to the International Center for Indigo Culture at the Marshview Community Organic Farm, and, they were doing things with Indigo.

We just had the most wonderful time.

It was a fascinating, fascinating day.

So, and, I've got a shirt that they, you know, that was dyed there at that farm.

So, we're going to, you, this is really going to be fascinating.

I think you will enjoy it tremendously.

So let's have some of those gardens of the week that you get together for us, Terasa.

Terasa Lott> Yes.

Speaking of providing enjoyment, I'm quite sure that the photos you submitted will do just that.

It's your time to shine.

Show off what you've got growing in your yard, your garden, indoor plants.

The sky is the limit.

So I started this one off by showing an orchid.

And every year I get excited when my orchids start to put on flower stalks.

And then I anxiously await because it's a pretty long process.

So some of our viewers shared in their excitement.

From Chris Kudsen, we have one of, his orchids in flower, and it was the first time it was able to bloom again after obtaining the plant.

So that's always an exciting happening.

Clay Owens.

Our viewers might remember Clay from the South Carolina Orchid Society, shared a close up of one of his that I believe is in a greenhouse from Trip Haynes, Trips, getting ready for the warmer weather, and has some starts for tomatoes, sunflowers, basil, sage and cone flowers.

Quite an assortment.

Beth Monroe shared a photo of succulents that she noted were spending a few more days inside.

A lot of us have to bring our plants indoors for the winter.

And then last but not least, a little bit of a story from Deb Austin.

She has calendula in Longs.

She said her sister from upstate New York, that's where I hail from, had saved seeds last year.

And she said they usually don't have much of an opportunity to swap because of such difference between upstate New York and South Carolina, and that the plants that, thrive here don't necessarily do well there.

But, she loves trying.

And she was pleasantly surprised to see that the, the calendula has done well.

So some little flowers of sunshine, kind of little yellow rays of sun in the yard.

And last year, the calendula that was the National Garden Bureau, it named them the 2025, like one of the flowers of the year.

<Gracious goodness> I always try to throw in a little bit of, bits of trivia whenever I can.

So we thank all of you for sharing your photos.

Remember, it's really easy to participate.

All you have to do is post your photos when you see us, make a call for gardens of the week on our Facebook page, and then we'll just choose some photos at random to share on air.

And Terasa, I wanted to say that, you know, garden catalogs are coming in, and I think I want to encourage people, if they can, to plant the straight species of native plants that are important in feeding the, you know, pollinators and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and everything, because sometimes the others aren't as attractive to them or they've been modified in some way that they don't have what they need, the nectar and pollen that they need.

So, I mean, it's always fun, have something new, but if you're going to put something in specific to try to help those in nature get the plant seeds, you might want to consider planning this.

Would you agree?

Carmen Ketron> Oh, yes, very much so.

And I believe Teresa taught me this one, nativars.

That's, and I know lots of very smart people came up with it, but, the nativars being the cultivated native species, normally you can see them in the store if they have, quotations behind them or something like that, that'll tell you or an "x" to show it's a hybrid.

That's going to be an easy way to tell in the store that it is not the straight species.

Amanda McNulty> Thank you so much.

I've forgotten about that.

Terasa Lott> TJ Savereno on our forestry and wildlife team, That's one of his areas of passion is, local eco type seeds.

So it might be a plant that is native to a large geographic region, but there could be some, differences between the plant that grows in, you know, I don't know, Iowa versus the one that grows in South Carolina.

Amanda McNulty> TJ is just, the knowledge he has is phenomenal.

<Yep> It really is.

Well, do you think someone has a question and maybe we can help them?

Terasa Lott> I feel pretty confident in that, Amanda.

We're going to try to help Kathryn from Manning, who is looking for like a one stop shop.

She said, "What would you say is the best slam dunk to improve my garden?"

Amanda McNulty> To improve?

Oh, okay.

Terasa Lott> Yeah, like there's only one thing we could recommend, <oh, oh, okay> what would that be?

And I'll take this one.

It's, compost.

That's going to be the, that's going to be the core.

That's going to be the foundation of what you need for if you're only doing one thing this year, amend with compost.

A lot of people, love our sandy, Sandy soils.

I live what I call the beach without the beach.

<Yeah> So it leaches a lot.

A lot of people in the upstate have a lot of clay.

Hard, condensed, incorporating a little bit of compost into your native soil beds is the best way to just improve the bed generally.

Don't go crazy.

We don't have to do 100 percent where we're digging out the bed and replacing with 100 percent compost.

No, 5, 10 percent, just incorporated year after year and oh my goodness, just the improvement in soil texture.

A little bit of nutrients.

It goes a long way Amanda McNulty> And don't put too much in because it would hold too much water.

So some people are like, "Oh, well, I'm just going to fill my beds, raised beds with compost."

Don't do that.

Just, you know, a little bit.

Carmen Ketron> A little bit, a little goes a long way, but that's going to be the number one stop if you have nothing else on your spring to do list, do that.

Amanda McNulty> Amanda, our friend Tony would be very pleased because he used to say organic matter, organic matter, organic matter.

I can hear him saying that in my head as Carmen was talking.

Amanda McNulty> Yeah, and he, he um, Gosh.

Anyway, we miss Tony.

What a what a fellow.

Okay, well, Brandon, what you to talk about?

So I have, Dr.

Brandon Huber> I brought a fun plant today.

This is a we have our native, pitcher plant, but I brought the tropical pitcher plant.

<an exotic one> And now this one's really fun because it has.

It's the fanged pitcher plant.

So it has these really two sharp fangs that hang down.

This is Nepenthes bicalcarata.

It's from the tropics of Southeast Asia.

It's known for its iconic fangs pitcher.

Just like our North American pitcher plant, it has similar mechanism where it has a slippery lip to it.

It lowers in insects through its nectar, and they slip and fall in there and, in the tropics, some tree frogs can even make a home out of these.

These get much larger.

This is a small one.

Amanda McNulty> So they don't get in there and get dissolved.

Dr.

Brandon Huber> They just hang out there and wait for food to come.

<Wow> Sometimes if you're growing, the North American pitcher plants, I've always see praying mantises will sit up on the top lid waiting for things to come by, to snatch them before they go in the pitcher.

<Isn't that fun> So, really fun plant.

This is a rarer one.

But they have Nepenthes ventrata readily available at, like, box stores and much easier to grow.

They grow in a hanging basket.

They're vines, the tropical vines they climb in the tropics.

Amanda McNulty> And what happens when it rains?

Do the pitchers Get full of water?

Dr.

Brandon Huber> They do?

Yeah.

They have their own nectar.

They do catch water as well.

It's important that they stay.

They come from super rainy places that, so they need to have some, there's actually some fluid in there.

And that's not from, that's either from watering it or, they actually produce their own nectar in there.

So it's kind of a sweet liquid and help dissolve insects.

Amanda McNulty> Let me see these fangs.

Whoa.

Dr.

Brandon Huber> They're sharp, too They have a little, they're like, <whoa!> And they get big.

They get as big as this cup here.

So, just a young one.

Amanda McNulty> Yeah, let the other people feel those fangs.

Dr.

Brandon Huber> The lowland forest.

These come from low elevation all the way to higher elevation where they can take cold.

This one loves it.

Hot, steamy, humid.

So it grows in my greenhouse year round.

<Okay> The winters, even in the greenhouse isn't warm enough for this guy, but it kind of just hangs out and waits.

Amanda McNulty> You want to let them feel the fangs?

I was it done?

Carmen Ketron> It might hurt.

You should touch it.

Amanda McNulty> I thought they'd be pliable, but they're not.

Carmen Ketron> Oh, no, that is not.

<laughs> Amanda McNulty> They are sharp.

Dr.

Brandon Huber> They loves growing inside the moss, just like our native carnivorous plants.

Amanda McNulty> Whoa!

Terasa Lott> What is the purpose of the fang?

Dr.

Brandon Huber> You know, there's over 100 species of that genus, and, it's, they just are all diverse.

I, you know, I really don't know.

I think it's probably just a mechanism to help lure... <Who knows?> <Who knows?> It's the only species with those fangs in the whole, <That's crazy> I think nearly 200 species.

Amanda McNulty> And they, I think they usually grow in moist places where nitrogen isn't as available.

And so they're not getting all their food from the insects, but nitrogen, is it?

Insects dissolve or whoever's in there, <That's right> I think it's nitrogen.

Exactly.

Yeah.

So these guys hate fertilizer.

If you feed them, it kills them.

They're not used to the salts.

They can't take the salt.

They need very clean water in a growing environment, so, A very fun plant for my collection.

<It certainly is fun> <laughs> And does it have sphagnum?

Dr.

Brandon Huber> Yeah.

That's all the moss.

Sphagnum and perlite under there.

I grow them in a 50-50 sphagnum perlite blend.

Kind of like how I grow North American pitcher plants, but those live outside year round, in the same swampy bog habitat.

Carmen Ketron> And so what kind of drainage are we looking at for this?

Any drainage at all?

Dr.

Brandon Huber> Oh, it has holes in the bottom.

Yep.

Just normal hanging basket.

You know, just let it drain.

They don't like sitting in water like the North American itcher plants do.

They are more humid, hot, moist, not sitting in water.

Yeah.

<Cool> Terasa Lott> They would not be a bog.

Dr.

Brandon Huber> Yeah.

They're more like higher up than the bog.

Growing above the bob, above the swamp.

And they climb.

They turn into a line.

They climb the tree and they have these pitchers that Amanda McNulty> Dangle.

Yeah, like Christmas tree ornaments.

Dr.

Brandon Huber> And they're male, female.

So they they're either male or female only.

So they, they're kind of, you don't know what they are until they get older and then they're either, so they need a male and a female to make seeds.

They are mostly propagated from, cuttings.

Yes.

It's, that's faster.

You don't have to wait.

So.

Yeah.

And that's like 5 to 10 years to flower so much.

So what a treat.

Yeah.

You know, Terasa Lott> As it trails out, you said they normally would climb.

Do you have to provide it any support?

Will it get too heavy?

Dr.

Brandon Huber> I'll usually stake it a little bit.

But you know as I get really viny, I actually prune them back because you get your best pitchers as a rosette.

It has it's really nice rosette pattern and as it like grows a vine, it starts to look like a weedy vine almost and it starts to lose its characteristics.

So as a horticulturally interesting plant you prune them back <Sure> <Yeah> make a branch and stuff.

Amanda McNulty> Gosh, that was fun.

<Yeah> Okay.

Well, Carmen, I think you have something that's, almost, Carmen Ketron> Not nearly as cool as that, though.

Terasa Lott> I think it's going to be cool just in a different capacity.

Carmen Ketron> So, you know, I love to, spruce up for spring.

And so one of, the things I wanted to bring is a different way that you could do, Amanda McNulty> You can stand up.

You got it.

Carmen Ketron> Oh.

Thank you.

Yeah.

And I thought we could do, a carrot arrangement.

And we love a nice little carrot arrangement, but, the way that, a lot of people will build up the carousel actually drill holes right into the carrot.

It's very nice, because some of our smaller, stemmed plants or flowers are so fragile.

So I brought some of, the daffodils that you'll see.

And, that one, is just snipped right off.

Having this really nice, carrot structure actually helps, to actually kind of work as a substitute for any of your flower foam.

<Yeah> So I wanted to show you how to do it.

And so first we need.

[laughs] Terasa Lott> I don't think we normally see power tools associated with flower arranging, do we?

Carmen Ketron> Right.

You know, always bring in the fun.

And so one of the big things that, we really like to do, especially in spring, is you think of the spring vegetables.

I've done this, with lower vases, with, beets, and cut them into little rounds.

It does have a nice little purple tint to it, but a lot of the times you can, enjoy the, like the, the Cuyahoga beets.

<Yeah> They give a really cute, spiral coloring to it.

Amanda McNulty> And when I get carrots, I don't get carrots that big usually in my bag.

Did you have to buy 19 bags of carrots?

Carmen Ketron> I bought the nice bulk carrots.

The 25 pound bag.

<Did you really?> Yeah.

We're trying to eat more carrots these days.

[laughs] Amanda McNulty> Especially if you get 25 pounds.

Yeah, Carmen Ketron> So what I did with these to give it a nice look, I peel it.

<Sure> And then what you want to do is you want to look at the center, and you want to just take it.

And I have, a little half inch bit, and you can just very slowly start drilling in, and I do it nice and slow, and I kind of feel on the side if we're about to hit.

But if you get a nice, good look at it, you can actually, angle.

Amanda McNulty> You don't want to break the carrot.

Carmen Ketron> I don't like to break the carrot.

This one, I did lose about 2 or 3 carrots.

<Okay.

For supper> Maybe you can hide it in the center.

Yes.

And the nice thing about this is what you can do is just put the carrots on the outside.

A couple in the middle, and you can start hiding your stems.

So it all looks like the carrot fits right in, but you can just fill it with water.

We've got the whole vase filled up with water.

And then you have a nice little <yeah> a little carrot display.

Amanda McNulty> And another thing you can do with bulbs if you with the hollow stem, as you can put a little wooden picks up in them.

I've done that a lot, too.

Carmen Ketron> A lot of the times you just put that little toothpick right in there and pop it in and it'll sit a lot better.

But here you can kind of just see, it makes for a fun little activity.

<Yeah> And it's great for spring time, especially if you're looking for a different take on your spring bouquet.

So you kind of get to enjoy it that way.

Amanda McNulty> I think that is just more fun Terasa Lott> About how loing should we expect it to last?

Carmen Ketron> Now.

I have done bouquets usually for the day of, but honestly, I've had it a week or so and you could enjoy it.

Well, yeah, worry about it.

Some of the flowers that you use, so we did a straight cut of the daffodils and sometimes that's going to get a little sticky.

Amanda McNulty> If they're in your yard you can replace those easily.

Carmen Ketron> Exactly.

It gets a little slimy, the water, and so, cleaning it out, Starting it again, gets a little crazy, but it's a lot more fun.

It's a lot of fun.

Amanda McNulty> And, you know, they've always said, you know, people have all these things that they add to water to make the flowers last longer.

And the research shows that just fresh water every day is the very best thing.

Carmen Ketron> If you just change that water and make sure that there's water always, so immediately from the store, that store tub to home.

Because what really happens is it declines if it's out of water, any amount of time.

Amanda McNulty> And what I get, you know, if I do that when I get home, I just recut the stem so the callus is gone.

Carmen Ketron> That makes it a lot more fun.

Amanda McNulty> Isn't that just more, more fun?

Terasa Lott> I think it will spark a lot of conversation at the dinner table as well.

Amanda McNulty> Well, I prefer sweet potatoes to carrots, but, [laughs] Carmen Ketron> And there are a lot of people that are using potatoes instead of flour foam for a small just diorama day of diorama to make a little, a large, like the flower bowl.

So the sweet potato, just having a little potato and sticking them in is very popular right now.

[laughs} Terasa Lott> That might have to be a future, <Oh, yeah> future demonstration for us.

Amanda McNulty> So is June a carrot fan?

Carmen Ketron> Yes.

June is a carrot fan and we've got three puppies right now who are also big into the carrots.

We live in the country.

A lot of dogs just show up.

<You got a kind heart> But carrots always very good.

Lots of beta carotene.

Yeah.

And so as Theresa said, we are not just about horticulture.

We're also about healthy eating.

So make sure you eat your carrots.

[laughs] Amanda McNulty> Isn't that fun?

So ya'll will never have to buy a pair of eyeglasses.

Okay, Terasa.

Terasa Lott> Goodness, I'm so distracted.

Amanda McNulty> I think, Can we put it somewhere?

Sean, what do you think?

Kind of in the middle between you and Brandon?

Maybe a little bit.

If it gets in the way.

That's right.

Yeah.

Excellent.

Terasa Lott> Let's see if we can help Grant from Moncks Corner.

Grant is trying to grow plants, and he says it seems like there's so many options when it comes to providing light.

I want to know, what do I really need?

<Goodness gracious> Do we need incandescent light, fluorescent light, L.E.D.

light, special grow light?

Amanda McNulty> So we're talking about indoor plants.

Okay.

Well, you seem to do lots of that.

So what do you suggest?

Dr.

Brandon Huber> Yeah.

So it's a complicated topic, but what I would say is a lot when you're growing plants indoors, plants, plants indoors are typically light limited.

The light inside your house is not, nothing near the sun outside.

So our plants are light limited and you see a lot of lights sold, plant lights and this and that and different spectrums.

And what I would say is whatever can get me the most light for my plant as far as you want it to have enough wattage because wattage converts to photons to plants, when it comes to red versus blue and grow lights, the research shows that, yeah, plants are optimized, they utilize those red and blue wavelengths most efficiently.

But sometimes those lights are so costly to purchase that for your average homeowner or just trying to start a tray of tomatoes, a floodlight does just great.

And but you know, you want to pay mind of the wattage because if it's only five watts a little, the little screw in incandescent bulb and it says it's a L.E.D.

that's five watts.

We can't expect much light to come out of that.

It's just and it's not that it's an L.E.D.

versus incandescent.

It just, we just need, you know we want that fixture to be 30, 40 watts to really make sure we're getting enough light on that plant.

And and not focus so much on blue versus red.

Your higher precision lights, there's benefits to having high blue ratios or red ratios.

But for the average gardener, you just, you know, you just need to get light.

Plant are light limited indoors.

Just get them light.

We're not doing you know in research it's different when we're trying to optimize antioxidants with higher blue ratios.

We can do some really cool things.

But, Amanda McNulty> I'm not gonna worry about that.

Dr.

Brandon Huber> Exactly.

You know, that's the thing.

You know?

Plants.

<Yeah> Most of our lights are already fixed spectrum.

So you buy a plant light.

It's our, they did the research for you.

Just, you know, go with it.

But, you know, usually more watts is going to be better than less watts.

So make sure you have sufficient light, you know, wattage.

Carmen Ketron> Now, I will say on some of the, big box store lights that are affordable, when we click it, it goes blue, it goes red, and then it goes red blue.

So you're telling me that I need to tell the gardeners at home do both?

Dr.

Brandon Huber> I would do both.

Yeah.

Because plants actually, the one thing the research does show is that if plants need those multiple spectrums, if you're growing all red, plants stretch too much.

You're doing all blue, plants actually stretch again.

So they need to see both wavelengths.

And the research has shown that multiple times with different crops that, and the white light that we see in a lot of L.E.D.

spectrums is mostly for humans because it's because if you ever see a plant under a red blue light, you can't see it.

You can't see if it has pests, you can't see is it nutrient deficient or whatnot, so that they add those, they usually add just a white diode of L.E.D.

diode here and there just to make it visible for humans.

<Okay> So that we can see the plant.

Amanda McNulty> Let's talk about some fragrant things, if you don't mind.

<Yeah> Yeah, I think we've got some daffodils.

So, you know, blooming in the garden right now.

Is this wonderful edgeworthia, the paper bush.

The paper bush?

This plant is blooming right now in the garden in most South Carolina.

As I was looking in, my is still.

Yeah, I was looking at mine in the garden just this morning.

Put it down all the time.

Super, super fragrant.

Yeah.

Great plant.

Sometimes it's fragrant and some other days it won't be as the strangest thing in the world to me.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, but great for the shade.

Great for a little bit of the forest edge and, another great one is Daphne.

Daphne.

Super fragrance blooming right now as well.

Now this one likes a little bit of drainage.

Can be a little finicky, wouldn't you say?

They get the up and dying disease.

I mean, it's just like... It makes me laugh every time you say that, it just up and die.

[laughs] Yeah.

I think having them kind of up on like it, like I have one on a slope.

They hope to manage the drainage because they hate wet feet.

Amanda McNulty> But just you know, plan to replace them, you know, and, you know, something about the paper plant A lot of the Edgeworthia, that is, It was used to make dollar bills and I mean bills and different important document papers in the Orient, wasn't it?

Carmen Ketron> In Japan, that is how they, they used to make all of the paper money, and important documents.

And it's still very prized now to be able to make paper out of it.

That's why they call the paper bush.

So it's it's exciting.

I know that for the anniversary, they started bringing back paper money.

More as, like, a nice keepsake or commemorative.

So, they're still using it.

<Isn't that fun?> It's very fun.

Yeah, yeah, but you said they can't grow enough of it.

In Japan, so a lot of it, they outsourced from Indonesia and other places in the Pacific.

It gives them another crop to grow.

So isn't that nice?

The way the world comes around?

Well, we are now going to, a fascinating field trip.

We took the International Center for Indigo Culture at the Marshview Community Organic Farm, and you'll see how I got this wonderful shirt dyed.

♪ soft music ♪ ♪ ♪ Amanda McNulty> We're down on Saint Helena Island in the Lowcountry of South Carolina.

And this is where indigo first started in the United States.

It was a very important crop.

And then it dwindled.

And now everyone's finding about this marvelous natural dye that can just give you beautiful results.

And I'm at a workshop, and we're all going to go home with some marvelous piece of fabric.

♪ ♪ ♪ I'm talking to Heather Powers, and she's the head of an organization that's responsible for a good bit of what we're seeing down here today.

Would you explain that to us, please?

>> Sure.

I'm with the International Center for Indigo Culture.

About nine years ago, our nonprofit was formed.

At that time, our founder, Donna Hardy, was looking for indigofera suffruticosa seeds, which is what was historically grown on the plantations and what we're growing here today.

And so it's taken a lot of time and effort to actually grow out enough of the crop to be able to bring the market back to what we're seeing here today and what we're doing with this grant.

And we're here today at Marsh View Farms for a training with farmer trainers.

We have been working on a USDA grant, S.A.R.E.

grant for sustainable agriculture research and education.

And what that means is the farmers were working with our farmer trainers.

And so what we train them in, in with the agriculture, with this in this particular case, indigo processing and growing, they will then be able to take that education and move it forward into their community.

We've harvested the indigo and we're going to be showing what it, looks like to process that indigo, to take the indigo pigment, the blue, out of the leaves.

It's a process that goes back to our South Carolina history.

And we are, not using as much labor today as we would have in the past.

We're using technology.

We have pumps, and we have these troughs that are basically cattle troughs that they would use to drink water.

And so we're going to be walking everybody through this process of from the farm to the blue powder, what does it take to produce an indigo pigment today.

Amanda> And then we get to dye some things and take them home, which would be great fun.

<Yes> And indigo was the third most important crop in South Carolina until the Revolution because, they didn't, the British were buying it from us.

And, after the revolution, they decided to get it from somewhere else.

Heather> That's right.

Amanda> Eliza Pinckney, I think it's kind of fun, that she was the first person to do it.

And we're down here today with, some women who are continuing the tradition.

Thank you so much for what y'all are doing.

And thank you for giving these farmers another crop that they can add to their things that they're growing and hopefully stay profitable.

Heather> Thank you so much, Amanda.

It's good to be here.

[sound of drumming] ♪ ♪ ♪ Amanda> I'm talking to Sarah Green.

And we are on Saint Helena Island at Marshview Community Organic Farm.

And, your family has a long, long, long association with this ground.

Sarah> Tell me about it.

Yes, they do.

And, we were blown away once we found out.

Actually, I came back home in 89, and because my, mother had said that there was a family member was saying that she was not heirs to the property.

So we started doing some research and did some research and found that sure she is and got her birth certificate and her father's name was on there, which was an heir to the property.

And in that research we found out that my great grandfather, Robert Green, purchased 20 acres of land and just, in 1865.

Amanda> That's unbelievable, I was curious how in the world he got the money.

Sarah> Well, we are thinking that during the time that they were freed, which was in 1861, you know, <Oh, here.> when the troops came here, they came down to Hilton Head, Port Royal, and that area and freed all of the enslaved people and all the enslaved slavers left.

And so they were deserted on the plantations in which they were working on.

And the Union troops, one of the generals, I forget, what was his name, asked them if they would harvest the, the, cotton and they would pay them some money to harvest the cotton.

And so we believe that that's where he got some money when he was able to purchase, 20 acres of land here where we are, 20 acres of land, somewhere else and ten acres of land.

He was prolific in buying land.

But the 20 acres we believe that was the land that he was enslaved on by, a gentleman by the name of *Ajo.

And Mr.. Mrs.

Ajo* sold the land to him.

One piece was for $15.

The other was for $30, ten acres of land.

Amanda> And so that's been in your family.

And you came back from Atlanta and you had developed some healthy ways of living, I believe, because you've had some things that have been bothering you.

So what did you?

How did you decide about foods and all?

Sarah> Well, I was in Atlanta for, 20 years, 69 to 89.

And when I came back here when I was in Atlanta, I was having issues with digestion.

And so I was always constipated.

And I've, coming back and thinking about it, I know I would always tell my mom, my stomach is hurting, my stomach is hurting, and they thought I was playing because I wanted to get out of the field.

And my siblings would say, 'She just pretending 'so she can go home and sit around' and, but actually, I realized that I did have a digestive problem.

And I walked into a health food store one day with a friend of mine, and they had just started and they were, had lots of, samples.

And one of them was some, a juice, they had juice, carrots beets, celery and a green apple.

And they said, try it.

I tried it and it was delicious.

And he said that digestion that you are having is because you're trying to use your molars to masticate meat.

And that body was not made to masticate meat.

You need to go back to the original diet fruits, vegetables, nuts and grain.

I went home, read that book that he gave me, the book, Jethro Kloss book: "Back to Eden".

I was blown away.

I said, oh my gosh.

I went into my cabinet, to my refrigerator, to the freezer, threw out everything that was meat related, every white flour, every white rice, white sugar.

I was done.

Amanda> Well, you look like a good testament to a...vegan diet.

And when you came back here, one of the things I think you wanted to do was to grow all the crops that had formerly been grown here during the times of enslavement.

<Yes.> And so I, came home one day and saw all the trash, and I saw some kids, hanging out, and I asked them if they would help me clean it up.

And they did.

And, we had a little cookout and I said, well guys, I got to get in my field right now and do some weeding.

And they said that they were going to join me.

And I was so happy and so pleased to hear that, those words.

They came, we pulled the weeds, and then they kept coming back and kept coming back.

And I said, wow.

I said, we've outgrown this little area.

Let's move over here, where we are now.

And so that is the evolution.

So when I was going to the grocery store, I wasn't finding the food at the value that I needed to be... a vegan.

And so I said, well, we might as well grow our own.

And then... the kids will get some, food to take home.

They are learning a skill and now they can go and start their own little garden in their backyard.

Amanda> And I believe that those children were on the board of directors.

And from that, you have a program that's still very active with school children.

What all do you all do?

Sarah> Well we are those children were our first board members.

I think it was seven of them.

And a young man from Dataw, he was sitting, he was one of our shareholders.

We started a C.S.A.

and we had about 20 people.

And he said, Sarah, you need to form a nonprofit I said sounds good to me.

So he said, 'I'll help you with it.'

And so I would go to his house, we would write everything down.

And he said, 'Who are your board members?'

I said, "Right now they are my children."

And so they became the board members.

And, to this day, they are listed as, the first board members that we had.

And so we started growing all of the crops that I grew up with, with my parents.

Then my husband is a chef, Bill Green.

And so he is with the Gullah Grub.

He comes in and he teaches them how to take that same food that we grow, <Okay.> and put it.

Add value to it.

Whatever we were growing.

Say it was squash, we made squash casserole.

<Good.> So it was collard greens, We go in and cut up some collard greens, Okra.

Okra is...everybody on this island, if they don't farm, no time, they will farm during spring and summer and grow some okra because that's just like it's like a. Amanda> It's the best thing in the world.

Sarah> Best thing in the world, right.

And, so we grow the okra, and then we teach them how to preserve.

Amanda> Now you're growing indigo and you're trying to teach people through workshops, how important it is and our heritage and, and we hope that it will have a resurgence in South Carolina.

Amanda> Thank you so much for what you're doing.

Sarah>.

Thank you for do...for, bringing this to the attention of your audience.

I think it would be a great thing for them to know and to know that they can do it, too.

This is something that, that is isolated.

We want to bring that resurgence, to the forefront because we have a land retention issue on Saint Helena and all up and down the Gullah Geechie quarter.

Our people have land.

They could plant some indigo.

One time planting could last for 4 to 5 years.

You won't have to plant again.

And it does its own thing.

You don't have to go in there and give it water and weed it and things of that nature.

It will come through the weed.

I am a testament to that.

And you can see back here, it could come through.

One thing that didn't come through was that Biden plant.

(laughing) But, it is a prolific plant, but, it's important that we bring those, cultural, icons back because they are the ones that made America rich and helped bring, made America.

<Yes> because our enslaved ancestors brought it to the forefront.

They knew how to do it.

They were the only ones here that knew how to do it.

And they produced it just like the cotton.

And just like the, rice.

Amanda> We want to thank you so much for having us down today and giving us this wonderful history and, and for what you're doing to try to continue the crops that made this country great.

Sarah> Thank you so much for coming.

I'm so glad you came.

♪ ♪ ♪ Amanda> I'm talking to Dr.

Florence Anorou, and she is a research scientist and professor at South Carolina State University.

And I think you brought some kids down from your plant phys class.

Tell me why that is and what they're going to learn and what you can share with us.

>> Absolutely.

I brought the students here today so that they can see in real time what we I teach them, or we go over and in the lab, which is part of a plant's physiology, not just to look at how plants function, but some of the compounds that they produce and some of those compounds, are different types of pigments.

And so a leaf might look green, but when you deep, dive deeper, you will see all kinds of pigments from green to yellow to orange, to hues of, blues, depending on the type of leaf.

And of course, indigo.

It's one of those plants where you can actually see not just a pigment, but you can process the pigment into a usable product, which is a dye.

And so that's why I brought them.

Amanda> So if I look at an indigo plant, I don't see blue flowers or anything.

Do I?

Dr.

Florence> The flowers might have some colors in it, but the star for the plant is actually the leaf.

And that's where the pigment where the, dyes that strike, that is, produced.

Amanda> And so you have to tweak it some, you have to soak it and then add some things to make that dye more accessible.

Is that correct?

Dr.

Florence> Absolutely.

So that transformation is changing the indican which is the precursor to that, then transforms into the indigo, which is the dye.

Amanda> And I think you've discovered that there's a optimum time to harvest the plants.

Dr.

Florence> Absolutely.

So traditionally the plants are harvested for dye processing, when it's flowering or about finished flowering.

But from a physiological aspect, the pigments are that's not the maximum, the optimum time for the pigment.

So part of, the research that I'm doing, and also to better understand how if you're a farmer, when can harvest the plant and get your maximum, dye from the, from the plant.

And so that's one of the, the research aspect of, of the, of the indigo.

And also, there are other environmental factors that can affect how, the quality of the dye that you, you harvest.

And so those are things that I'm looking at as well.

Amanda> Goodness.

Well, thank you so much for explaining all that to us today.

I really app reciate it.

Dr.

Florence> Thank you.

You're welcome.

♪ Amanda> I'm talking to Arianne Cromer King and she grew up going all over the world.

But I think there's a good reason for you to be back in South Carolina.

>> Yes, because I have this attraction to blue.

Then that means I'm like studying all, you know where blue comes from, because and an artist.

There's this book about color, and in that it tells you about the history of blue and the importance of blue, to many cultures.

So when I went to Nigeria and found out that indigo is the color for honoring ancestry, then I got really interested in all of that, and then actually just went around where other artists were doing work with indigo.

And then because I am Cherokee, I was very interested to me about the intertwining of nature and the importance of indigo to all of our cultures.

So what I'm hearing is the color of the third eye, and that it was like, money making crop here in South Carolina.

I literally got in a car from Detroit after being in Nigeria and hit this island that they had me tell me about, but the gift was watching the Gullah people on the side of the road with batons and sweetgrass.

And I was like, this is so much like a show boat.

I literally went back to Detroit, sold my house in two days, which is a sign, and came back here.

Didn't even know where I was going live.

Amanda> Yeah, and the Gullah Geechee culture persisted, so culturally independent in this part of the world, Arianne> Right.

Yeah.

Amanda> Which makes it very interesting because they remember all those things.

And you like to do workshops and you like to work with children too.

Tell me what exactly... Arianne> Well, I've always been a teacher for a very long time.

And, and my method is being a storyteller teaching, culture and education history, but using textiles to do it.

So with I went to South Carolina Art commission said, I'm this textile artist.

I'm here to serve.

How do I do that?

And that was the gift.

They told me exactly what to do.

They had me to file for residency program for the state and then that then I started going through the state, teaching this textile, honoring indigo and having them to experience it through textile history.

It's, so that's science and history and everything into one.

Amanda> Gosh, isn't it wonderful to see where things are going today?

And I appreciate you're going around and keeping this culture that was so important to the state of South Carolina.

Arianne> And so then when we created, I.C.I.C., I was and they said, do you want a join?

Like, absolutely.

Because I'm an advocate of indigo.

It's like anything we can do to get this going forward, and there's a mechanism to do it, sign me up.

And when you get to see something that you create, it starts, it turns the wheels for you.

It really does.

And I mean, for me, I know that once we do this, that's exactly what's happening right here.

You can see people going...hmmmm.

and we... we got them.

Yes.

(Amanda laughs) Amanda> Thank you so much.

♪ Amanda> I'm talking to Precious Jennings, and she's conducting a workshop here today.

I'm excited I'll go home with a t-shirt.

And you came to indigo through your interest in the arts and often it's kind of an unusual story.

>> Yeah.

Yeah.

A co-teacher and friend gave me a kit.

Because I had been doing natural dye, and she's like, have you tried this?

I said, no, and so I just kind of sat with it for a little bit and and alone in my studio <during Covid>, during Covid, I made my first vat and I fell in love with it.

And it was transformational.

Being a movement artist and watching the process from beginning to end.

And yeah, it fit.

It fits with my movement practices and belief system.

So it was really fascinating.

Amanda> So now you're down here and doing workshops around the Lowcountry.

<Yes.> And okay, so explain the process of getting the plant out of the field and getting some blue dye to us, please.

Precious> So first, we cut the plant as it's flowering, right before it's flowering.

You can cut until it's seeded.

It will still give blue cutting earlier which is what we're doing now.

Cut.

Put in water almost immediately.

As soon as you cut it, it starts, the plant starts to degrade.

So right away we put it in water.

Amanda> And I think you use some large troughs and you wanted it to be weighted down.

<Yeah.> Explain all that to me please.

Precious> Yeah.

So yeah, the plants float up and it's a natural fermentation.

You don't have to add anything.

So, keeping the plants weighted down, we use some mesh.

You can just throw cinder blocks or anything you have to just keep them weighted.

Not, not pressed down because the water needs to be in between all of the leaves and then it naturally ferments.

The whole microbiome is within the plant leaves itself, and it sits for about 24 hours.

After it's ready, the plant matter is lifted out.

You can strain off.

If you have a lot of plant matter in it, you can strain it off and then we start a process called aeration, which is basically adding air in.

Amanda> And what does that do?

Precious> That unhooks the indigotin from the H2O molecule and creates a suspension.

Amanda> Golly Pete.

This is chemistry.

Precious> It is chemistry.

And then we add a catalyst.

There's different catalysts you can add.

We use lime for dye powder, which basically weights the tiny little 20, 25 microns use a filter fabric that's a 25 micron, which is fairly, tightly woven.

The lime just is a catalyst to get the indigotin to drop down to the bottom, and then you're left with, nutrient rich water.

Amanda> Okay.

And then I guess you want to dry that so you can use it?

Precious> Yes.

So we pump it, we pump the top water off, and then we filter through the filter fabric, to what's a mud.

And then we dry it in a dehydrator.

Amanda> Goodness.

<Yeah.> Then you've got this- Precious> And then you have powder.

Amanda> So to help with the workshop, I think you've got some pre-made buckets that we can choose from.

<Yes> And what are in those?

Precious> Yes.

So we have the two vats we made.

One is an organic vat, also, a fructose vat, which is a sugar vat.

<Yes.> Which is made with 100% fructose powder.

And then the other one is a sodium hydros...hydrosulfite, which is a salt, a very heavy salt that reduces the oxygen.

So both of those reduce the oxygen out of the water.

And turns the indigo into a dye.

Amanda> And do you get different results depending on which vat you use?

Precious> Depending on the volume.

So we chose the hydros vat because we have a lot of people here dying, which is a very fast and stable reducer, the organic vat takes a little bit more finesse and can't tolerate a lot of agitation.

They both and they give different hues of blue, even though you're using the same indigo powder, there is a little bit of a variation in color.

Amanda> This is complicated.

<It is.> It's fascinating.

Precious> It's the art of indigo.

(laughing) Amanda> So if people want to put designs and things on their fabric, how do they go about that, so the whole thing just doesn't come out blue?

(laughing) So we have to, to resist.

So you can do batik, which is what Arianne King Cromer is known for is in her batik dyeing.

<Yes.> We have other resist dyes, a clay resist, which is bentonite clay.

And another flower, natural flower.

You put that on the fabric, and when you dip it in the vat, wherever the resist is... it will be white.

<Oh!> Yeah.

And then we have another, another, way to dye, which is not dipping into a vat.

It's creating a soy milk, which is a binder, a protein binder.

So looking at more chemistry, fresh soy milk, indigo powder, some agar agar to make it a paste to make it a little thicker, so you can use it as an ink.

And the stamps, will stamp blue, and then you.

And then you'll have a blue design.

Amanda> Heavens!

Precious> Yeah.

<Gosh> Amanda> How about that?

Precious> Yeah.

(laughs) Amanda> Well, I can't wait to make something to take home.

Precious> I'm looking forward to it.

♪ soft music ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ It was a wonderful day at Marshview Community Organic Farm.

Learning about a crop that has importance in other parts of the world, still.

Anyway, so hats, hats, hats.

I had some Daphne, which smelled wonderful.

And then this is my favorite, Spirea.

I think it's called Shoe Button Spirea.

And it makes a big mess, but it's just so glorious it fills up its spot.

So wonderfully heavenly.

And, I do enjoy it tremendously.

Isn't it wonderful when spring plants start to come?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Terasa Lott> This is so exciting.

It's like you seen a new thing.

I spend a lot of time driving, so I'll be like, oh, no, it's time for the, you know, red maples.

I know it's just wonderful.

Sometimes it's not so exciting because I also start to see invasive species that are starting to flower.

How does it go?

It goes Bradford pear.

Oh yeah.

And then what's the next.

The Bradford fair.

So I don't know keep an eye out but I am seeing yellow Jasmine blooming.

Yes.

Mine is blooming at home.

Yeah.

And that's just our, you know, the most wonderful thing in the world.

What a beautiful, beautiful plant.

Yeah, yeah, that can kind of light up the top.

It'll often ramble up the pine trees.

It does.

Yeah.

It's very good at scrambling isn't it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And, you know, they of course they'll people want to doctor with things to make them different.

I just think the regular yellow jessamine is still my favorite.

Yeah, yeah.

Terasa Lott> And you have a viburnum in your collection over there as well.

I don't know if we talked about that one.

Amanda McNulty> We're almost out of time, but this one is spring bouquet, and it says it's four by five feet, you know, round, shrub.

This one's 15 feet tall and blooms so beautifully.

Terasa Lott> It didn't read the tag, evidently.

[laughs] Amanda McNulty> Anyway, thank y'all for being with us, and thank you at home, and we'll see you next week.

♪ closing music ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Narrator> "Making It Grow" is brought to you in part by Certified South Carolina.

This cooperative effort among farmers, retailers, and the South Carolina Department of Agriculture helps consumers identify foods and agricultural products that are grown, harvested, or raised right here in the Palmetto State.

McLeod Farms in McBee, South Carolina family owned and operated since 1916.

This family farm offers seasonal produce, including over 40 varieties of peaches.

Wesley Commons a full service continuing care retirement community located on more than 150 wooded acres in Greenwood, South Carolina.

Additional funding provided by the South Carolina Farm Bureau Federation and Farm Bureau Insurance and Boone Hall Farms.