Home Gardening Inspiration & Education

Are Garden lessons right for your family?

I want to share a short story about my client who is such an inspiration to me!  Katherine and I went to high school together, then reconnected 10 yrs later at the St. Matthews farmer's market.  I was working for Kenny's Cheese and she was with Fox Hollow.  She is a mom of two, a food-preservationist, home-schooler, and an essential oil guru.  Fast forward to 2019, she invested in our Reap What You Sow garden course and helped her son grow an edible garden.  They did the Three Sisters: corn, beans, and pumpkins (squash)!

Earlier this week she approached me about providing personal garden lessons for her son and daughter.  (And her son wants to be a farmer!)  OMG YES, the answer is yes, yes, yes!

This invitation has inspired me so much to usher in the next generation of gardeners.  I've never offered this level of personal service in my garden coaching until now!   So, thank you, Katherine for showing me this was needed in our community, espe...

Step into joy among parenting, politics, pandemic, & now the holidays!

Plant seeds of inspiration this season with garden-inspired gifts.

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Black gold, soil, compost...whaaaat? 

What is Composting all about? 

In a nut shell, it's a process that breaks down natural materials at an accelerated rate that brings gold to the garden!  While compost isn't a fertilizer, it greatly reduces the need for one by improving soil fertility & structure.  It adds organic material to your garden, and inoculates the soil with microbial life!  I'm short-changing the benefit list.  For a more in-depth compost experience see our Winter Workshop Bundle!

So how does it work?  Composting uses a combination of microbes, water, air (oxygen), carbon (dead/brown materials), and nitrogen (living/green materials.)  When managed properly, the original ingredients will become unrecognizable upon completion.  

What are carbon examples?  Sticks, straw, saw dust, dried leaves, pine needles.

What are nitrogen examples?  Raw veggies scrapes, yard litter, grass clippings, flowers.  (don't use animal products, cooking oils, processed foods, rices, bread, et...

Hi!  I’m Marlena Wolf, former farmer and owner of Girl Next Door Farm!  I am a sixth year farmer, inspired by a dream of self-sufficiency, health and environmental advocacy, and a lifestyle similar to many an ancestor.  I was born and raised in the suburbs of Louisville, Kentucky.  But I do have some agricultural roots… My father grew up on a 2100 acre farm with his parents, and grandparents in French Lick, Indiana.  My mama grew up in St. Matthews and Jeffersontown, Kentucky.

My great grandparents, Goldie and William Bolin owned the Castle Knoll Farm in French Lick, Indiana; Orange County.  It was a dairy and hog operation with some row crops.  William’s parents, Philomena and Bennett Bolin, my great great grandparents, farmed out in Brooks, Kentucky; Bullitt County.  Actually, Philomena and her many children ran the farm operation, while Ben worked in a Louisville factory after his military service.

My great, great grandparents on my mom’s side were Stumlers out of Indiana.  They a...