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Gardening Expert Brie Arthur Bringing “Foodscape Revolution” to the High Country on July 19th

Walking Tour and School Garden Conference planned to inspire the community about edible landscaping.

BOONE, NC – Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture, in conjunction with Appalachian State University’s Math and Science Education Center, is sponsoring two public events on edible landscaping with expert Brie Arthur. Arthur is hoping to help expand the conversations the High Country community has about community and school gardens.

Arthur has been dubbed a revolutionary for her leadership in the suburban Foodscape movement and her work with public schools across the United States. She appears as correspondent on the PBS Television show “Growing A Greener World,” and her debut book, The Foodscape Revolution, has become a bestseller on Amazon.

On Thursday, July 19, Arthur will lead a walking tour through the streets of Boone, helping attendees reimagine downtown public spaces as a model of community development that incorporates sustainable, local food development through edible landscaping practices.

Edible Streetscapes, A Visionary Walking Tour will begin with an informal reception at Lost Province Brewing Company at 6 p.m. and end at the Watauga County Library, with stops at the Jones House and other downtown spaces.

The following day, Arthur will present at the School Garden Leadership Conference. The theme for the event is Cultivating Growing Minds: Foodscaping School Gardens. The event will be held at the Agricultural Conference Center in Boone from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and will guide participants in setting up and utilizing a garden for both formal and informal educational purposes.

North Carolina school teachers (K-12) can earn continuing education credits by attending the conference. Informal educators and families with children are also encouraged to to attend.

“Gardening causes solutions,” Arthur said in an interview with Reflector.com. “We can’t have a generation go without understanding this. We need to preach this from the rooftop. I won’t let generations go without getting their hands dirty.”

Tickets to both events are available online through Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture at www.brwia.org. The walking tour is $10, the conference is on a sliding scale from $15 to $35 and includes lunch.

Sponsors for this event include Math and Science Education Center, Watauga Cooperative Extension, Downtown Boone Development Association, Reeves DiVenere Wright, ReGear Outdoors, Blowing Spice and Tea Exchange, and SunCatcher Passive Solar Greenhouses.

More information about Brie Arthur can be found at BrieGrows.com.