Many farms across North and South Carolina have added on-farm pickups, home delivery & online pre-orders to accommodate for social distancing in light of the COVID-19 outbreak. Please see the listings below for more information, and check out our interactive Google Map for farm locations near you!

Are you a farmer interested in being listed? Email [email protected]

Please:

• DO NOT show up at farms without prior permission.
• Follow specific instructions provided by each farm.
• Stay home if you are feeling ill.

Get to know the nature near you! This year, as part of the City Nature Challenge, the Arboretum’s ecoEXPLORE program has launched a special BioBlitz Bonus Badge. Children in grades K-8 who complete six “challenges” will earn the BioBlitz Bonus Badge and their adult helpers will also receive a North Carolina BioBlitz patch. ecoEXPLORE is an initiative of The North Carolina Arboretum and is free to all North Carolina residents due to the generous support from the North Carolina GlaxoSmithKline Foundation and the Duke Energy Foundation.

Be an ecoEXPLORER!

Are you a group or classroom? Choose the “Group” option on the signup form.

How it works:

1. Sign up to be an ecoEXPLORER using the form on this page. Then have your parent check their email for an email where they can click a link to give permission for your participation.
2. Go outside in your own backyard or at a designated ecoEXPLORE HotSpot to find wildlife species, including plants, reptiles, amphibians, insects and birds.
3. Use your own device — or check out an iPod Touch at any LoanSpot location — and photograph your wildlife observation, noting the data, location, time, size, and species observed.
4. Login to your ecoEXPLORE profile online and submit your observation.
5. Arboretum staff will then review your observation and submit all approved submissions to the iNaturalist Network , which is used by real scientists!

NEW! North Carolina BioBlitz Patch

For adults looking for an extra challenge this spring, the Arboretum has created the North Carolina BioBlitz patch in conjunction with the 2020 City Nature Challenge (April 24 – 27). To earn the patch, participants will need to create a free iNaturalist account; attend the “Intro to iNaturalist” class on April 9 (or watch the recorded version later); make 50 nature observations during the City Nature Challenge; and help identify 50 species during the Challenge’s “identifying” stage (April 28 – May 3). Students in the Arboretum’s Blue Ridge Naturalist and Blue Ridge Eco-Gardener certificate programs can earn three elective credits if they complete the North Carolina BioBlitz program and one credit if they only take the “Into to iNaturalist” class.

Online Gardening School

Are you ready to grow some serious food? This six-month online video course will give you the skills and tools you need to be able to grow a garden for yourself, from the ground up. Begins EARTH DAY April 22, 2020!

April 17th – 19th
Friday 6-9pm

Saturday-Sunday 9:30am-4:30pm

Join Tyler and learn the fundamentals of mold making and how to utilize plaster to accentuate your hand building and wheel throwing. Demonstrations will include how to design and cast feet, knobs, handles and other decorative elements for your pots. Students can expect to learn the basics of plaster mold making and how to implement those tools in non-traditional manners, resulting in some truly fun and highly replicable work.

Level: All Levels
Tuition: $275 (all materials included)

We’ve turned some of our youth conservation education programs into videos to share online. Earlier this year, we asked elementary and middle school students what might prevent them from enjoying time outdoors – and many responded “snakes” or “spiders.” So, we developed fun lessons to help dispel myths and fears about snakes and spiders. These video adaptations of our youth education programs include short 5-minute lessons and step-by-step craft activities. Enjoy!

SPIDERS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRWaw6jPeN8&utm_source=SAHC+Default+MC+List&utm_campaign=6b1835d2ec-February_2018_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_4717684d09-6b1835d2ec-144635353&ct=t%28February_2018_COPY_01%29&mc_cid=6b1835d2ec&mc_eid=cccced3ffd

SNAKES: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpFcByki9xM&utm_source=SAHC+Default+MC+List&utm_campaign=6b1835d2ec-February_2018_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_4717684d09-6b1835d2ec-144635353&ct=t%28February_2018_COPY_01%29&mc_cid=6b1835d2ec&mc_eid=cccced3ffd

Join us on a video hike through a protected conservation property to learn about lichens! Do you know the difference between mosses and lichens? AmeriCorps Project Conserve member Shay “Sarge” Sargent leads a virtual adventure to answer this question and more.

Getting started gardening can be exciting, and it can feel daunting.

Your teachers, Natalie Bogwalker and Chloe Lieberman share experience-based, practical instruction for growing their top ten vegetables to really fill your plate, belly, and larder. We put together this class so that you can begin with the crops that are most likely to be successful and rewarding. Or, if you’ve got some experience gardening but want to expand your repertoire, this course will help you do so in a way that makes sense and yields abundantly.

Get to know the nature near you! This year, as part of the City Nature Challenge, the Arboretum’s ecoEXPLORE program has launched a special BioBlitz Bonus Badge. Children in grades K-8 who complete six “challenges” will earn the BioBlitz Bonus Badge and their adult helpers will also receive a North Carolina BioBlitz patch. ecoEXPLORE is an initiative of The North Carolina Arboretum and is free to all North Carolina residents due to the generous support from the North Carolina GlaxoSmithKline Foundation and the Duke Energy Foundation.

Be an ecoEXPLORER!

Are you a group or classroom? Choose the “Group” option on the signup form.

How it works:

1. Sign up to be an ecoEXPLORER using the form on this page. Then have your parent check their email for an email where they can click a link to give permission for your participation.
2. Go outside in your own backyard or at a designated ecoEXPLORE HotSpot to find wildlife species, including plants, reptiles, amphibians, insects and birds.
3. Use your own device — or check out an iPod Touch at any LoanSpot location — and photograph your wildlife observation, noting the data, location, time, size, and species observed.
4. Login to your ecoEXPLORE profile online and submit your observation.
5. Arboretum staff will then review your observation and submit all approved submissions to the iNaturalist Network , which is used by real scientists!

Online Gardening School

Are you ready to grow some serious food? This six-month online video course will give you the skills and tools you need to be able to grow a garden for yourself, from the ground up. Begins EARTH DAY April 22, 2020!

Join over one hundred students on a quest to deepen understanding of the natural sciences through the Blue Ridge Naturalist Certificate of Merit. The program offers adult learners a comprehensive curriculum of study about the natural world of Western North Carolina. Classes meet year round and students work to complete 240 hours in core courses on ecology, botany, geology and plant identification as well as electives on animals, lichens, insects and more. View current class offerings for credit in the Blue Ridge Naturalist program here. All students must complete and present a final project prior to graduation.

To begin your program complete an application and return it to the Education Center along with a a one-time, non-refundable $55 application fee.

If you are reading this, you are most likely a landowner in western North Carolina who is concerned about the future of your land along the French Broad River or one of its tributaries. Perhaps you have a farm or cattle ranch that has been in your family for generations, or maybe you recently purchased your second home in an idyllic rural area. Whatever your situation, many North Carolina landowners face the same dilemma: how do you ensure that the land you love looks the way that it does forever?

Conserving Land

Protected Properties

Parks, Greenways & Blueways

Getting started gardening can be exciting, and it can feel daunting.

Your teachers, Natalie Bogwalker and Chloe Lieberman share experience-based, practical instruction for growing their top ten vegetables to really fill your plate, belly, and larder. We put together this class so that you can begin with the crops that are most likely to be successful and rewarding. Or, if you’ve got some experience gardening but want to expand your repertoire, this course will help you do so in a way that makes sense and yields abundantly.

Get to know the nature near you! This year, as part of the City Nature Challenge, the Arboretum’s ecoEXPLORE program has launched a special BioBlitz Bonus Badge. Children in grades K-8 who complete six “challenges” will earn the BioBlitz Bonus Badge and their adult helpers will also receive a North Carolina BioBlitz patch. ecoEXPLORE is an initiative of The North Carolina Arboretum and is free to all North Carolina residents due to the generous support from the North Carolina GlaxoSmithKline Foundation and the Duke Energy Foundation.

Be an ecoEXPLORER!

Are you a group or classroom? Choose the “Group” option on the signup form.

How it works:

1. Sign up to be an ecoEXPLORER using the form on this page. Then have your parent check their email for an email where they can click a link to give permission for your participation.
2. Go outside in your own backyard or at a designated ecoEXPLORE HotSpot to find wildlife species, including plants, reptiles, amphibians, insects and birds.
3. Use your own device — or check out an iPod Touch at any LoanSpot location — and photograph your wildlife observation, noting the data, location, time, size, and species observed.
4. Login to your ecoEXPLORE profile online and submit your observation.
5. Arboretum staff will then review your observation and submit all approved submissions to the iNaturalist Network , which is used by real scientists!

Online Gardening School

Are you ready to grow some serious food? This six-month online video course will give you the skills and tools you need to be able to grow a garden for yourself, from the ground up. Begins EARTH DAY April 22, 2020!

Healthy Rivers equal Healthy Communities. RiverLink’s Watershed Resources program works to improve water quality in the French Broad River and its tributaries. These waterways support critical wildlife habitat for many species, such as the hellbender salamander and rainbow trout. Our local economies thrive on water-based recreational tourism. The French Broad River watershed also provides drinking water for many communities. These things are true only if the water is clean. Our Watershed Resources program uses a combination of initiatives, including on the ground projects and community outreach to improve and protect water quality.

Stream Restorations

Stormwater Control

WaterRICH, Water Conservation Program

Watershed Planning

Name That Creek

PROMOTING HEALTH AND HEALING

We understand the disruption of daily life and social distancing can be incredibly difficult. For many of us, daily activities, social groups, and routines dissipated overnight.

In an effort to help keep us all connected, our fitness instructors put together a series of home workouts too. Going forward we will be continuing to provide active resources. We hope you enjoy these workouts, made just for you, by your friendly and familiar YWCA instructors.

Strength Building with Kai

Senior Exercises with Ellen

Click Here and subscribe to see the full playlist!

For more information contact Membership Coordinator, Emil Gonsalvez, at [email protected].