A New Era of ASPI - Our New Board
This past April, the ASPI board grew to include several new members. We warmly welcome them and look forward to maintaining ASPI traditions while expanding our community outreach. Please take a moment to click on the button below to get to know them better.
Wholesale Perennial Plant Order
Early every spring ASPI organizes a perennial order wholesale for the local community! Savings on Blueberries, cherries, figs, kiwis, etc. can reach the hundreds of dollars for folks who participate in this process! ASPI generally purchases extra perennials in this order and sales them at cost throughout the season.
2025 was our 10th year working with this company and our largest order yet. We grow by roughly 10% every year and people are generally pleased with the plants they receive. Our wholesale plant project helps local folks with subsistence and market gardening, but, it also becomes habitat and food for all manner of wildlife, there are no downsides to establishing perennial food forests, they support local ecosystems and add a tremendous diversity of all life to ones land. This diversity increases strength and resilience to the region on every level.
If you are interested in participating in this order next March please get back to us and get on our list. Explore your options on this website: https://hartmannsplantcompany.com/wholesale/
2025 was our 10th year working with this company and our largest order yet. We grow by roughly 10% every year and people are generally pleased with the plants they receive. Our wholesale plant project helps local folks with subsistence and market gardening, but, it also becomes habitat and food for all manner of wildlife, there are no downsides to establishing perennial food forests, they support local ecosystems and add a tremendous diversity of all life to ones land. This diversity increases strength and resilience to the region on every level.
If you are interested in participating in this order next March please get back to us and get on our list. Explore your options on this website: https://hartmannsplantcompany.com/wholesale/
Appalachian Studies Association (ASA) Conference & Tammy "Tambone" Clemons Vision Award
In mid-March, ASPI attended the 48th annual ASA Conference, Rural Reimagined: A Grand Challenge for Appalachia, at Tennessee Tech University. The mission of the Appalachian Studies Association is to promote and engage dialogue, scholarship, education, creative expression, and action among a diverse and inclusive group of scholars, educators, practitioners, grassroots activists, students, and institutions. And engage we did! At the conference, we hosted a booth representing ASPI and attended different sessions for educational purposes.
The conference included a celebration of our beloved Board Secretary, Tammy Clemons, for her distinguished work in helping found ASA’s Berea College chapter, as well as , alongside her partner, Timi Reedy, Camp Happy Appalachee (CHA), an annual LGBTQ gathering event beginning in 2011 at the ASA Conference at Eastern Kentucky University. We were graciously supported by the Appalachian Community Fund. Tammy and her team continued CHA over the years, and we hope to be part of the team that ensures the gathering will continue in the future.
Tammy was honored with the inaugural Tammy "Tambone" Clemons Vision Award, established in collaboration with the Kentucky Foundation for Women, the Appalachian Studies Association, and ASPI. To be awarded in perpetuity, the award recognizes young and emerging artists and activists in Appalachia who embody Tammy’s passion for storytelling, oral history, and creative expression, whether through oral history projects, creative media, film making, writing, or other storytelling efforts that honor the culture, history, and voices of our beloved and vibrant region.
Friends and colleagues Jasper Waugh-Quasebarth and Zada Komara had this to say in the most recent publication of the Journal of Appalachian Studies:
The conference included a celebration of our beloved Board Secretary, Tammy Clemons, for her distinguished work in helping found ASA’s Berea College chapter, as well as , alongside her partner, Timi Reedy, Camp Happy Appalachee (CHA), an annual LGBTQ gathering event beginning in 2011 at the ASA Conference at Eastern Kentucky University. We were graciously supported by the Appalachian Community Fund. Tammy and her team continued CHA over the years, and we hope to be part of the team that ensures the gathering will continue in the future.
Tammy was honored with the inaugural Tammy "Tambone" Clemons Vision Award, established in collaboration with the Kentucky Foundation for Women, the Appalachian Studies Association, and ASPI. To be awarded in perpetuity, the award recognizes young and emerging artists and activists in Appalachia who embody Tammy’s passion for storytelling, oral history, and creative expression, whether through oral history projects, creative media, film making, writing, or other storytelling efforts that honor the culture, history, and voices of our beloved and vibrant region.
Friends and colleagues Jasper Waugh-Quasebarth and Zada Komara had this to say in the most recent publication of the Journal of Appalachian Studies:
"This issue of JAS is dedicated to our friend and classmate Tammy Clemons, who never stopped envisioning a new material and environmental future for our mountain communities".
 Timi with Virginia Mooney, one of the inaugural recipients of the Tammy "Tambone" Clemons Vision Award, Kathryn Engle, and Kopana Terry |  Danielle Capillo and Josh Bills working the ASPI table at the conference |
Mushroom "Mafia" at Large this Spring
- March 22: Inoculation Workshop @ Clear Creek Schoolhouse
- April 19: Pop-up Inoculation Workshop @ Berea College Forestry Center (Huge success!)
- May 13: Inoculation Workshop @ Oakhill Gardens (Huge success!)
- May 27: Accompaniment Inoculation Workshop with opening day of Rockcastle County Farmers’ Market
Ron Owens, a native Rockcastle Countian, a woodworker, folk artist,and storyteller is our mushroom inoculation leader. He has, along with his family (Mushroom Mafia), been collaborating with ASPI for many years. These events are extremely popular and have been growing with each passing year, as well as beginning to expand our service area over time out into the region.
Check out this link to see a glimpse of the actual process.
- April 19: Pop-up Inoculation Workshop @ Berea College Forestry Center (Huge success!)
- May 13: Inoculation Workshop @ Oakhill Gardens (Huge success!)
- May 27: Accompaniment Inoculation Workshop with opening day of Rockcastle County Farmers’ Market
Ron Owens, a native Rockcastle Countian, a woodworker, folk artist,and storyteller is our mushroom inoculation leader. He has, along with his family (Mushroom Mafia), been collaborating with ASPI for many years. These events are extremely popular and have been growing with each passing year, as well as beginning to expand our service area over time out into the region.
Check out this link to see a glimpse of the actual process.
Continuing the End of the Road Farm Homesteading Series
| | Lee and Jennifer Ruff (End of the Road Farm) began their collaboration with ASPI last year 2024, and ASPI and the Ruff's found these workshops so popular and valuable that we decided to do a yearlong series in 2025 with a relevant for the season workshop occurring at the fourth Saturday of every month. A tremendous sense of community and comradery has begun around these monthly gatherings. Food, fellowship, and learning keep bringing people back and new folks showing up with each passing month. Here are the flyers for workshops from this year that we’ve been lucky to host! Plus, some photos from our very popular biochar, tree pruning, and sheep shearing events. |
Seasonal Plant, Fungi, Tree Identification Series with Andrew Ozinskas
We're partnering with herbalist Andrew Ozinskas to provide a series of seasonal plant, tree, and fungi identification hikes at the Zalla trail at the River property. This was a highly requested event and we are hoping to continue this annually! Hike #1 happened in early April, and our next summer hike will be announced soon. Sign up at THIS LINK for our Simple Living Newsletter to be the first to learn about it!
 |  Andrew pointing out what to look for (middle), plus some great pics of identified plants! |  |
River & Loki at the Wilderness Site Property
River and Loki have been caretakers of the ASPI river property for almost a year now. They have steadily been improving the property over the weeks and months and have been increasing the safety of the structures there. A task of this enormity is daunting to say the least, but they are steady and sure. The property is beginning to show the effects of attention and care. It has reached a level that ASPI is feeling strong enough to begin hosting events there this year, guided identification hikes and cookouts, and gear and kayaks for recreational water activities. She is coming alive again. Our gratitude is boundless for their conscientious contributions to ASPI. River has been working with ASPI in some capacity for several years and we are so grateful for their attention to detail, effective communication, creativity, and devotion to the projects they are involved in. Enough really cannot be said.
Welcoming of Summer Intern Blayne Schwarz to ASPI
 The first week of June, ASPI welcomed a new member to the team, summer fellowship intern Blayne Schwarz from the University of Notre Dame. As a part of Notre Dame’s Institute for Social Concern’s Summer Fellowship, she has been providing much-needed assistance at ASPI’s main office and wilderness site, getting out into the community to assist local farmers, and tidying up ASPI’s online presence. Blayne is joining us after having participated in Notre Dame’s Appalachian Service Learning Cohort, which was here last October. We are so pleased to have Blayne joining us for June and July, returning to Rockcastle County for a great service experience! Be on the lookout for updates about what Blayne has been up to in future blog posts. |  |
Collaborations with Rockcastle Farmer’s Market - Mushrooms + Healthy Smoothies
In the interest of creating and fostering community, ASPI is focused on participating with the Rockcastle County Farmers’ Market through random pop-ups to give away treats, calendars, and resources. Whether sharing information about mushroom inoculation, giving away and pressing fresh pear and apple cider, popsicles, solar oven workshops, or recipes for healthy summer fruit ice cream, we always look forward to a Saturday with the farmers and the community!
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