Thinking Green

As weeks go, we couldn’t have picked a more perfect one for G’s Home, Garden & Thinking Green issue to hit newsstands and mailboxes. With days of sunshine forecast and unseasonably warm weather for the foreseeable future, it goes without saying, folks will be spending more time sprucing up their spaces—inside and out.

If the warm weather isn’t enough to inspire you into action, the May/June issue of G surely is. Consider some of the amazing (and inexhaustible) folks we’ve chosen to highlight in this, our first anniversary issue. Don Morris is one: We feature his North Main Street-area, English-style garden both on our cover and in a ten-page feature about the unique urban landscape he created from scratch on two overgrown city lots. He is a natural-born gardener.

I am a natural-born plant killer, also an inherited trait, I suspect. My grandmother claimed the only way she ever got anything to grow was by cursing at it. The rest of the women in my family have spent decades trying to overcome the urge to do the same. My answer to this affliction has been to live vicariously through the beautiful landscapes others create, which is why I’m so pleased to share this issue of G with readers. It’s chock full of great ideas being practiced by folks right here in our community.

Readers will meet Rick Huffman, a former Furman University groundskeeper who founded the Pickens-based landscape architecture company Earth Design. The fruit of his labors can be found all across our community—from sustainable school rooftops to brilliant yards that flourish without trimming, watering, or fertilizing. We also introduce readers to artist and contractor Dwain Skinner, who has spent the better part of two decades scouring junk shops, estate sales, and abandoned houses, collecting other people’s trash and turning it into a treasure trove of “found” furnishings and recycled décor that fill his Landrum-area farmhouse.

In our newsy Crossroads section, we offer up some recommended reads on environmentalism, and we feature a locally owned and operated organic infant apparel company. In our Food & Wine section, you’ll be introduced to a little-known Laurens County sheep farm used by the chef of American Grocery. Or check out one of our earthy-inspired dining columns: The Oenofile offers up five locally available organic wines, and one of our more colorful “Quick Bites” highlights ways to incorporate edible flowers into a festive summer menu.

With Mother’s Day meals, Father’s Day gift suggestions, a travel feature on Asheville, NC, and a tremendous piece about some of the most innovative green-minded individuals in the Upstate—the engineering powerhouses of Clemson University’s International Center for Automotive Research—we think you’ll want to take a little time to kick back and peruse the pages of G. Then “recycle” your copy along to a friend or neighbor. The Earth (and your friend) will thank you for it!