Fifth Season Gardening Co. creates community through new classes

If you’re looking to learn a new skill, Fifth Season Gardening Company has got you covered. The Carrboro store offers classes on everything from indoor plant care to kombucha brewing. 

“One of the big things we try to push is just we’re a knowledge source, and we know a lot about what we do,” said Ethan Johnston, the operations and inventory manager at Fifth Season Gardening Co. 

The store has offered classes in the past, but Johnston said they are now making a more concerted effort to have a consistent class schedule. 

Luis Guerra, manager of Fifth Season Gardening Co, said their Asheville location has a dedicated classroom space, and they are trying to put that into all of their big stores. 

Some of the subjects their classes will cover include hydroponics, brewing kombucha, organic gardening, mushroom cultivation, brewing beer, indoor plant care, bonsai, succulent care and orchids with more to come in the future. 

Guerra encourages people to see what the classes entail. With so many different classes offered, he said they are going to have something that will spark your interest.

Hannah Popish taught her first class at the store on using herbs to boost the immune system. The class focused on the use of herbs, food choices, and things you can make for seasonal wellness. All participants got to take home some elderberry syrup that Popish made. 

Popish said she has worked with herbs for about five years and has her own website, poppysol, dedicated to her work. She said it was a nice change to work with people who were interested in the subject but had relatively little knowledge of it. 

Popish, a regular customer of Fifth Season Gardening herself, encourages people to check out the classes and the store. She said Fifth Season Gardening is a great local resource, and the people who work there are connected with the community. 

“It’s cool to be teaching in a space where people have access to supplies if they wanted to get started on their own thing,” Popish said. 

Johnston also emphasized the value of learning to do something for yourself. He said a big part of what their classes do is help people overcome the “confidence hurdle.” 

“It’s just seeing that and then convincing yourself and being confident in yourself that you can do it, and then learning how to do it and then doing (it) for yourself," Johnston said. "There's a lot of gratification in that; there’s a lot of gratification in churning out a batch of something yourself that you usually buy at the grocery store.” 

In recent years, Fifth Season Gardening has had competition from online sellers. Guerra said they hope these classes will help bring people into the door and spark interest in the community. 

Johnston emphasized the importance of supporting a local business, and the things they do to give back. For example, for five years now, Fifth Season Gardening has put on the Homebrew for Hunger festival to raise money for charities. 

Sustainability is also a big part of Fifth Season Gardening Co. Johnston said they practice sustainability in their store and teach it to their customers, and one of the goals of the classes is festival to raise money for charities. 

“I think the cool thing is that it’s encouraging people to interact with nature, which is something that we all need more of in my opinion,” Popish said.

arts@dailytarheel.com