Spanning multiple counties in Ohio, Rural Action works to strengthen the environment of the Appalachian region.
Founded in 1991, the non-profit organization currently has 600 members. Rural Action hosts a plethora of events throughout the year to achieve goals relating to sustainable agriculture, forestry and energy, watersheds, zero waste, environmental education and more.
Rural Action is deeply involved in the Athens area, overseeing UpCycle Ohio Thrift Store, an AmeriCorps division and a native plant nursery program. These collaborations allow the organization to host activities, including a native plant sale in the spring and fall seasons.
Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at UpCycle Thrift on 751 W. Union St., vendors, Athens residents and customers from neighboring counties gathered in search of rare plants.
Tom Redfern, Rural Action’s senior director of sustainable agriculture and forestry, said the non-profit organization strives to protect and invigorate Appalachian Ohio.
“We use a strategy called asset-based community development to work with the people and the things that we do have, to make the area better and work for a better future for Appalachian Ohio,” Redfern said.
Each plant sale provides an avenue for native plant enthusiasts and people passionate about gardening.
“We’ve been doing it in the spring and in the fall … in spring of 2024 (and) in the spring of this year,” Redfern said. “This was our fall one because it’s a good time for people to plant and bring together vendors who have native plants to sell.”
Some of Ohio’s distinctive native plants, listed by Ohio Native Plant Month, include Blue False Indigo, Palm Sedge and White Fringetree. Among the gardeners was Lindsay Klaunig, a farmer hoping to share some of her native plants with customers.
Klaunig said the native plant sale offers a special opportunity to farmers, as it gives them an outlet to sell crops they wouldn’t be able to at a traditional market.
“Its (native plants) are not something you really sell at a farmers market, our farm is sort of out of the way, nobody’s coming all the way out to the farm to buy it,” Klaunig said. “We show up with plants, it’s perfect.”
Vendors were not the only people eager for the sale. With a mixture of wildflowers, trees and shrubs, customers had a variety of plants to choose from, each with their own flair. Lindsay Robertson, an AmeriCorps member with Rural Action’s forestry team, said plant exploration is not only part of her work, but a passion.
“I’m super excited to look around and see all the native plants and talk to people,” Robertson said. “I’m kind of hoping to buy stuff and plant.”
The native plant sale is just one of the multiple acts of service and neighborhood events Rural Action hosts for Athens residents.
“I think it’s important folks know that Rural Action is doing a lot of behind-the-scenes work to make things like this possible,” Klaunig said. “I don’t think people realize how much Rural Action is doing to keep our farm and food community going.”
Robertson said working for Rural Action has been nothing short of rewarding, and each member aspires to be a helpful resource.
“I really love being part of plantings, like tree plantings and things like that, and knowing that the work we’re doing now will have impacts for hundreds of years potentially,” Robertson said.
As the U.S. Department of Agriculture operates in a “limited capacity” due to federal funding risks, Olsson Frank Weeda Law states, organizations like Rural Action may be needed now more than ever.
“With what’s going on with federal funding right now and funding in general, we are at risk of losing a lot of these programs … and so it’s time for the community to step up and actually support Rural Action instead of just grants,” Klaunig said.
People interested in donating or volunteering with Rural Action can visit its website.
