Mountain Farm Museum garden. Image courtesy of GSMNP.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park is hosting a volunteer work day at the Mountain Farm Museum on Tuesday April 25. The park received a $5,000 grant from the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area to create a modified style of fence to help protect the gardens from elk that inhabit the area regularly.

“Since the elk have returned, the corn field and vegetable garden have provided an attractive food source for them,” said Park Ranger Lynda Doucette. “Last year, we modified the traditional snake fence to prevent elk from entering the garden. The tighter fence design protected the crops so with the help of the grant from the Blue Ridge National Heritage, we will once again, be able to show visitors how crops were grown on an Appalachian mountain farm.”

Volunteers will be helping to clear the field of rocks and other debris, as well as organizing materials for the creation of the fence, and generally sprucing up the farm for the spring season. This will be the first of at least two public work days to fence in the Mountain Farm Museum gardens. The second work day will be held in June, after the locust logs are delivered.

The work day will begin at 10 am and will run until 2 pm. Great Smoky Mountains Association will be providing a pizza lunch for those working on the project. For more information contact Lynda Doucette at 828-497-1905.