The Sturdy Girls - McNairy's Garden Club

Written by Kathryn Miller

The Sturdy Girls are a group of women (and one man ... our Sturdy Guy) who have come together to form a gardening "support group". The group formed in 2024 with members who were all in some stage of learning about gardening. They needed others with similar interests to provide encouragement and information on all things gardening. Kathryn Miller and Julie Fairfield were the founding members who met each other while checking out books at the Irving Meeks Library in Adamsville. After chatting about garden boxes and spring planting, they decided to get together and talk some more about gardening. Both women were relatively new to the Adamsville area, relocating from California and the Memphis area. The librarians encouraged the ladies and offered for them to meet at the library. The library also put out an informational flyer at the checkout counter. After 3 or 4 meetings, the size of the group had grown to over 15 attending and the meetings had to move to a larger venue.

The group now meets at the Senior Citizens Center in Adamsville located at 408 Park Avenue on the 3rd Thursday of each month at 1:00 p.m. Meetings are open to anyone interested in gardening and membership is free. 

The members are women (and one man) of varied ages and backgrounds in gardening.  Some members are just beginning and others are veterans.  The topics discussed are gardening of all types....vegetable, flower, herb and more. They have had a speaker give a talk on native medicinal herbs and at another meeting the group discussed various methods of preserving produce for home use.

The emphasis is on chemical free gardening processes including soil improvement, natural pest control, weed control and more.  The group has organized several field trips including a visit to Rose Creek Farm in Selmer, Smiths Blueberry farm in Stantonville, and Gingrich plant nursery in Stantonville.  As a group project, the Sturdy Girls have planted a flower bed of colorful zinnias in front of the Adamsville mural at the corner of Highway 64 and Maple Street. The ladies and gent enjoy occasional social potlucks together but meet for the most part to discuss pertinent gardening information for the season.  There is consideration of adding future topics to include some homesteading and self-sufficiency skills such as raising small livestock, bread and butter making, sewing and simple woodworking. Miller dubbed the group The Sturdy Girls because her husband has always referred to her as "sturdy".... willing and able to take on the challenges and hard work of providing for the household.

A big thank you to Mrs. Kathryn for giving such insight on The Sturdy Girls - their meeting for this month is Thursday, May 15th, 2025 at 1:00 pm. We hope to see you there!