Birch Leaf Gardens is an effort to bring a deep connection between land and people.

Birch Leaf Gardens is a community garden, a nature space, an agritourism effort to bring a deep connection between land and people. It was named for the beautiful birch tree forest at its center. Birch Leaf Gardens provides a calm space to connect heart with land, educate young and old alike on gardening practices, and offer an escape from our often fast paced lives, giving an opportunity to slow down, breath in the land, and experience nature fully. Birch Leaf Gardens offers a space to actively engage with the agricultural community, learn sustainable gardening and farming techniques, local traditions, preservation and the joys of rural life. Agritourism is the marriage of agriculture and tourism. Today, agritourism has evolved to include a variety of experiences in sustainability and a hands-on understanding of farming, food production, and environmental conservation.

Connection through nature has always been a big part of the Lollis family. Edward Lollis, a lifelong gardener, was raised in a rural area of Texarkana, Arkansas and his wife, Sheila, was raised in the coastal town of Jacksonville, NC.  Having traveled within the US extensively with their two children, neither were tied to either place permanently. Ed, being raised in the rurals, lived off the land throughout most of his early years. He had fond memories of gardening, canning and preserving food. And both Ed and Sheila have maintained those practices until today, passing down the love of land to their children. That comfortable feeling of country living never goes away! Both share the desire for close community friends and home-grown food.

Sharing the love of nature through small-scale gardening led the Lollis’ to a semi-rural life in a local community just outside of Simpsonville, SC.  Ed’s longing for natural simplicity and Sheila’s desire for calm, gave them incentive to find the best land to begin their journey.  Thus, Birch Leaf Gardens was born.