Pinehurst Tea Garden

07/25/2026

Cleaning up an area where a bunch of one gallon plants that had not been moved for quite a while I came across these particular examples of what the root system of a Camellia sinensis does for the health of the plant. Tea plants are a bit different from the other camellias in the fact of how the roots operate. It is most likely a species thing, as Camellia sinensis will send up sprouts or stems at times, while the Japonica and Sasanqua Camellias don’t normally. Throw some sand around the base and one will normally get new sprouts. ‘The Classic Of Tea’ by Lu Yu speaks of that.
These particular plants were root bound and had even sent tap roots through the woven nursery ground cloth, which normally prevents that sort of thing. Roots are going to do their thing and want to grow. The photos show the natural path these plants went confined in their small containers. Note (photo of root on brick) how the feeder root plus root hairs came out of a root that had grown into the side of the pot.
The other photo of the roots and root hairs show what one wants. They are what not only feed the plant but also exchange sugars beneficial for everything such as the bacteria and fungi involved with the Soil Food-Webb. That includes people who enjoy the taste of tea, and just breathing in general. It is complex. The scientist types cannot even come up with a correct spelling name for it. Seriously, the whole process is one of those "how it actually works" mysteries in life....
The photo with the container and seedlings that came up after falling into a pot is there to show it germinated lying right on top of the ground, then sent roots straight down. Some growers germinate their seeds that way by lying them on top of the soil mix. This particular example had a bit of naturally falling leaf litter on the seed which I had removed to better show the actual seed. This would have been one of last year’s Fall seed germinating and growing this year. Even under drought conditions one can see they grew. Tea plants are pretty drought tolerant.

07/13/2026

Tea has a lot of things going for it, the type, the processing, the appearance of it, the aroma of a brewed cup, the methods of brewing, aging, the water, even the utensils. Lu Yu wrote of these things almost thirteen hundred years ago. But by far the ultimate property is taste. And that is subjective.
As someone who grows a bit of tea I am interested in all the above, but being somewhat skilled at horticulture and that from basically trial and error over time, the actual plant and how it grows is what concerns me most of all. I can drink a cup or two of a tea and think it is really great yet the next day completely forget about what it had tasted like.
I believe what goes on to affect the tea the very most goes on under the ground out of sight. Below is an article that was on the internet that caused the following experiment that for me started not quite a year ago. The photos show five hills or plots of ten seed each I just directly planted and now basically a year later.
Some of the seed germinated and grew, some died, some were pulled up or stepped on by three horses that got out and ended up at my place (that is a whole story in itself). I don’t think I ever even watered them except for the day I planted them, though I did plant a cover crop around them which is why the horses ended up there. It is hard to tell but there are twenty-five seedlings that survived almost the year.
The article has some good thoughts on the possible future of tea and agriculture in general and I hopefully will write more about that later.
https://www.the-tea-crane.com/blog/seed-cultivar-tea-garden-case-study/?srsltid=AfmBOoqoQcquNDbDVCMj9hpgStRzl58f90xTaikZBgEXCrBe6GksUz8h

06/27/2026

Have been working with cover crops over the years to help with the soil nutrition; Camellia sinensis is not a standard crop since technically it would be considered a forest tree. I still don't know whether to call it permaculture, eco-gardening, agroforestry or what.
Anyway in one area the rows are fairly wide and soil quality is very poor So this year used kale, clover, and some rye. The insects really got into the kale eating away and have gone out to cut it all down a couple of times but always see some dragon flies sitting around so I leave it. There are all kinds of insects in it, and they bring in the lizards, frogs, snakes and most likely birds.
Sitting out there in the late part of the day the number of birds chirping away is incredible. Takes one mind off all the problems of the World.

Biodiversity loss is not always immediately visible.

Sometimes it appears gradually through quieter ecosystems, fewer pollinators, and landscapes that feel less alive than they once did.

Healthy ecosystems depend on relationships between soil, plants, insects, birds, water, and people. Regenerative organic agriculture works to rebuild those relationships over time through practices that support biodiversity both above and below the soil.

🌎 What changes in nature have you noticed over your lifetime?

06/09/2026

Guess it is snake week in the Tea Garden. Just wanted to post and say I did not dispatch this one. Believe it is what is called a Red- Bellied Water Snake.
Harmless other than making the heart race a bit as they normally are suddenly walked up on, are very fast with a lot of thrashing about, and they are not small in size. Their presence will slow down the tea picking for awhile. In fact for the faint of heart it ends the tea picking for the day, maybe even the rest of the season.
Of course nothing says Yě Fàng Chá better than a couple of snakes lying around.

06/07/2026

Have been slowly building a wood burning, tea frying oven along the lines of those of old China and this was a series of photos over three days that sort of have a convergence about it all. Suppose it revolves around the colors. Also has to do with the heat of the last couple of days as it has been very hot.
The tea was some picked with some larger leaves more than usual for processing as White Tea. It had wilted for about fifty hours then Sun dried and the day got really hot around ninety-eight degrees.
Had worked on the oven and that was really hot, the cement really setting fast, so was sprinkling it a bit with water so the bricks did not draw all the water out of the cement. Anyway went out to apply a little more water and the Copperhead was lying among all the bricks setting all around on the ground. Hated to kill it but what could I do, can’t have a poisonous snake right there. Fortunately for me that the shovel was right there, not so much for the snake.
So the tea dried out and I got colors I had never really seen in the normal White Tea, which reminded me of the Copperhead down among the bricks. It was all kind of weird.

05/31/2026

I used to work with this guy and his favorite saying when we got down to doing some job was "There is nothing to it but to do it."
Growing tea is like any other endeavor.
There was also this other guy we called 'Blister' because he always showed up after all the heavy lifting was done.

Is it time for tea? 🌱 🫖 ☕️

The University of California's Kearney Research and Extension Center thinks high-value tea crops might be just the ticket for small-acreage growers facing limited water supplies. Scientists there are working with 4,000 tea plants to determine optimal soil conditions, irrigation practices, disease and pest management strategies, and ways to reduce the labor demands of tea production.

Learn more about how tea is doing in California from our ATTRA news story at https://buff.ly/c9n65bE and hear about growing tea in a different climate from our Voices from the Field podcast "Episode 359: Teatime in Mississippi" at https://buff.ly/3lgKjAD

05/28/2026

An acquaintance of mine that really knows a lot about tea once said that tea should always be rinsed because a person can never know who handled it.

05/25/2026

Price wise, how could a US market ever compete with this magnitude of production?
Our Food and Drug Administration has rules that frown upon even air drying of tea. Years ago there was a huge push for what was called GAP or Good Agricultural Practices which guidelines were really strict, and determined even if one could sell something. What it did was drive up the cost of producing something. It came out of California if that tells you anything. It absolutely banned any animals among crops, even birds flying over. I remember at a conference about this they had a photo of a dog doing what comes naturally out among some crop, and this would have your crop banned from sale. At the time I thought we had reached peak insanity here in the USA, but boy was I surprised.
I am all for being as sanitary as possible, but sometimes common sense just seems to fly out the window, laws are created because that is what government does.
Anyway China can export tea that a person can buy 100 grams off amazon for under $10 while using a bucket tractor to move it around. It takes me about three hours just to pick enough tea to process out to 100 grams. That is just a little over three ounces.

05/21/2026

Sort of monkeyed around with the photo of looking out my window early morning of the Sun coming up over some of the tea. It was nice and gave a sense of the surreal.
The second photo is more of the reality of a work in progress. Too much going on at one time.

04/28/2026

A beautiful, cool morning and yesterday picked (or plucked, never know which word to use) about two pounds of really nice tea buds, some with one and some with two leaves. The humidity was just right and they snapped right off. This grower down in Florida, Mike Loeb, wrote a paper about humidity which made me think of it. Humidity is an important part of tea, processing and storage included. I never thought about it but to***co curing was the same way.
Laid it out to wilt about sixty hours and guess it will be about four ounces of drinking tea once Sun-dried. I actually had saved some White Tea from the first picking of last year so I drank that while picking this batch. It took me about two hours to get this amount. It is slow work but well worth it I guess. The tea from last year was the longest I had stored and aged any tea, and it was very good. That part is very complex and much to be learned about with controlling the temperature and humidity, along with proper storage. It is like wine I suppose.
Anyway this year looks as if there will be plenty to pick. The plants are growing well and looking good, all pruned as desired and organically fertilized, the birds are singing, and the snakes are all lying around waiting for it to rain.
Hopefully will be able to have enough White Tea to press into small cakes to store and age. That has always been the goal.