George Barnett is a Louisville native who originally grew up in the Beechmont area. He’s a self-directed student of botany, ecology, agroforestry, ethnobotany, archaeology, and natural history. He’s an avid reader, writer, conservationist, forager, backpacker, and angler. George is thrilled to be a part of the Louisville Grows team to help bring quality food sources along with food sovereignty education to the Louisville community. Additionally, George is the founder of The Hungry Forager, an environmental education program that is based out of the southeastern region of North America. In the spring of 2024, George’s first book Foraging Kentucky: An Introduction to the Edible Plants, Fungi, and Tree Crops of the Southeast, was published by the University Press of Kentucky.
When George isn’t propagating trees, gathering hickory nuts to eat, or growing vegetables, he enjoys running, meditative walks in the woods with a pen and pad of paper to write down seasonal observations, and spending quality time at home or in the backcountry with his wife Samantha and their three sons Levi, Cedar, and Emerson.