Welcome to spring: Here’s where to find your neighborho­od tailgate market

Most area markets will be starting up in the next few weeks, though a few — including the Asheville City Market, the WNC Farmers Market and the Jackson County Farmers Market — are open year-round. With the help of Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project, Xpress is providing a roundup of regional markets, including markets accepting food assistance programs.

Blue Ridge Community Health Services honors Farmworker Awareness Week with shirt drive

Blue Ridge Community Health Services is one of several organizations participating in National Farmworker Awareness Week, which runs from March 24 through March 27. The national campaign was started by Student Action with Farmworkers to bring attention to the unsafe working conditions and low wages that face many agricultural workers.

Welcome home: Veterans Healing Farm connects returning veterans to their community

From the Get It! Guide: John Mahshie says he realized the value of the exercise, healthy eating and time spent in the sun that comes with farming — and what that could mean for veterans experiencing isolation or even suicidal thoughts as they struggle to reintegrate into civilian life. “It’s a natural fit for this sort of healing,” he says.

Green developmen­ts: How Asheville’s public housing communitie­s are leading the eco-scene

From the Get It! Guide: Green jobs, lush community gardens, community cookouts and water quality testing — these might not be things many in Asheville picture when they think of public housing. But residents says Asheville’s public housing neighborhoods are investing in their communities’ welfare and leading a growing interest in “greening” up the neighborhoods.