Pandemic Pivot: Local farmers find new markets for crops
Volume
26
/ Issue 44
Cover Design Credit:
Scott SouthwickCover Photography Credit:
Colin Wiebe
While WNC’s small farms have been rocked by the coronavirus, community support and innovative thinking have enabled many local growers to pivot and persist as they work to find a way forward. On the cover: Workers at Ivy Creek Family Farm.
arts
WNC craft schools prepare for a summer without courses
Executive directors from the John C. Campbell Folk School, Penland School of Craft and Tryon Arts & Crafts School share their experiences since COVID-19 changed their seasonal plans.Local visual artists find inspiration during quarantine
Maxx Feist, Jen Toledo and Liz Williams discuss the challenges and rewards of making art in the age of COVID-19.food
New coffee shop owners face pandemic shortly after opening
Farewell coffee shop was open only two months before it was forced to close by COVID-19. But the owners saw the store's roll-up window as an opportunity to stay in…Hominy Farm bread builds a following despite quarantine
Bread maker Eli Je Bailey debuted his business, Hominy Farm, at the River Arts District Farmers Market in February.West Asheville restaurants reinvent their service models to meet COVID challenge
Jargon and Biscuit Head are navigating the restaurant shut-down by trying new concepts.living
2020 Pollination Celebration! to feature photo contest
Asheville Pollination Celebration! returns for its eighth year in June. For the first time, the event includes a photography contest.movies
Grail Moviehouse moving to a new location
The independent theater has been at 45 S. French Broad Ave. for just over four years.news
City health officials respond to the 1948 polio outbreak
In June 1948, four Buncombe County residents were diagnosed with polio. At the time, there was a growing concern about a possible statewide epidemic. Worried parents bombarded Asheville's health officials…Snap goes the weasel
WNC farms grow new markets through community
The region's small farms have been rocked by the coronavirus, but community support and innovative thinking have enabled many local growers to pivot and persist as they work to find…Recent advances are transforming breast cancer treatment
“Most breast cancers require a combination of different treatments, and the order and combination of those things is a whole lot more complicated today than ever before,” says Dr. Blair…Journalism nonprofits work to supplement local reporting
As traditional for-profit news outlets face shrinking advertising revenues, staff cuts and consolidation, nonprofit news sources are exploring whether their model may be part of the solution in a changing…Local government advisory groups hindered during COVID-19
Since March 16, local government boards and commissions meetings have been canceled, meaning citizens have largely been shut out of formal policy discussions as Asheville City Council and the Buncombe…Couple quarantine while awaiting first child
Ruth Pike-Elliot and her wife Bren are expecting their first child on June 4. Quarantining during a pregnancy presents obvious challenges, says the mother-to-be. But the couple has also discovered…ART driver feels the stress of COVID-19 changes
“The No. 1 thing that has increased with the drivers — and I’m sure with the passengers as well — is stress,” says Diane Allen, who has worked as a…The life of a funeral director during COVID-19
COVID-related deaths in Buncombe County are low, but dying remains a part of daily life. Scott Groce, funeral director at Groce Funeral Home & Cremation Service, discusses the unique challenges…Local school budgets face ‘greatest emergency’ in COVID-19
As Buncombe County Schools Superintendent Tony Baldwin explained to the county Board of Commissioners during a May 19 meeting, the system’s pandemic response has completely exhausted its $4.6 million rainy…opinion
Essay: A duty and honor to vote
"As a citizen of the United States, I feel it is my duty to vote not only for myself, but for women like my great-grandmother who came before me and…Essay: The right to vote
"After hearing about the perseverance of my great-grandmother and realizing my own difficulties as a female in society, I have learned the true value of a woman’s right to vote."Essay: The importance of voting
"While there are women around the world who do not have suffrage, I am lucky that many women who came before me fought tirelessly so that one day I could…Letter: Message of ‘Wake’ goes ignored in Asheville
"The 'Wake' is so timely, and yet also completely ignored, fitting Asheville perfectly!"Letter: Potential casualties of COVID-19 or bureaucracy?
"We’ve stressed the importance of not dismissing our medical professionals, the elderly and other such integral members of the community. Let’s not forget our fellow criminals."Letter: Honoring ‘just getting by’
"Yet let me suggest that we honor as proud examples those who are just doing OK, just getting by somehow in an increasingly complicated, messy, unstable economic and human environment."Letter: We deserve better political leadership
"Buncombe County Board of Commissioners Chairman Brownie Newman and Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer have failed miserably with their response to the virus among us."Corporate taking