Robin Reeves is the sixth generation to grow up on her family’s Madison County farm — a lineage that dates back to before the Civil War. Reeves spent much of her youth helping her parents raise cattle, burley tobacco and tomatoes as well as her extended family in Sandy Mush. As an adolescent, she sold […]
Downtown’s new vegan, social justice bar has planned a soft opening this week with open house events and a vegan soul food Thanksgiving soireé.
The American chestnut tree’s flavorful nuts were once a vital part of the diets of humans and wildlife alike in Western North Carolina. Its importance is remembered in the traditional foods of the Cherokee, and the nearly extinct tree is slowly making a comeback with the help of some dedicated locals.
Sanctuary Brewing Co. and Full Circle Farm turn the tables on the conventional Thanksgiving dinner by offering an opportunity to meet — not eat — a turkey at this week’s ThanksLiving event.
In 1960, a group of student activists at Asheville’s all-black Stephens-Lee High School courageously challenged the racial status quo, bringing the civil rights movement closer to home. Through public demonstrations, boycotts and engagements with city officials, the members of the Asheville Student Committee on Racial Equality helped break down Jim Crow-era barriers. For the past […]
Although there were a lot of hurdles in getting the ball rolling with the 147 solar panels that are now active atop the roof of the Parish of St. Eugene, Father Pat Cahill says there were definite signs along that way that he and supporters of the project were on the right track. One such instance was […]
The iconic community-owned food market and grocer has announced initial plans to expand its current space on the 60-100 block of Biltmore Avenue and is reaching out to community organizations and the city of Asheville to begin discussions on the possibility of a massive multiuse facility.
From improving food access to supporting urban agriculture, the six Asheville City Council candidates shared their views on local food issues at a recent forum hosted by the Asheville Buncombe Food Policy Council.
Among many who fought for equality, Asheville native Floyd McKissick Jr. and his family have been on the front lines of the Civil Rights struggle for more than a century. McKissick gave the keynote speech at the second Annual African Americans in WNC Conference, at which he offered numerous examples of what it was like growing up, when, many nights, his porch had to be protected with armed guards.
More than 60 volunteers donned aprons and converged on the UNC Asheville campus Friday morning in an effort to prepare hundreds of nutritious, fall-themed meals for local people in need.
Inspired by Authors/activists Neal Shirley and Saralee Stafford’s book Dixie Be Damned, artist Phil Blank has created stunning visual representations of the hard-fought, often violent struggles of the disenfranchised throughout Southern history, from the coalfields of Tennessee to the anti-KKK partisan groups that roamed Robeson County, N.C., during Reconstruction.
In The Vegan Studies Project, local author Laura Wright examines collective opinions on veganism in the post-9/11 world.
In the damp morning hours of Oct. 2, 1929, gunfire erupted between law enforcement and a crowd of picketing mill workers at the gates of the Marion Manufacturing plant in the quiet foothills of McDowell County, leaving six residents dead and a town torn apart in its wake. The “Marion Massacre,” as the conflict came […]
With her new book, Asheville farmer, butcher, chef and teacher Meredith Leigh explores what a more humane and ethical food system might look like and examines the crucial role consumers play in efforts to change our foodways.
Even in Foodtopia, hunger is a big problem. Last year, MANNA FoodBank alone distributed 15 million pounds of food through 248 agency partners in 16 counties in Western North Carolina. Just more than 100,000 people were served from MANNA alone, in about 40,000 households.
With an upcoming forum for Asheville City Council candidates, the Asheville Buncombe Food Policy Council hopes to make food insecurity one of the front-and-center campaign issues.
Students and members of the public packed Warren Wilson College’s Kittredge Community Arts Center this week to quiz activists Bree Newsome and Warren Wilson alumnus Jimmy Tyson about why they took down a Confederate Battle flag flying on the South Carolina Statehouse grounds this past June.
Power giant Duke Energy’s proposal for a 45-mile transmission line through Western North Carolina, part of the company’s multifaceted Western Carolinas Modernization project to upgrade and integrate the mountains with a larger regional power grid, is meeting staunch opposition from residents since the company announced its intentions in mid-July.
There’s a crossroads between Buxton and Banks avenues, even though they don’t intersect. These blocklong, parallel, South Slope streets are lined with places to buy things, eat, drink and make merry: a chocolate factory, a doughnut shop, three breweries, two bars, a beer-and-wine store and the newest barbecue joint in town, among other businesses. The […]
Charitable organizations, food pantries and community gardens are working hard to combat hunger in WNC. And at the heart of those efforts, are hundreds of committed volunteers.
