A mosaic of city roof top gardens? Vacant lots that create jobs? A backyard garden for folks without backyards? It’s all part of the small-scale urban farm model many in Asheville are striving for — where every tiny space is being utilized.
Garden strolls build up the neighborhood
Three years ago Scott Miller got a knock on his door — and an offer he couldn’t refuse. That knock on the door was Miller’s initiation into the West Asheville Garden Stroll, a neighborhood venture now in its sixth year, designed to show off the gardens of West Asheville while fostering walkability and neighborhood pride.
We’re not going anywhere: How a community garden rallied a neighborhood
The Burton Street Community Peace Garden is filled with art installations, metal structures, canopies, reading nooks and tidy rows of vegetables. But this garden is known for growing something more than food — neighbors say this garden works to grow connections in a community with a history of being intersected.
Why I grow: Gleaning with Willie Jones
In our new section, area growers discuss their gardens and growing projects. This week Willie Jones, an AmeriCorps VISTA with Western Carolina University’s Center for Service Learning and Food Security Partnership and founder of the Jackson County Glean Team, tells us about gleaning and how it can be used to combat food insecurity.
Conservation efforts continue for Coggins Farm property
Community unrest continues over the Coggins Farm property, site of a highly disputed planned development in Riceville. Riceville residents and other conservation proponents have formed the Coggins Conversation Project, calling for 75 acres of the 169-acre site to be placed in a conservation easement.
It’s growing season: Locate your neighborhood community garden
The WNC area is rich with community gardens of all sorts — from CSAs to donation gardens that grow for area food banks to education gardens for public schools. Xpress is working to compile a database of community gardens to help interested neighbors find and support these community efforts.
So you want to be an activist? Tips from the front lines for fostering an engaged citizenry
From the Get It! Guide: Lifestyle activism — everyday actions such as personal conservation efforts or conscientious purchasing choices — may be meaningful ways to shape our world, but in addition to making those day-to- day choices, many still yearn to find their voice and place in a world that feels increasingly loud and anonymous. So what can you do?
The art of sustainable culture: Building community through creative place-making
From the Get It! Guide: Often when we talk about sustainability, we focus on clean energy, the local economy or conservation. These are clearly integral to a resilient future — but the cultural fabric and the qualitative aspects that comprise this future are just as vital for creating a foundation for a sustainable community.
Redefining success: B-corps explore an alternative business model
From the Get It! Guide: If a big company comes along and wants to steamroll a smaller corporation with a buy- out, what options are there when corporations must maximize profits for shareholders? Does the smaller company have to sell, even if it means the death of its eco-friendly, socially conscious practices? Maybe not, if the smaller company is a B-corp.
Together and equal: Supporting diversity for a sustainable, healthy city
From the Get It! Guide: What are we talking about when we talk about sustainability in Asheville? Cleaner air environmental preservation, more city parks, better education, access to good food and quality housing? But what if all these things are not shared equally with all residents of the city?
How to protect your pollinators
From the Get It! Guide: Pollinators worldwide are in decline, and like the proverbial canary in the coal mine, they’re giving us a warning we should heed. Fortunately, there are ways we can promote and encourage pollinators in today’s challenging environment.
How to launch a local business: A Mountain BizWorks success story
From the Get It! Guide: Kudzai Mabunda realized a demand for assisted living that allowed the elderly or disabled to remain in a home environment. Utilizing a loan from Mountain BizWorks, she was able to create two new facilities.
Crossing the distance: Mobile markets fight hunger in the deserts
The USDA has identified several areas in WNC, and Asheville, as places without access to healthy, affordable food. But three different mobile food markets are aiming to launch this year — reducing the distance between healthy foods and communities in need.
In photos: YMCA holds ‘Healthy Kids Day’ in Pack Square
YMCA of Western North Carolina is holding their annual Healthy Kids Day today, April 12, in Pack Square until 3 p.m. The YMCA designed the annual event to “inspire more kids to keep their minds and bodies active.” This year’s event also marks the launch of the organization’s new mobile food kitchen and pantry.
Why I grow: Growing community in the garden
In our new feature, area growers introduce their gardens. This week Adam Bigelow tells us about the Cullowhee Community Garden in Jackson County
Love in a Parking Lot: How Oakley grew a farmers market
A celebration of locally grown food and neighborhood relationships, the Oakley Farmers Market and the adjacent Oakley Community Garden are giving a much-needed boost to a predominantly low-wealth community that the U.S. Department of Agriculture considers a food desert. But what brought them all together was as simple as a sign.
Together we grow: How gardens are raising food and creating community
Feeding America estimates that 100,000 people in Western North Carolina are experiencing food insecurity. Winter heating bills, new restrictions to food stamp eligibility and rising medical costs may be increasing situational poverty. But if a lack of access to food is a growing problem, some across the region are working on a growing solution. Read more in part two of our series looking at how community gardens are fighting hunger — from the ground up.
Growing community gardens: How networks of growers seek to end food waste and hunger
Each year, area food assistance programs seek out locally grown produce in their fight against food insecurity. But as some services struggle to provide enough food, some growers face an overabundance of certain crops — which may end up in a compost pile or rotting on the stock. Part one of our two-part series on community gardens looks at how growers are working together to eliminate food waste — and fighting hunger from the ground up.
Tupelo Honey supports Shiloh’s community enhancement efforts
Tupelo Honey Cafe is partnering with the Shiloh neighborhood to build an amphitheater and outdoor kitchen for the South Asheville community.
Colliding visions: Coggins Farm proposal could bring major change to Riceville
As a development company plans to build a new subdivision in Riceville, the neighbors worry their rural community is changing for the worse. With the real estate market bouncing back, what does the resurrgence of development mean for the region?
In photos: MLK Peace March and Rally
In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., an annual peace march departed from St. James African Methodist Episocopal church around noon. The procession met others honoring King at a rally in City-County Plaza, complete with music and speeches from community leaders.