“Caught in the middle, our small farmers struggle to balance wages with prices the market will bear, while treating workers fairly.”
Tag: local food
Showing 1-21 of 29 results
Mother Earth Food expands to meet new demand
Business for the Asheville-based produce and grocery delivery service has tripled with COVID-19 social distancing measures in place, allowing it to support more local growers.
Letter: Let Earth Fare’s closing be a boon for local food
“When we purchase more like 10% of what we collectively eat [in the place] where we live, we will be on our way to building a more sustainable, regenerative and resilient system, which will be a viable alternative to global and industrial practices.”
Carol Peppe Hewitt builds financial resilience with Slow Money NC
Since 2010, when Hewitt made the first loan to a friend who needed help expanding her small Greek restaurant, Slow Money NC has catalyzed over 300 loans totaling about $4 million to 125 small farmers and local food businesses.
Bagels rising: WNC bakers deliver the hole schmear
From a soon-to-open spot on Hendersonville Road to established businesses like West End Bakery, the Asheville area boasts several independent bakeries that are big on bagels.
Letter: Keep local market program in farm bill
“With LAMP, North Carolina farmers will more easily connect with nearby purchasers, whether through our schools, hospitals or farmers markets.”
ASAP’s Farm Tour celebrates its 10th anniversary
Hayrides, fishing, wine tastings, cooking demos and berry-picking are just a sampling of the events lined up for this year’s tour, which showcases more than 20 small-scale, local farms.
Aug. 15 breakfast to introduce farmers to thriving market
While Western North Carolina is already known for producing high-quality medicinal herbs, there’s still plenty of potential for growers to get in on the ground floor of a market that appears poised to expand. Farmers and others interested in opportunities in medicinal herbs can learn more at the Buncombe County Friends of Agriculture Breakfast on Aug. 15.
Growing smart: Mother Earth Produce expands into West Asheville sustainable business hub
With its recent move to an unusual shared business space off Pisgah View Road, the local-foods delivery service has plans to broaden its reach.
Springtime tailgate markets popping up: Where to shop this season
(Go to the bottom of this article for a listing of local tailgate markets) When the springtime flowers start popping up in the mountains, the tailgate markets are never far behind. Though the full harvest is still around the corner, many markets have already begun selling fresh, local foods in outdoor locations around the region […]
Blue Ridge Food Ventures — profile
Tucked away in the corner of A-B Tech’s Enka campus, budding local businesses like Buchi Kombucha and Lusty Monk Mustard have had the opportunity to grow their roots in an 11,000-square-foot, FDA-inspected, shared-use facility called Blue Ridge Food Ventures. Success for this organization doesn’t come from keeping clients, but from watching them leave. “It’s the […]
Smoke and mirrors: the death of tobacco in WNC
Few crops have been as central to North Carolina’s economy and culture — or as controversial — as tobacco. Historically, its high market value and the relative ease of growing it made tobacco a staple for many Western North Carolina farmers. As late as 2002, 1,995 mountain farms grew tobacco. The crop’s prevalence, however, was […]
Katuah Market owner cites location, competition as store closes
Despite efforts to tweak the store model and cut costs, new competition in the past year from national brands like Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods made it nearly impossible for Katuah Market to compete, says owner John Swann.
The roots and reason of Asheville’s buy-local sensibility
The city’s local push has transformed from mere trend to full-fledged movement, a move that now seems natural, but how did local businesses get whipped into such a unified front?
Blue Ridge Food Ventures: Adding dimension to the local food system
From the Get It! Guide: No one could have imagined that Blue Ridge Food Ventures would become one of the best-known facilities of its type in the country or remain the largest in the Southeast to this day. Since its official opening in 2005, Blue Ridge Food Ventures has helped launch more than 250 small businesses.
Asheville’s food pioneers: Charlie Jackson and the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project
There was a time when people didn’t generally consider downtown Asheville as a dining destination. ASAP, which launched in 2000 as a local food campaign to help reverse the loss of farms in Western North Carolina during the decline of the tobacco market, has been integral to that transformation.
The Butcher’s Table: Black Mountain’s artisanal meat feast
Twice a month from July through October, Foothills Farm & Butchery cranks out a four-course meal for no more than 10 guests at a time, calling the dinner the Butcher’s Table.
Chef William Dissen takes a taste of Asheville to New York
The James Beard Foundation has tapped Chef William Dissen of Asheville’s The Market Place Restaurant to helm a dinner event on March 22 at the James Beard House in New York City’s Greenwich Village. Photo courtesy of William Dissen
“Wellness” issue is a misnomer
a href=”“Calling the Jan. 25 Mountain Xpress a “Wellness” issue is quite a stretch. There were only a few articles dealing with wellness — one detailed how Asheville became an alternative medicine mecca and discussed Project Access, which provides free medical care to uninsured residents. But this so-called Wellness issue also included a piece that […]
Bees, chickens and recirculating aquaculture: Urban homesteading at Ashevillage Institute (video)
Shawn Jadrnicek shows how his runoff ponds connect to the greenhouse with a pond, which is connected to the chicken coop, while the bees buzz around the whole recycling aquaculture system.
Amy’s Kitchen S.C.-manufacturing facility looks to WNC farmers to supply organic produce
It was just a matter of time before WNC farmers and the folks at Amy’s East Coast production facility in Greenville, S.C., would start discussing supply and demand. The facility will need a lot of produce to supply when it goes online next summer.