Western North Carolina leaders have been thinking big when it comes to the region’s affordable housing crisis, with Buncombe County alone aiming to create or preserve up to 3,150 affordable units by 2030. But when it comes to actually building those spaces, some in the area are also thinking small.
Chef Dream Kasestatad returns to Bottle Riot. Plus: Punk Rock Hot Dogs returns to the Masonic Temple, Melting Pot Social opens and more local food news.
“I feel like right now this COVID virus is forcing people to slow down and, hopefully, look internally and not just at their phones,” says Percoco, the Firefly Gathering’s new executive director. “It’s interesting how something like this can come in and show us how vulnerable we are.”
Classes take place on a hilly, wooded eco-homestead campus featuring Bogwalker’s self-constructed cabin, gardens and fruit trees, and students can choose to camp on the property for a full immersion into a more sustainable way of life. “We are permaculture in action, a living example of the beauty and abundance of the land,” she says.
This fall, an international animal rights organization spearheaded a campaign to stop a small Western North Carolina permaculture school from hosting its annual home-butchering workshop.
Wild foods, foraged from Western North Carolina’s biodiverse environment, give a boost to health as superfoods high in nutrients, say leaders of local “weed walks.”
Despite a contentious week of social media campaigns, phone calls and emails from vegan and animal rights activists, local sustainability educators Meredith Leigh and Natalie Bogwalker went ahead with their workshop, Cycles of Life: Humane Slaughter and Butchering.
Crowds of locals and visitors converged on the Western North Carolina Agricultural Center Saturday and Sunday, April 11-12, to take in the sights, sounds and tastes of the 2015 Mother Earth News Fair. Click through for a slideshow of photos by Tori Pace.
Organic Growers School will hold its first annual Harvest Conference at A-B Tech on Saturday, Sept. 6. The event strives to give urban farmers, homesteaders and backyard growers successful tips for fall and winter growing through workshops.
