Holt Orchards in Flat Rock, North Carolina has a legacy worth saving. A brother and sister team, Todd Kirmss and Tracy Cavagnaro, left their jobs in 2009 to come back to the family orchard full-time. The orchard was originally their stepfather’s dream. Markie Holt planted 15 acres of apple trees in the early 1980s when … Read more
This week, we continue our coverage of ASAP’s Healthy Eating in Practice conference held August 2018. One of the themes of the three-day event was considering all the barriers to healthy eating. Though most of us don’t eat our recommended daily fruits and vegetables, some people face the additional challenge of eating healthy on a … Read more
Today we’re at the Omni Grove Park Inn for the first day of ASAP’s Healthy Eating in Practice conference. Physicians, community leaders, and healthcare professionals from across the country are here. They’re going to go to lectures, cooking classes, and farm field trips where they’ll meet experts and make new connections. We spent the first … Read more
In the final episode of our Women in Agriculture series, we drive up to Madison County, North Carolina to meet Emily Patrick of Carolina Flowers. On this hot summer day, Patrick is pounding the stakes that will support the flowers as they grow. She’s determined to make the most of every minute on the farm, … Read more
This week in our Women in Agriculture series we get to know a business owner who connects local farms with customers throughout the region. Andrea DuVall, co-owner of Mother Earth Produce, is an important link in the local food chain, so we stopped at her warehouse in Asheville, North Carolina to see how food gets … Read more
Running a farm takes many skills—from planting seeds and caring for animals, to managing finances, and getting food into the hands of customers each week. Women across the region have stepped up to the challenge and play important roles at farms of all sizes. Nationally and regionally, according to the USDA Census of Agriculture, most … Read more
The sun sets over Mills River Creamery in Western North Carolina. A small herd of Jersey cows hear a farmworker whistle, so they amble over to the milking parlor. The milking machine chugs along as owner Bradley Johnston looks over the herd. He’s a third-generation farmer whose family has seen dramatic changes in the local … Read more
Our food supply depends on farmworkers. The physically demanding job of planting, harvesting, and processing food puts farmworkers at risk for acute injury and chronic disease, yet they often have limited access to healthcare. “The biggest thing that we see is musculoskeletal issues and injuries—physical body pain. They’re usually bent over most of the day … Read more
It might seem like a doctor’s office is the opposite of a farm. Think of a sterile exam room filled with medical equipment—a place where dirt is definitely not welcome. But for physician Daphne Miller, what happens in the exam room is directly linked to agriculture, from the microbes in the soil to the nutrition … Read more
In some ways, Balsam Garden’s plot of land in East Asheville looks like a lot of Western North Carolina farms. It’s about eleven acres at the end of a dirt road, nestled next to a river with mountains in the distance. Farmer Steven Beltram and his wife Becca run Balsam Gardens where they grow everything … Read more