The distribution center at Ingles Markets is massive—1.6 million square feet. We’re in a motorized cart, whizzing past towers of food and grocery items. Ingles employee Elizabeth Harris is at the wheel, taking us through a refrigerated produce section filled with pallets of lettuce and tomatoes. The warehouse is like a grocery store on steroids, … Read more
There’s a little bit of magic in a fresh-picked blueberry—sweet and still warm from the sun. Going berry picking is a summer staple in Western North Carolina when farms open their gates to everyone who want to pick berries right from the bush. “They love picking blueberries and they love eating them as they pick. … Read more
It’s a hot summer day at Franny’s Farm Camp in Leicester, North Carolina. Farmer Frances Tacy and a gaggle of campers are searching for a pig named Doughnut. Franny and the kids shout out “Come here doughnut,” and the sweet snorting pig ambles toward them. Farm camps like this one are cropping up in Western … Read more
More than 1,000 people visited local farms on ASAP’s Farm Tour in June, and the sounds of farms at work were heard throughout Western North Carolina on this audio adventure. Come along for an audio tour as we meet an array of animals, go behind the scenes at a hot sauce farm, and truly learn … Read more
The World Health Organization estimates that by 2020, two-thirds of all deaths will be attributable to chronic preventable diseases. Obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and stroke are often linked to eating habits, and a growing number of doctors are working to help prevent these diseases by changing how we approach nutrition. “So much of what we … Read more
When Carolyn Bradley looks out on the lush hills of her family farm and the cattle grazing on pastures of clover, she is a link in a multigenerational chain. Carolyn and her husband Mike are the owners of Farmhouse Beef in Madison County, North Carolina, which is a stop on ASAP’s Farm Tour on June … Read more
Alyssa Moreno of SMM Farms in Hayesville will never forget what she calls “the worst day ever.” She walked out to her family’s strawberry fields to find flood waters rising, and the farm’s main cash crop completely underwater. She estimates the farm lost $20,000 worth of strawberries during the floods that raged through Western North … Read more
ASAP’s Farm Tour is coming up on June 23rd and 24th, and this month on Growing Local we’ll meet some of the farmers on the tour. The self-guided tour features more than 20 farms that produce vegetables, grains, meat, fiber, and much more. All of the farms are intriguing, and some are downright surprising. When … Read more
The car door slams and Kim Knoppel starts the engine. She’s a program coordinator for the Growing Minds program with ASAP, and today she’s going to Burke County, North Carolina for a farm to school road trip. “We’re heading out to Hillcrest Elementary School, which is in Burke County and part of Burke County Public … Read more
If you were looking for Julie Mansfield and Carl Evans during the dot com boom of the 1990s, you’d find them at their desks in front of computers, developing software for banks and insurance companies. “We worked together at a startup company and then we started to burnout,” Evans remembers. “So I called up my … Read more