ASAP’s annual Local Food Guide is the definitive resource for finding local food and farms in the Southern Appalachians. In addition to updated listing information for farms, markets, and businesses, each issue features stories from farmers and the local food movement. Find some of those stories below or look for the current print edition at farmers markets, local food businesses, and community centers.
“We need to influence as many people in the world to grow food and start backyard and community gardens,” says farmer Malcolm Banks, who operates Yellow Mountain Garden in Franklin, NC, with his wife, Hannah, and kids Noemi, Malik, and Lucy. “A lot of people don’t understand food right now, but they understand inflation. Our
Farmer Jake Puckett and his wife, Luna, spent last Christmas up all night caring for a sick calf inside their house. Meanwhile, the temperature plunged, waterlines went down, the tractor broke, and a new batch of ewes all started lambing at once. “There’s a commitment, physically and emotionally, to farming like this,” says Jake. “Death
“I remember shoveling fish guts, doing the hardest work on the farm,” recalls Wes Eason of Sunburst Trout Farms in Haywood County, NC. “If you’re the owner’s grandkid, you’re not getting the best jobs to start.” Wes is now a co-owner of the third-generation family business, alongside his brother, Ben, and mother, Sally. Sunburst Trout
“What’s happening now with Dillingham Family Farm is what I hoped would happen—that our children would become more involved,” says Brenda Dillingham. “I can transition out of things and know that the farm will continue on and that the grandchildren will be a part of that one day. That’s really important to me.” The Dillingham
Shortly after signing the papers on their dream farm property in Hayesville, NC, Salvador and Alyssa Moreno took a walk with their kids, ages six and four. They found what turned out to be an old American hazelnut variety. “I said, ‘I think it’s poisonous and it will definitely kill us,’” laughs Salvador. “But we
“I’ve just always wanted to farm since I was a child,” says Mike Brown, owner of Farside Farms in Buncombe County, NC. “My grandfather in Virginia farmed, and I guess that’s kind of where I got bitten by the bug when I was little.” Brown has now been farming in Western North Carolina for five