Food & Farm Stories

  • Kiera Bulan

    Kiera Bulan

    As the Sustainability Manager for the City of Asheville, what are some of the projects you’re working on? So many different areas! Our department focuses on four main “buckets” of work with plenty of collaborative projects living under each. Our primary buckets are: Climate, Energy, Food, and Waste Reduction. Within those areas we focus on…

  • Gary Steiner

    Gary Steiner

    Gary Steiner is the co-owner and operator, alongside his wife, Abigail, of Bee-utiful Farm & Garden, nestled in Hendersonville, NC. The couple offers a CSA (or Community Supported Agriculture) program year round, as well as guided farm tours and school field trip opportunities.   What are the main benefits of participating in a CSA? A couple…

  • Holly Whitesides

    Holly Whitesides

    Farmer Holly Whitesides will give a welcome address as part of the 2024 Business of Farming Conference on February 24 at A-B Tech in Asheville. Holly has been farming at Against the Grain Farm in Watauga County, North Carolina, since 2012, alongside Andy Bryant and their three daughters, Beatrice, Corva, and Linnea. Can you tell…

  • Cooperativa Tierra Fértil

    Cooperativa Tierra Fértil

    Tierra Fértil Coop is an Hispanic, worker-owned farm cooperative in Hendersonville, North Carolina. Members Delia and Maria talk about how this project stemmed from personal and collective dreams of promoting access to resources and the capacity to produce food and stimulate food justice and racial equity in the local food and agricultural system. The video…

  • Blake Hart

    Blake Hart

    Blake Hart is the executive director of Haywood Christian Ministry, a nonprofit organization providing a food pantry as well as heating and housing assistance. The food pantry serves 800 to 850 families each month, offering fresh, local produce in addition to frozen meat, bread, and shelf-stable pantry goods. When did Haywood Christian Ministry first begin…

  • Alison Francis

    Alison Francis

    Alison Francis is the Director of Nutrition of Haywood County Schools, and has worked with ASAP for many years to source from local farms. In September she volunteered for ASAP’s Farm Tour at Pilot Mountain Pears, which sold Asian pears to Haywood County Schools this year. For our Faces of Local interview this month, we…


Story Archive

The Appalachian Grown region is rich with local food and farm stories—from farmers, educators, chefs, community advocates, and many more. ASAP tries to share as many of these as possible, including in our annual Local Food Guide, in our newsletters, and on social media.

From 2015 to 2021, ASAP presented Growing Local Radio, a weekly broadcast on WNCW. Stories were based on research from ASAP’s Local Food Research Center. More than 200 audio stories and transcripts from Growing Local Radio are included in the archive below.

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Recent Stories

Charlie Jackson May 23rd, 2022 in Faces of Local

Sunburst Trout Farms: From Wholesale to Restaurants and Local Customers May 11th, 2022 in Local Food Guide

Dillingham Family Farms: Eighth Generation April 22nd, 2022 in Local Food Guide

SMM Farm and Moreno Family Farm: Rediscovering the Past April 22nd, 2022 in Local Food Guide

Farside Farms: From Burley Tobacco to Farm Stand Eggs April 20th, 2022 in Local Food Guide

James Smith & Kathy Phillips April 18th, 2022 in Faces of Local

Justin Jones & Mark Diaz March 22nd, 2022 in Faces of Local

Faces of Local: Noel Poindexter February 21st, 2022 in Faces of Local

Faces of Local: Emily Jackson December 7th, 2021 in Faces of Local

Faces of Local: Seth Salmon November 17th, 2021 in Faces of Local


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