In last week’s episode, we took you to a dairy farm in Columbus, North Carolina. Jennifer Perkins from Looking Glass Creamery was standing on top of a grassy hill and imagining its transformation into an underground aging cave for their cheese. It was 2017 and Looking Glass Creamery had taken on a tremendous challenge. Jennifer … Read more
It’s 5:30 in the evening and the cows are already lined up at the gate. Alan Harmon of Harmon Dairy is getting the milking machine ready. How many times has Alan started and ended his day in the milking parlor? “I got started when I was a teenager,” says Alan. “Now I’m 61 years old, … Read more
I’m hunting the ghost of tobacco farming with Taylor Barnhill from the Appalachian Barn Alliance. As we drive around the tight curves and steep hillsides of Madison County, we see dozens of old barns teetering on the edge of the road. The wooden boards are worn and faded, vines climb up the sides, and many … Read more
If you drive through the hills and along the river in Madison County, North Carolina, you’ll see a community in transition. Some fields are fallow, others are filled with hay, and around the bend, farmers are growing fruits and vegetables while chickens, pigs, and sheep graze on open pasture. Just a few decades ago, Ross … Read more
Picture the perfect Christmas tree. It’s tall and cone-shaped, has strong boughs for hanging ornaments, its needles stay on the tree for weeks after it’s harvested, and it smells divine. This ideal Christmas tree is likely a Fraser fir. Fraser fir trees grow naturally at elevations above 4,500 feet and thrive in the Southern Appalachian … Read more
Food sovereignty has been central to indigenous communities for thousands of years. Families worked together to grow gardens, prepare meals, and share or trade the bounty with each other. Growing traditional crops like corn, beans, and pumpkins was not only a source of pride, but also a way to be self-sufficient within a community. Joseph … Read more
KP Whaley of Tiny Bridge Farm in Henderson County, North Carolina grew up in the industrial city of Rockford, Illinois where his father and three older brothers were machinists. “We all grew up working with our hands in oil and steel,” he says. However, his family had their hands in the soil first. KP’s father … Read more
ASAP likes to share the stories of people who help us fulfill our mission. This month we’re talking to farmer Wesley Sleight of Sleight Family Farm in McDowell County. Wes works with ASAP’s Growing Minds Farm to School Program and recently joined the advisory committee for the NC Farm to Preschool Network.
During the depths of winter, it can feel invigorating to think about the abundance of fruits and vegetables to come. Spring lettuce is on its way soon, and tomato seeds are glimmers of hope that summer will arrive again. CSAs bring that bounty to from the farm the kitchen each week. A CSA, or Community … Read more
I’m hunting the ghost of tobacco farming with Taylor Barnhill from the Appalachian Barn Alliance. As we drive around the tight curves and steep hillsides of Madison County, we see dozens of old barns teetering on the edge of the road. The wooden boards are worn and faded, vines climb up the sides, and many … Read more