The sun is setting behind New Belgium Brewing as ASAP’s Local Food Experience comes to a close. The event celebrated food grown and raised in the Southern Appalachian mountains, and featured collaborations between local farmers and chefs. Inside the brewery, the crowd finished their small plates and drinks. Outside, ASAP’s community storybooth welcomed one last … Read more
This time of year is all about vibrant displays of winter squash, pumpkins, apples, and other fall superstars at farmers tailgate markets. Late summer’s abundance continues through these chillier days, and most vendors are loaded up with dark leafy greens like collards, chard, and kale; root veggies like beets, carrots, and turnips; and tubers like … Read more
It’s a busy Wednesday afternoon and Shannon Barrett, human resource manager for the City of Asheville, is standing in the lobby of Asheville City Hall. Employees and visitors are rushing to appointments upstairs, but Shannon has a reason to slow down and think about her health today. “I’m getting ready to open my CSA box,” … Read more
Halloween is next week, and you might want to focus your farmers tailgate market shopping on plenty of fresh produce and proteins to counteract the inevitable sugar overload. You’ll find autumnal favorites like winter squash and pumpkins, apples, sweet potatoes, ginger, and much more. Want a meal that stays on (gruesome) message? May we suggest … Read more
It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the multitude of apple varieties on offer at farmers tailgate markets each autumn. Some are better for baking, some for snacking. Maybe you prefer a sweeter apple or something more tart. Maybe you know you’ve tasted the perfect apple before, but you can’t remember what it was called. How … Read more
Tou Lee stands in the middle of a rice field at Lee’s One Fortune Farm in Marion, North Carolina. He pulls on a glove, runs his hand up the stalk and over the tassel, and shakes individual grains of rice into a bucket. Tou and his wife Chue Lee planted this field of rice in … Read more
The weather continues to defy autumn’s arrival, but cooler-weather crops are arriving at farmers tailgate markets, including fresh root vegetables like radishes, beets, carrots, and turnips. Watermelon radishes are a particularly fun find right now, spotted at both Ten Mile Farm (Asheville City Market, River Arts District Farmers Market) and Headwaters Market Garden (Asheville City … Read more
The Moreno family’s farming roots stretch back to Mexico where Salvador Moreno Senior herded goats as a young boy. It was a long journey to Hayesville, North Carolina where he and his family now grow and sell produce under the name SMM Farms. His son, Salvador Junior, shares their farm story. “My dad was the … Read more
ASAP has organized an annual Farm Tour since 2009. Tours in 2020 and 2015 were canceled due to COVID-19 and the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza. Looking for information about farms you visited on past tours? Click through the farm listings below to learn more. (Note that some farms may no longer be in operation.) Eager to … Read more
Baskets of beans are starting to crowd farmers tailgate market tables. Common green beans, yellow wax beans, or deep purple burgundy beans are all great, versatile ingredients, whether you’re sautéeing a side dish, adding them to a salad, or preserving for later use. But here are a few specific varieties we’ve been excited to find … Read more