Growing Local Radio Series

In the final episode of our Women in Agriculture series, we drive up to Madison County, North Carolina to meet Emily Patrick of Carolina Flowers. On this hot summer day, Patrick is pounding the stakes that will support the flowers […]Read More ▶▶

This week in our Women in Agriculture series we get to know a business owner who connects local farms with customers throughout the region. Andrea DuVall, co-owner of Mother Earth Produce, is an important link in the local food chain, […]Read More ▶▶

Running a farm takes many skills—from planting seeds and caring for animals, to managing finances, and getting food into the hands of customers each week. Women across the region have stepped up to the challenge and play important roles at […]Read More ▶▶

The sun sets over Mills River Creamery in Western North Carolina. A small herd of Jersey cows hear a farmworker whistle, so they amble over to the milking parlor. The milking machine chugs along as owner Bradley Johnston looks over […]Read More ▶▶

Our food supply depends on farmworkers. The physically demanding job of planting, harvesting, and processing food puts farmworkers at risk for acute injury and chronic disease, yet they often have limited access to healthcare. “The biggest thing that we see […]Read More ▶▶

It might seem like a doctor’s office is the opposite of a farm. Think of a sterile exam room filled with medical equipment—a place where dirt is definitely not welcome. But for physician Daphne Miller, what happens in the exam […]Read More ▶▶

In some ways, Balsam Garden’s plot of land in East Asheville looks like a lot of Western North Carolina farms. It’s about eleven acres at the end of a dirt road, nestled next to a river with mountains in the […]Read More ▶▶

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 […]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 […]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 […]Read More ▶▶