If you’ve seen sorghum on restaurant menus lately, you may be wondering what exactly it is. While sorghum syrup is often just called molasses, sorghum molasses is different from sugarcane molasses. When sorghum cane is boiled down, it results in a sweet, mild syrup perfect for pancakes and baking. Southern Appalachian families have added sorghum … Read more
If you drive through the back roads of Madison County, North Carolina on an autumn morning, you might think you’ve traveled back in time. Today, there are still a few family farms, nestled in the hills and hollers, that use draft horses to help squeeze the juice from sorghum cane as neighbors gather ‘round to … 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
Seasonal eating is one of the joys of living in the Southern Appalachians. Community Supported Agriculture, also known as a CSA, lets you celebrate the arrival of each fruit and vegetable. There are CSAs for produce, meat, and even flowers. For produce CSAs, members sign up at the beginning of the season and receive a … Read more
Growing up on a farm isn’t always idyllic, but the three women who run Cane Creek Creamery in Fletcher, North Carolina say they wouldn’t have wanted their childhoods any other way. Sisters Mollie Hembree and Alma Nesbitt are cheesemakers at the creamery. Their other sister, Amanda Sizemore, directs marketing and sales of their European-style cow’s … Read more
Deep in the mountains of Western North Carolina, there’s a plant that’s been prized for hundreds of years. Ginseng is a slow-growing perennial with valuable roots that can be exported to Asia where it’s sought after for its medicinal properties. Ginseng has provided Southern Appalachian families with a boost in income during lean times, and … Read more
This year on Growing Local, we’ve shared dozens of stories about farmers, chefs, kids, and community members who support the local food movement. Today we’ll share some ways you can support local food, and take you behind the scenes at ASAP to meet two staff members who work every day to strengthen the local food … Read more
Farmers throughout the region are getting ready for farm tour season, and dozens of farms in the Southern Appalachians will open their gates to the public this month. At many farms, the community can walk through the fields, hear about the history of the farm, ask questions, and learn about the romance and realities of … Read more
You can bet the farm on the way agriculture comes up in the way we talk. Many of the words and phrases we use in everyday life — like “flew the coop” or “spring chicken” — come to us from previous generations who lived their lives on the farm. When we use these figures of … Read more
