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monthly news from ASAP | JANUARY 2024 | asapconnections.org
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Growing Minds Publishes "I Tried Local..."
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Growing Minds has published "I Tried Local..." a Toolkit for Engaging Kids with Local Food and Farms. This resource—intended for early care and education through second grade classrooms—offers an immersive curriculum designed around 10 crops grown in North Carolina. The print toolkit is currently available to educators in North Carolina who participate in a virtual training with Growing Minds. A free digital version is also available to anyone on the Growing Minds website.
Each unit includes an overview of a North Carolina–grown crop, lesson plans, recipes, coloring pages, book recommendations, discussion prompts, and a link to the “Meet Your Farmer” video series featuring North Carolina farmers. The toolkit also offers resources for implementing the core elements of farm to school—gardens, classroom cooking and taste tests, farm field trips and farmer visits, and local foods in meals or snacks.
Growing Minds will host a series of virtual training to support educators interested in using the toolkit. The first will be held on Zoom on Tuesday, Feb. 20, from 3:30 to 4:45 p.m. Register here or contact [email protected] for more information.
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Swain-Macon Produce Prescription
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 This month we joined Moutainwise and the Swain and Macon county health departments for the first monthly gatherings in the next phase of the Swain-Macon Produce Prescription Program. This pilot program is exploring alternative models to ASAP's Farm Fresh Produce Prescription at farmers markets that might work better in more rural communities. 100 families in Swain and Macon counties are receiving weekly deliveries of local produce compiled by Darnell Farms, along with pantry staples (like olive oil, bread, and spices), recipes, cooking equipment, and gas cards.
The monthly gatherings bring together participants for cooking demonstrations, children's activities, and more family resources. Pictured is Rose James, project coordinator and nurse nutrition consultant for Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Tribal Food Distribution, offering a cooking demonstration. |
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Save the Date for the CSA Fair—and CSA Month!
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ASAP's 2024 CSA Fair will take place Friday, March 8, from 3 to 5:30 p.m. at the YWCA of Asheville.
The CSA Fair is relaxed setting where attendees chat with farmers about their products, growing practices, payment structure, and more. Attendees can sign up for a CSA during the fair or follow up with farmers later. The fair will also feature local food tastings and activities for kids, as well as produce and food products available for purchase. Participating farms—all offering CSA pickups in Buncombe County—will be announced in late February.
Look out for more resources on ASAP's website and social media for learning about CSAs and finding CSA farms during CSA Month, Feb. 15–March 15.
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Farmers: Appalachian Grown Cost Share Available
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 ASAP, through support from the North Carolina Tobacco Trust Fund Commission, has funds available for Appalachian Grown certified farms and farm groups in North Carolina to promote locally grown food in 2024. These funds can be used for design and production of labels, packaging, or promotional materials featuring the Appalachian Grown logo. The promotion must reach the public and support farmers within one or more of the Appalachian Grown counties in North Carolina. Appalachian Grown Cost Share operates on a reimbursement basis, for up to 75% of total project costs. Find out more about project eligibility and guidelines and apply.
Pictured: A sign for The Liar's Table, a 2023 Appalachian Grown cost share project.
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Internship Opportunity with Growing Minds
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 Love kids and local food (or know a student or early-career professional who does)? ASAP has a winter/spring internship opportunity with the Growing Minds Farm to School program! Find more details and apply here.
Internship activities will include traveling with a team member to schools in the WNC region to deliver training to teachers and engage students around gardening, cooking, and other farm to school components. The intern will also spend time in the ASAP office preparing and organizing materials and other project needs.
Pictured: ASAP staff Suzi Palladino and Caleb Thomason conducting a local foods taste test at Oakley Elementary.
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Deadline to Update Your Local Food Guide Listing Is Jan. 31!
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 The deadline for updating or certifying your information for ASAP's annual print Local Food Guide is coming up next week, on Jan. 31.
You can do it yourself online (login here) or over the phone by calling the ASAP office (828-236-1282, Tuesday to Thursday). Print listings are $30 for farms, $100 for businesses, and free for farmers markets. An online listing is completely free and can be updated any time throughout the year.
If you have a new farm, restaurant, retail outlet, or other locally sourcing food business, you can register now. Go to appalachiangrown.org and click Get in the Guide.
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 FACES OF LOCAL |
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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 me a little bit about Against the Grain Farm?
We’re a small, diversified, Certified Organic vegetable farm. We grow intensively on around two acres, mostly for direct markets. We have a CSA, we go to a farmers market year-round, we sell to a pretty good list of local area restaurants and also to the High Country Food Hub. We’re a full time farming family. We do this as our primary source of income and livelihood. We hire folks seasonally, but we also carry a few year-round employees as well.
The CSA is really special to us. One piece that we saw early on in our farming journey is that local food is inaccessible for a lot of people, especially in Watauga County. How do people of limited means get access? The flip side, especially from a farmer perspective, is that food is undervalued in our country and our culture. That felt really challenging to bridge. We started a cost share fund with our CSA [in which CSA members can contribute to free shares for community members in need]. It’s small, but we were able to provide 10 CSA shares—which is about 10 percent of our CSA—to members ot the community. That’s really positive for us—a way we can feel like we’re making difference in our corner of the world.
What have been some of your biggest challenges as a farmer?
The word balance keeps coming to mind. For us, the work-life balance of being a first-generation, direct-market farm has been really hard. The presence of children, creating that family, has been a humongous drive for us. That’s a real push for us to find farm-personal life balance. It’s one of the biggest challenges, but also such a gift because it has encouraged us to really refine what we do and make things more effective and efficient. It’s ongoing. It’s not like it’s arrived and we have achieved balance. But we always getting better.
Balance really carries into other aspects of our farming journey. There is a challenge in balancing our holistic goals—the social health of the farm, the financial health of the farm, and the biological health of the farm. Seeing how they all feed each other and can even feel in opposition has offered so many growth points.
What keeps you farming?
The fact that farming is this repeated invitation to grow and learn more and refine and improve. There’s always an opportunity to learn from other farmers, learn from the soil, learn from co-workers, learn from the community—a constant unfolding of discovery. I think that this is undeniably attractive to me. That’s what keeps me going.
My farming life has turned more into the management of farm as it’s grown. It’s not necessarily work I love in and of itself, but because it’s for the overall farm goals and vision, it keeps me going from day to day. Right now I’m in a phase of my life when I work nights and weekends, and that’s really challenging. With any other job, I would be like, “Forget this!” But the farm is almost a family member. It’s my firstborn child, in a way. Maybe other small business owners feel this way. You’re in this relationship with this piece of land, this being. I don’t want to leave it by the wayside.
Are there takeaways from attending the Business of Farming Conference over the years that have been particularly valuable for you and your farm?
I really appreciate being around other small farmers who are thinking about the business side of farming. So often the focus is on production, and obviously that’s really important. But being in a space and having that focus on being economically savvy in this world we live in is a great balance. Farmers are usually inspired to farm because they love to be outside, love to get their hands dirty, love feeding people. There aren’t a lot that are like, “I love Quickbooks, I love to think about cash flow.” Creating space to think about things that are challenging or a little inaccessible can be so helpful
I love that a lot of workshops are presented by other farms. That peer-to-peer learning and networking that is so valuable. There was a Selling to Restaurants session that really ignited a lot of lightbulbs for me early on in our farm journey. I also attended a workshop on agritourism, because we were thinking about having rentals on farm. It was well presented—and I realized that was not the direction we needed to go because of our personalities and culture on the farm. Workshops can be great as way to introduce topics and concepts that maybe you’ve considered and researched, but need to hear more about.
Any tips you would offer beginning farmers to get the most out of the conference?
Definitely try a workshop that is on a topic that maybe isn’t even in your sphere of consideration. Take some classes that are immediately in your scope of need or interest, and then try one here and there that’s out of your comfort zone. For example, long-term succession planning, how to pass a farm to the next generation, is so helpful for a farmer. The more you learn about these concepts now, you’ll have some recognition and understanding as they become more relevant to you.
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 RECIPE OF THE MONTH |
| |  This pesto can be made with many types of farmers market greens, including turnip tops, arugula, spinach, or kale. Try this pesto as a dip for raw vegetables or spread on fresh bread!
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
- 1 pound pasta, any type
- salt for pasta water, plus more to taste
- 1 bunch radishes with greens
- 1 clove garlic, chopped
- 1/4 cup walnuts (or use almonds, cashews, or pine nuts)
- 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon olive oil, divided
- pepper to taste
- feta or goat cheese, crumbled (optional)
Directions
- Fill a large pot with salted water and bring to a boil over high heat. Cook pasta according to directions. Drain and place in a large bowl.
- Separate radishes from greens. Wash and dry both. Roughly chop radish greens. Place greens, chopped garlic clove, walnuts, grated Parmesan, and lemon juice in a food processor. Process until a paste is formed. With the motor running slowly add 1/3 cup olive oil. Add more oil, if desired, to reach the desired consistency. Season pesto to taste with salt and pepper.
- Trim radishes and slice in half. If your radishes are very large, cut into quarters. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add radishes and cook, stirring or tossing occasionally, until softened and starting to brown, about 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
- Stir together cooked pasta and pesto and portion onto plates or bowls. Top with a spoonful of sautéed radishes and crumbled cheese, if desired.
Find more recipes on our website
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 MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS |
| "As local food has grown in popularity, and there is a demand for it year-round, farmers have found ways to grow year-round."
—Sarah Hart, ASAP Communication and Engagement Director, interviewed on WLOS
"Tripadvisor states that 'the local restaurant scene is all about taking advantage of the seasonal produce sold there.' Year-round farmers markets in the city include the Asheville City Market, North Asheville Tailgate Market, River Arts District Farmers Market and the WNC Farmers Market."
"Asheville’s farm-focused chefs rely on their relationships with local growers, many of which can be found at Asheville City Market or North Asheville Tailgate Market on Saturday mornings."
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ASAP's mission is to help local farms thrive, link farmers to markets and supporters, and build healthy communities through connections to local food.
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