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monthly news from ASAP | JUNE 2024 | asapconnections.org
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Growing Minds Wraps Up the School Year
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Our Growing Minds team closed out the school year with a final cafeteria taste test on June 7 at Weaverville Primary School. But in addition to the kindergarten and first grade students, they were also joined by Deputy Under Secretary of Agriculture Stacy Dean and other guests from the U.S. Department of Agriculture!
Weaverville Primary is one of several schools in Buncombe and Haywood counties where Growing Minds offered a deep dive in 2024, building on farm to school curriculum and activities already in place. Students got to know and trust the Growing Minds team throughout the year through regular cafeteria taste tests and other activities, building their confidence in trying new foods. As much as possible, taste tests were sourced from a single farm so that students could develop a connection to a specific farm in their community. Teachers participated in trainings and had access to new resources—as well as celebrating the end of the year together with activities like picnicking at a local farmers market or picking flowers together on a farm.
Pictured on the left are Lisa Payne (Buncombe County Schools Nutrition Director and ASAP board member) and Stacy Dean in front of our Meet Your Farmer banners, which are hanging in schools around the region. The banners correspond with the farms in the Growing Minds Meet Your Farmer video series. Pictured on the right are teachers from Oakley Elementary and Growing Minds staff at Flying Cloud Farm.
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Reminder: Take Our Consumer Survey
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 ASAP is conducting research on why people in our community choose the food they do. We want to know where you shop, what you value most when purchasing food, and what factors motivate or discourage you from purchasing locally grown food. Whether you buy locally grown food or not, you can help farmers understand and connect with consumers—which creates a stronger local food system!
The survey can be completed online or by calling ASAP at 828-236-1282. It should take 8–12 minutes to complete and will be open until Oct. 31, 2024. You must be over the age of 18 and a resident of Western North Carolina.
Please share with families, friends, and co-workers!
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 Introducing the two newest members of ASAP's staff, Oakley and MaKenna! We're so glad to have you both join our team.
Oakley Brewer is ASAP's new Communications and Engagement Coordinator. Oakley has served as the Executive Director of North Asheville Tailgate Market since 2021 and Assistant Market Manager at West Asheville Tailgate Market since 2018. They've also worked as a farmer and in food systems work in Asheville and Ohio.
As part of ASAP's Communications and Engagement team, you'll likely still spot them at farmers markets, as well as behind the scenes of the Farm Tour and many of ASAP's communications channels.
 MaKenna Hill is ASAP's new Operations and Market Manager. She lived in Barcelona, Spain, for 11 years before moving to Asheville two years ago.
You'll find her on Saturday mornings managing Asheville City Market (where she's ready to assist customers in both English and in Spanish as needed), in between keeping ASAP's office and operations running smoothly during the week. |
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 FACES OF LOCAL |
| |  Dawn Jordan, on the left, is the Agricultural Economic Development Director for Polk County, which has coordinated the NC Foothills Farm Tour as well as homestead tours in the county for many years. This year, Polk County will instead be part of ASAP’s Farm Tour! (Look for announcement of participating farms and other cluster areas in mid July!) We chatted with Dawn about the evolution of farm tours in Polk County, as well as her unique role in government.
Tell me about your role.
It is a very unique position. I am part of the Polk County government. About 15 years ago, Polk County did a farm preservation and protection policy plan. From that, they found that the need for economic development in agriculture was important, and they hired an Agricultural Economic Development Director—the very first one in the state. That was Lynn Sprague, and he did a lot of good work bringing attention to agriculture in the community. I always say he woke up a sleeping giant of ag that’s not going back to sleep. He moved on and I took on the role in 2013.
I do a lot of connecting the dots. That may be something as simple as, “Where can I get a chicken plucker?” or something bigger like, “Hey, Dawn, I had a sale fall through and now I have 10 gallons of organic blueberries. What can I do with them?” In most areas, Cooperative Extension is the first resource for farmers, but their role is more in technical assistance. We’re working with small businesses from an economic development standpoint.
What does farming look like across Polk County?
The western part of North Carolina is different than the eastern areas. The farms in Polk are small. We just don’t have the land mass for large commercial businesses. But there are lots of smaller farms doing everything from hay to corn to vegetables. What I’m seeing now is an uptick in homesteading situations. People are growing for themselves and have extra and are looking for outlets to sell that. Typically their first stop is the farmers market, where they are learning about consumer demand in the area, how to present their product, how to talk about what is unique about their product, and maybe learning value-added steps they can take with their products. Farmers markets are incubator spaces.
Your office operates two farmers markets, Columbus Farmers Market and Saluda Tailgate Market.
The farmers markets came under my department in 2019 and 2021. They were previous run by the Business Association and volunteers who were aging out. Farmers markets really allow for consumer education—what’s seasonal, what’s available, what’s not. We had somebody this week looking for green peanuts. We talked about how this is not the best environment for peanuts. Consumers these days don’t always know how to cook with fresh product, but farmers can educate on what you can do.
What has the NC Foothills Farm Tour been like in past years?
We’ve had farm tours for 15 years. My predecessor started that. I was actually on the second tour as a farmer—that’s how I got engaged with this arena of agricultural economic development. After a couple of years, we saw a need to expand the tour. We wanted to rotate the farms on the tour—just like ASAP’s Farm Tour. In 2018 we made a connection with Rutherford County Cooperative Extension and partnered to have both counties on the tour. In 2020, we offered a virtual farm tour with both counties.
There’s a great variety of farms in Polk and Rutherford and people enjoy seeing unique farms. One that comes to mind is our garlic farm. We had a couple of ladies who grew every variety of garlic you could think of, and they really did know everything you could possibly know about garlic. I said, “You need to be on our farm tour!” They said, “But we just grow garlic.” I said, “Exactly.” It was the most popular stop on the tour, because it was so unique.
In 2023, we did a smaller homestead tour in Polk County, which was well received. People seem to really enjoy that aspect, learning about homesteads. We’re hoping by having Polk and Rutherford as part of ASAP’s Farm Tour we can also continue to do a separate homestead tour, maybe in the spring.
What was your farm on the tour? Are you still farming?
It was called Restoration Farm. It’s really on the back burner right now. I’m too busy with this other job! I do have about 60 chickens in the back yard, though.
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 RECIPE OF THE MONTH |
| |  This summertime recipe comes from Duane Gibson and Lindsey Giglio of Two Stones Farm + Mill, which they shared in ASAP's 2024 Local Food Guide. "We both love cooking and eating dessert. This dish is an elevated version of a cobbler, without the complexity of work. It’s a great treat in June to welcome summer, or if you save any of the jammy blueberries in your freezer, a smile in deep winter. It can be changed up in a lot of ways and still taste great."
Servings: 6–8
Ingredients
- ¼ cup (33 grams) whole grain flour (we use Appalachian White Wheat)
- ¼ cup (33 grams) corn flour
- ¼ cup (50 grams) sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 eggs
- 3 tablespoons (60 grams) butter, melted
- Zest of 1 orange or lemon
- ½ cup whole milk
- 2 cups (310 grams) blueberries, strawberries, or blackberries (or a combination)
- Whipped yogurt (optional)
- Sorghum syrup (optional)
Directions
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Place a 12-inch cast iron skillet in oven set to 350 degrees. Melt the butter in a separate pan while the skillet warms.
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Whisk together the dry ingredients (flours, sugar, salt) in a large bowl.
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Whisk in your wet ingredients (eggs, melted butter, milk, zest) one at a time.
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Pour the batter into the heated cast iron skillet, lightly buttered, and sprinkle berries over top.
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Bake for about 25 to 30 minutes, until golden. Let cool before serving.
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Optional flare: Serve with whipped yogurt (our local favorite is from our friends at Grassroots Farm and Dairy) and drizzle with sorghum syrup.
Find more recipes at growing-minds.org and asapconnections.org.
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 MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS |
| | "We are creating new market opportunities where farmers will be paid a premium above market rates. All this helps to give people a sense there's a second path that's available."
— U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, quoted in The Mountaineer; the article includes resources from ASAP on how farmers can access these opportunities
“People come to Asheville for a lot of reasons, that includes connecting with place ... A connection with community and farmers market are such a clear example of that. I think the work of ASAP, being able to promote those markets, and offer technical support to markets that we are not directly managing, just gives another layer of strength and support to farmers markets that probably not all farmers markets have."
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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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