monthly news from ASAP    |   October 2025    |    asapconnections.org

Happy North Carolina Crunch Day!

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Today is North Carolina Crunch : [link removed], a day when students—and others—across the state crunch into a locally grown apple or other fruit or veggie. The event coincides with National Farm to School Month throughout October. Every year ASAP works with our partners at the NC Farm to School Coalition and NC Farm to Preschool Network to provide resources : [link removed] for Crunch events at schools and community locations across North Carolina. 
 

Yesterday, ASAP staff crunched together while visiting the corn maze and picking apples at Stepp's Hillcrest Orchard : [link removed] (read more about the farm in our Faces of Local interview with Rita Stepp below). Today, our Growing Minds team joined the Crunch at Haw Creek Elementary along with farmer KT Taylor : [link removed], who provided apples for schools across Buncombe and Haywood counties. Also pictured: students at Burke Early Head Start crunching with apples from Lee's One Fortune Farm : [link removed] and Apple Hill Orchard : [link removed].



Congratulations to Farm Tour Photo Contest Winners!

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Congratulations to our Farm Tour photo contest winners! And thank you to everyone who submitted photos. We love getting to see so many different Farm Tour experiences. 
From left to right, photos by:  
Jesscia Lee Alton, geese at Good Wheel Farm : [link removed] Summers Scarce, the LOVE gate to Root Cause Farm : [link removed] Kirkman, pig from Warren Wilson College Farm : [link removed] Kruss, pizza at The Ten Acre Garden : [link removed] Date: ASAP's Business of Farming on Feb. 28
Save the date! ASAP's Business of Farming Conference : [link removed] will be Saturday, February 28, 2026, at A-B Tech Conference Center in Asheville, NC. Registration will open in November, along with information about scholarships and other opportunities. 
 The annual Business of Farming Conference brings together professional and aspiring farmers across the Southeast region to network and share resources to grow their farm businesses. Farmers learn about marketing, business planning, and financial management from regional experts and innovative peers. The conference is designed for beginning and established farmers as well as those seriously considering farming as a profession.



New Report on Consumer Shopping Habits
: [link removed] 2024 ASAP's Local Food Research Center : [link removed] surveyed WNC residents about how they shop for food and why they choose the food they do. Findings from that survey are now available in a new report: "Why Buy Local?" : [link removed]
 

Key findings include: 
Demand for local food is strong: 87 percent of local food shoppers and 74 percent of typical shoppers expressed a strong desire to purchase more local food.Customers’ top three priorities when buying local food are supporting farmers and farm businesses, health, and taste.Customers’ top three priorities when buying non-local food are cost, health, and convenience.The top three barriers to purchasing local food are inconvenient market/store hours or locations, unable to purchase all of their groceries in one place; and cost.The average monthly grocery bill reported ranged from $479 (for typical shoppers) to $560.48 (for local food shoppers).The report is part of a three-year project by ASAP’s Local Food Research Center to examine and improve communication and alignment between farmers and consumers in Western North Carolina, supported in part by Southern SARE.



Reserve Your Holiday Bird!
: [link removed], you can have a locally raised turkey (or even goose or duck) for your upcoming holiday meals! Supplies are limited and farms usually sell out quickly, so now is the time to pre-order your turkey for Thanksgiving or other fall and winter celebrations.
 We checked in with Appalachian Grown farms and have a list with pre-order availability on our website : [link removed]. We will keep this list updated with availability over the next few weeks as much as possible. Pictured: Turkey at Good Wheel Farm : [link removed].



Seeking Input on Community-Based Space Needs
: [link removed] recently was able to purchase the two-story building that has housed our offices for the past 15 years. This allows us to expand to meet needs of the organization and also offers the opportunity to make space available for other complementary or community-based needs. While we are offering standard office space rental, we also want to hear from our community about what type of space is needed or may be most beneficial for future collaboration or community-based initiatives.
 

Please take a few minutes to share your input : [link removed] on the type of space that is most needed for your organization or more generally in the community.



FACES OF LOCAL
Rita Stepp
: [link removed]Rita Stepp (pictured second from the left) and her family own and operate Stepp’s Hillcrest Orchard : [link removed] in Hendersonville, North Carolina. Her family has been doing pick-your-own apples since the early ’60s and now offer a multitude of agritourism activities. This year, their five-acre corn maze is dedicated to WNC farms with a portion of proceeds supporting ASAP’s Farmer Resiliency Fund : [link removed]. All activities at Stepp’s are available through the end of October. 
 

Can you share some history about Stepp’s Hillcrest Orchard and what kind of activities you offer?
 

My mother-in-law and father-in-law started the business on a very small scale. They were selling apples out of the trunk of their car, but now we have over a 100-acre farm with about 40 acres of apples with about 8,000 apple trees. We do pick-your-own apples, pumpkins, grapes, and flowers like sunflowers, zinnias, and tulips. Every day of the week our five-acre corn maze is open. On the weekends we have wagon rides around the farm. We have an apple cannon where you can shoot apples at a target and a jump pad for kids 12 and under. We also have a bakery with lots of goodies made with products from the farm.

How important is agritourism for your farm?
 

Agritourism is what we do—it’s what we are all about. We are agriculture, we are farmers, we grow things and we work year-round as farmers, but we also invite visitors to come to our farm. We think it is so important for people to see where their food comes from, how it grows, and the work it takes. Plus, to get out in the fresh air and experience nature. So, pick-your-own apples is our claim to fame, but the agritourism activities help us maintain the farm and will sustain our business for generations. Right now, we have three generations that work on the farm. 
 

How did Helene impact your business and how is it going this year?
 

With Helene, we actually were very blessed. None of our structures were hurt. We had a few apple trees that blew over, but we were able to straighten them back up. Our problem was our road. We have a lot of people come to visit us, but both sides of our road were destroyed and people could not get here. So, we had to close for four weeks in October, which is our busiest time of the year. It was very painful and greatly impacted our revenue. We were able to go off the farm and take apples off the farm, but that’s not our claim to fame or our business model. This year we were very fortunate. The road is fixed and we have had a lot of visitors to come and enjoy themselves at the farm. 

What are the best parts and hardest parts about farming?
 

The best part about farming is seeing people and seeing them enjoy our farm and have that fun farm experience that is so important to us. My husband, Mike, really loves the growing part. He is so into growing the apples. I think my husband’s favorite part is operating the machinery. Really, the whole process of growing and making sure we grow a quality fruit for people to enjoy. As far as challenges, weather is a big deal. We’ve had two or three hail storms this year. In past years we have had some hard freezes in the springtime when the apples are in bloom which affects the apple crop. With all the rain, it’s hard to maintain the disease levels, too.

RECIPE OF THE MONTH

Vegan Mushroom Pot RoastShaniqua Simuel, a public health nutrition and cooking educator and ASAP board member, offered a cooking class for program participants of ASAP's Farm Fresh Produce Prescription : [link removed] last week. Shaniqua offers meal-prep kits for this and other recipes through her business, Change Your Palate : [link removed], or you can follow the recipe below!
 

Serves 4
 
Ingredients
3–4 medium red potatoes*2–3 shredded mushrooms, such as trumpet1 can of shredded and rinsed jack fruit1 yellow onion cut into slices or wedges1 small bunch of carrots1–2 sweet potatoes3 ribs of celery2 garlic cloves, smashed1/2 cup of dry white wine or unsweetened white grape juice2 cup of vegetable broth (divided)2 tablespoons olive oil or avocado oil1–2 vegetable bullion cubes1–2 tablespoons garlic powder1 tablespoons no-salt steak seasoning1–2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce1 teaspoon sea salt1 teaspoon black pepperFor the roux: 2 tablespoons cornstarch and 1/4 cup of water (optional)* For the demo, Shaniqua mashed potatoes along with Jerusalem artichokes, which are in season now!
 

Directions
Scrub and chop all veggies.Boil and mash potatoes. Set to the side.Add celery, carrots, and sweet potatoes to crockpot or Dutch oven covered with one cup
of broth to begin cooking.Cook for 4 hours in crockpot.Use second cup of veggie broth to season the dish. Pour it into a sauce pan and turn the heat
to medium-high.Add all other spices, sauce and garlic.Thicken it with cornstarch and water, then pour that into the pot or dutchSauté jackfruit, mushrooms, and onions with a little more seasoning in the pan with oilWhen the veggies are done, add in mushrooms and jackfruit.Enjoy alongside the mashed potatoesFind more recipes at growing-minds.org : [link removed] and asapconnections.org : [link removed].

MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS
 

"The farmers that Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project works with, for example, aren’t just random people whom staff can go home and forget about at the end of the day: these farmers are folks whom staff members know and care about. It’s been hard for executive director Molly Nicholie to separate herself and her relationships from the work, she said."
—Carolina Public Press : [link removed] article about continuing Helene recovery challenges faced by nonprofits
 
“For the school nutrition directors that are doing local food procurement, they are going above and beyond. And as they sort of get over that hump, I’m seeing that it’s integrated into their programming in a seamless way. But it’s the getting over the hump part that I think is the biggest barrier.”
—Suzi Palladino, Growing Minds program coordinator, in an article by EdNC : [link removed] ASAP
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asapconnections.org : [link removed] | growing-minds.org : [link removed] | appalachiangrown.org : [link removed]
  
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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ASAP (Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project) - 306 W. Haywood Street - Asheville - NC - 28801

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