monthly news from ASAP    |   NOVEMBER 2020    |    asapconnections.org

Tips for a Local Thanksgiving
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ASAP can help you plan a locally sourced Thanksgiving!

Looking for a local turkey? As of this week, there were only a few left : [link removed], mostly at the larger end of the size range. Act quickly if you want to reserve one. You can also use the Local Food Guide : [link removed] to search for farms with smaller birds, such as chicken, duck, or quail. (Curious about what it's like to raise local turkeys? Read our Faces of Local interview with farmer Aaron Bradley below.)Need to shrink your Thanksgiving feast this year? We have suggestions for capturing the essence of Thanksgiving in a single dish in this week's Fresh at the Farmers Market : [link removed] report. Wondering when your local market will be open next week and through the holiday season? Find closing dates : [link removed] for markets across the region, as well as a list of holiday and winter markets : [link removed].
Want to (safely) get out of the house after the meal is finished? Take a family drive out to choose and cut your Christmas tree! Get links to local Christmas tree farms : [link removed] or find other Appalachian Staycation : [link removed] ideas for exploring our region, along with pandemic-planning tips.



Get in the 2021 Local Food Guide
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ASAP updates the Local Food Guide annually so that the community can stay up to date on how to find Appalachian Grown food and farms. (Check out our abbreviated 2020 Local Food Guide here : [link removed].)
 
This year in particular we know there have been a lot of changes for farms and other businesses, and our team is starting to make calls to more than 1,400 businesses to verify and update listing information. Make sure your farm or local food business stays in the Guide by updating your listing today! You can do it yourself online (login here : [link removed]) or over the phone with ASAP's support team (call our dedicated Local Food Guide line at 828-419-0851). 
 
Have a new farm, restaurant, retail outlet, or other locally sourcing food business that you want to be listed in the Guide? Register it here. : [link removed] A listing in the online Local Food Guide is completely free.



ASAP Partners with Feed Our City
: [link removed] is working with Asheville Strong's newly launched Feed Our City : [link removed] program, which purchases meals from local restaurants and distributes them to people in need through community centers, shelters, meal venues, and drive-through pop-up sites. ASAP's Local Food Campaign staff is working directly with participating chefs to source from local farms for these meals.
 
The Feed Our City partnership works in tandem with ASAP's Appalachian Farms Feeding Families : [link removed] program, creating additional outlets for farmers to be paid for their products and help feed their communities. You can help support ASAP's work by donating today : [link removed]!



Farm to Preschool News
: [link removed] off the presses! The revised second edition of the Growing Minds Farm to Preschool Toolkit : [link removed] is available now. This resource includes lesson plans, "This Week in the Garden" activity guides, simple classroom recipes, handouts, local food sourcing guidance, and tips for cooking and gardening with young children. Order a print copy or access the free digital version from the Growing Minds website : [link removed]. 



ASAP, on behalf of the North Carolina Farm to Preschool Network : [link removed], has also been awarded the Farm to Early Care and Education Implementation Grant (FIG) from the Association of State Public Health Nutritionists. These funds are intended to enrich young children’s health and lives through greater access to nutritious foods and a hands-on approach to food, health and agriculture education. Over the next year, the Network will expand its capacity, conduct needs assessments, and administer mini-grants.



Appalachian Grown Producer Survey
: [link removed] you a farmer in our Appalachian Grown program? Have you filled out the 2020 Appalachian Grown farmer survey yet? Look for an email from [email protected] : mailto:[email protected] . You have through this weekend to fill it out! By completing the survey, you will be entered into a raffle to win a $100 farmer stipend!
 
Every year, ASAP's Local Food Research Center : [link removed] conducts a survey to learn about the experiences of farmers, including changes in markets, specific challenges that farmers face, and the types of resources and support that are most helpful to farm businesses. By completing this confidential survey, you have an opportunity to reflect on your experience as a farmer in 2020. Your perspective helps ASAP’s researchers better understand how farming is changing, both in our region and compared to national trends. Additionally this survey offers ASAP feedback on our work and helps to inform the types of programs and resources that we offer.



Call for Winter Interns
ASAP is now accepting applications : [link removed] for winter internships in communications and farmers market support. Interning with ASAP allows students and recent graduates to gain a deeper understanding of how local food systems work and discover how their personal skills and interests can help local farms thrive and build healthier communities through connections to food. Have questions or want to apply? Visit our website : [link removed] or email [email protected] : mailto:[email protected] .



FACES OF LOCAL
Aaron Bradley
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ASAP likes to share the stories of people who are contributing to the local food system. This month we're talking to Aaron Bradley of Colfax Creek Farm : [link removed] to get the inside scoop on raising turkeys. 

 

This is your first year raising turkeys. What was it like?

 

It was a lot of fun. We’ve raised broilers and laying hens, but turkeys are very unique. They’re smart and curious enough to get into any trouble you give them opportunity to. They are very cool animal. We move our turkeys once a week and it was fun to watch how they would communicate and how social they were as they forage and check out a new area. We have both males and females and the toms will gobble. So it became a thing to that everyone would try to get them to gobble—and everyone is good at that except me. I think I gave the turkeys more entertainment trying to do it.

 

We had a unique story with these turkeys. We got a batch of broilers before we had the turkeys. In that batch, there was one unique-looking little chick. We raise a Cornish Cross with light features, and there was this one dark chick. It ended up being a guinea. When we moved those broilers out to the pasture, he just took to the turkeys like nothing else. We would try to move him in with the laying hens because of his height, but he wouldn’t have it. So the leader of the turkeys was a guinea. He would be perched on top of the feeder, keeping them in line.

 

How are your turkeys raised?

 

Our turkeys are a Broad Breasted White breed. They're rotated around the pastures and fed formulated ration specific for the quality of turkey with no antibiotics, growth products, or hormones. They just hang in the pasture and do their thing. They forage a lot. With it being our first year having turkeys, we were paying attention to what they were interested in. They would make big rotations around the yard, browsing for bugs, grass, clover, anything they could find. We had planted a bunch of Sorghum-sudangrass for the cattle. The ate a lot of that.

 

Do you have any tips on preparing a local turkey for Thanksgiving?

 

I always tell people, we’re really good farmers…we work with some great chefs who could give better advice. We encourage people to brine poultry and have a good instant-read meat thermometer. Conventionally produced turkey will cook a bit faster than one purchased from us. Temperature is most important thing because there are so many different factors to determine the cook time—the oven and size of bird, if you brine it. You have to go by temperature.

 

Can you share any of your family's holiday food traditions?

 

Every Thanksgiving a couple family members always cook a new dish. It’s not a competition, but it’s always interesting to see how it turns out. I usually end up doing a lot of the smoking. The process of that, smoked turkey, is awesome. Other than that, we have a pretty typical tradition. We enjoy each other’s company and try not to each too much food.

 

Colfax Creek Farm still has a few turkeys available. You can order one here : [link removed].

RECIPE OF THE MONTH

 Crunchy Vietnamese Salad

: [link removed] for a healthy, local meal that makes use of your leftover turkey? This crunch Vietnamese salad, made with local cabbage, carrots, and herbs and topped with shredded turkey (or chicken) is what you need.
Ingredients:1/4 cup lime juice3 tablespoons water3 tablespoons honey2 tablespoons fish sauce1 small garlic clove, minced1 serrano chile, minced6 cups napa cabbage, thinly sliced2 1/2 cups cooked shredded turkey (or substitute poached chicken)3/4 cup carrots, julienned1/2 red onion, thinly sliced3/4 cup fresh mint, roughly chopped1/2 cup fresh cilantro, roughly chopped1/2 cup chopped peanuts Instructions:In a small bowl, whisk together the lime juice, water, honey, fish sauce, garlic, and chile. In a medium bowl, toss together cabbage, turkey, carrots, onion, herbs, and peanuts. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss well.

PHOTOGRAPHER SPOTLIGHT
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Our November photo of the month comes from Bill Arrington, who raises Scottish Highland cattle at Big Ridge Farm in Mitchell County. These cattle have adapted to thrive in steep rugged mountain areas.

MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS

ASAP in the News
More than two dozen Appalachian farms have sent locally grown food to 26 distribution and meal sites in Western North Carolina as part of ASAP's Appalachian Farms Feeding Families program. The Asheville Citizen-Times : [link removed] offered a look at the program's impact on farmers. 

 

Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina's support for the Appalachian Farms Feeding Families program was featured on its blog : [link removed] as well as by Charlotte's WSOC-TV : [link removed] and Morganton News Herald : [link removed].
 

The Laurel of Asheville : [link removed] featured the expansion of ASAP's Double SNAP initiative in its October issue. 
 

ASAP's Molly Nicholie is quoted in The Laurel of Asheville : [link removed]'s article on the history of sorghum in the region. 
 

ASAP's partnership with Feed Our City was covered in The Asheville Citizen-Times : [link removed] Mountain Xpress : [link removed].



ASAP on the Air
: [link removed]’s Growing Local audio series runs on WNCW : [link removed] on Monday mornings during Morning Edition at 8:45 a.m. Here are a few recent episodes: 
 

Meet The Farmers Who Grew Your Thanksgiving : [link removed]
TK Farm Grows an Orchard and a Family : [link removed]
CSA Farmers Look Back on an Unusual Year : [link removed]
You can listen to all Growing Local episodes on SoundCloud : [link removed], iTunes : [link removed], or on ASAP's website : [link removed].



CONNECT WITH US
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asapconnections.org : [link removed] | growing-minds.org : [link removed]
appalachiangrown.org : [link removed] | fromhere.org : [link removed]
 
Donate to support local food, strong farms, and healthy communities today! : [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.



ASAP (Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project) - 306 W. Haywood Street - Asheville - NC - 28801

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