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monthly news from ASAP | NOVEMBER 2021 | asapconnections.org
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Charlie Jackson to Retire from ASAP in 2022
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After more than two decades serving farmers and the local food community, ASAP's longtime executive director Charlie Jackson will retire at the end of April 2022. Beginning Jan. 1, 2022, Molly Nicholie will become executive director of ASAP, and Charlie will shift to a strategic advisor role, working part-time to assist in the transition and planning.
Charlie is a founder of what would become ASAP in the mid-1990s. Anticipating dramatic changes coming to agriculture with the end of tobacco as a dominant crop, a group of farmers, agricultural support professionals, and community stakeholders formed to address these challenges. They launched a local food campaign in 2000 to raise awareness about agriculture, educate consumers about the benefits of buying local food, and create viable market alternatives for farmers in the region. ASAP officially incorporated as a nonprofit organization in 2002. (Next year is ASAP's 20th anniversary!)
Molly has worked at ASAP for 16 years and was named co-director in January 2021. She began her tenure as part of Growing Minds, and in 2013, became program director for the Local Food Campaign. Her experience at ASAP and in the farming community ensures continuity of organizational culture, agency services, and institutional knowledge.
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Show Your Support! Be a Part of Giving Tuesday on Nov. 30.
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 There is no single tradition, recipe, or memory that makes the holidays special. It’s a combination of everything coming together mixed with love, gratitude, and joy. Giving Tuesday—coming up Nov. 30—is a holiday when millions of people around the world unite in generosity to support the causes they care about.
You can be a part of this amazing day when you make a gift to ASAP. Bonus? Thanks to a generous donor, every gift is matched—up to $10,000. So your kindness will go twice as far.
Your dedication to ASAP continues to make a huge difference to local farmers and the community, especially as we work together to increase access to local, healthy food. Thanks to you, ASAP is poised to double more than $200,000 in SNAP dollars in 2021, representing over $400,000 in the local food and farm economy.
“It’s changed our lives," shared a Double SNAP participant in a recent survey. "Eating and cooking has become more enjoyable and we all feel healthier. My kids love going to the market and choosing fresh food that they haven’t had access to before. It’s been a really hard last few years and being able to feed my children well has been a saving grace.”
Right now, during this holiday season, we can maximize our support. Together, we can help farms thrive and build healthy communities. Join us Nov. 30 for Giving Tuesday!
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Registration Is Open for the Business of Farming Conference
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 Registration is open for the Business of Farming Conference, coming up Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022, at the Mission Health/A-B Tech Conference Center in Asheville! Reserve your spot before Feb. 1 to get the early-bird discount and register with a farm partner to save even more. There are also scholarship opportunities for limited resource farms and BIPOC farmers.
The annual conference brings together professional and aspiring farmers from across the region to network and share resources. Farmers learn about marketing, business planning, branding, and management from regional experts and innovative peers. The popular Grower-Buyer Meeting is a chance for farmers and producers to meet directly with chefs, grocers, and distributors to discuss sourcing. Look for the full workshop schedule to be announced in January.
Interested in sponsorship or exhibitor opportunities? Email [email protected].
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Farm to School Jumpstart Grants from Growing Minds
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 Growing Minds has announced a new Jumpstart Grant for farm to school projects. Pre-K through 12 schools, homeschool groups, teacher and nutrition education programs, and community organizations serving children and families within the 23 westernmost counties of North Carolina may apply for $500-$1,000 to provide children with positive local food and agriculture experiences. Eligible projects include edible school gardens, farm field trips, local food taste tests, or meals. In addition to funding, grantees may request supplemental training and/or technical assistance from the Growing Minds staff to help implement their project.
Grant applications are due Jan. 15, 2022. Learn more and apply.
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Meet the New Growing Minds Program Director
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 ASAP welcomed a new director for the Growing Minds Farm to School Program, Jennifer Trippe! Jennifer is a Registered Dietitian with nearly two decades of experience working with individuals, businesses, and organizations to improve the health and well-being of the Western North Carolina community. She has worked at MANNA FoodBank, Food Connections, and as a WIC Nutritionist and Diabetes Educator. She was also part of ASAP's pilot Growing Minds @ University project to train dietetic interns.
Emily Jackson, founding director of Growing Minds, will work with Jennifer to transition leadership of the program before retiring on Jan. 1, 2022. Growing Minds started in 2002 as a project at Hazelwood Elementary in Haywood County. It was one of the first farm to school programs in the country.
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Get in the Local Food Guide!
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 Every year, ASAP calls more than 1,400 businesses to update our Local Food Guide and CSA guide so that we get the most accurate information about connecting with local food and farms. We've started making calls for 2022!
Want to get a head start on updating your listing? You can give us a call (828-236-1282) or do it yourself online (click login in the upper right of appalachiangrown.org). The deadline to be included in the print Local Food Guide is Jan. 31 (or Dec. 31 for CSA farms).
Have a new farm, restaurant, retail outlet, or other locally sourcing food business that you want to be listed? Go to appalachiangrown.org and click Get in the Guide. An online listing is completely free. |
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ASAP is currently hiring for several positions and internships. View full job descriptions and application instructions here. Applications are accepted only by email. Please do not call or come by the office.
Growing Minds Program Coordinator will assist in the design and implementation of farm to school programs, including trainings/workshops for educators, farmers, community partners, parents, and volunteers; curriculum and resources; networking and maintaining relationships with key stakeholders; providing community outreach and engagement; assisting with grant writing and reporting; and other tasks in support of the organization.
The Assistant Market Manager is responsible for providing operational and promotional support to the ASAP Farmers Market/Asheville City Market year round (the current location is at 340 Victoria Rd., Asheville, but is subject to change). This is an hourly contract position scheduled for at-market shifts. Hours will vary based on market schedules and will average from 5-7 hrs./wk. Related responsibilities or support for other Local Food Campaign programs may be assigned as needed.
The Farmers Market Intern will support theASAP Farmers Market/Asheville City Market. Internships run 8-10 weeks, 6 hours weekly, and are available in the winter, spring, summer, and fall. Responsibilities include supporting market operations, including set-up; running special events; and, optionally, providing content for social media posts and weekly newsletters.
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 FACES OF LOCAL |
| |  ASAP likes to share the stories of people in the community who help us fulfill our mission. This month we talked to Seth Salmon, farmer and owner of Wildwood Herbal. The farm has been providing fresh produce and prepared meals for Meals on Wheels and recently became a partner in ASAP's Appalachian Farms Feeding Families program.
How did you initially connect with Meals on Wheels?
We had been working with the Council on Aging and they had a relationship with Meals on Wheels. Debbie Sprouse, the Meals on Wheels executive director, had been working on a project to get fresh produce, and then received funding for it. It was really great timing and we were able to make it all line up. We had some meetings on the farm with their board and executive director and decided to go for it. Once that program, delivering fresh produce to homebound seniors, timed out, we wanted to keep something going. We started talking about prepared foods. Nothing they were doing was freshly prepared, and zero was from local farms. We wanted to try to do something about that.
Now, as a partner in ASAP’s Appalachian Farms Feeding Families program, what have you started doing?
We are still delivering fresh foods like cabbage, turnips, kale, lettuce, and winter squash, but also providing simple prepared foods. That’s usually cooked greens, fresh greens, and some type of more hearty thing made from storage or root vegetables, like butternut casserole. We have a volunteer system from the farm doing pre-preparation with the Meals on Wheels staff to turn the food into meals. So it’s kind of a training program as well. We know full well how hard it is to change people’s minds about how they eat. Changing the minds of staff, getting them to cook something versus just heating something up is a big learning curve. But it’s happening. You can give somebody fresh food all day long, but if they’re not willing to prepare it and make into something they like, they’re not going to eat it. It’s eyeball-popping when people who might not know how cabbage, carrots, and turnips gets turned into slaw see that and it’s like an epiphany.
Why was it important to you to continue the relationship with Meals on Wheels after the initial funding ran out?
The first project was so well received. Meals on Wheels issued a survey to customers to find out what they liked and didn’t, and it was overwhelmingly positive. I honestly didn’t expect that. I expected the recipes [sent with the fresh produce] to be overwhelming, but they wanted more.
Food for me has always been about growing and producing things that people want. When I get a chance to create this network of production and consumption, that’s the dream. I’m from a farming family. I know how hard it is. I don’t know if this is sustainable, but right now we’re just trying to make a huge impact for their service base.
We all need to be pushing forward as hard as we can. We have this place, this town, with a local food scene and it’s good. But there are a lot of farms out there struggling still. We sell ourselves as local food community. Other places in the country see advertising about local food in Asheville. But what percentage of the population is actually doing it? Anytime we can say, “Screw the old way, let’s push harder,” is good. This is another step.
Do you have favorite Thanksgiving recipes or seasonal ingredients?
We love pumpkin pad Thai with fresh ginger, fresh from the ground. Obviously Darsey’s sugar baby pumpkin pie with sorghum syrup and gingersnap crust. My famous winter collards, mashed turnips, baby carrots, and popcorn.
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 RECIPE OF THE MONTH |
| Pumpkin Pie and Flaky Crust
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|  For Thanksgiving, the ASAP staff compiled some of their favorite holiday recipes. We're sharing this pumpkin pie recipe from Growing Minds Program Coordinator Debbi Timson's Mom and Mom-Mom. You can use local pumpkin or winter squash, such as butternut, to make the filling. (The pie pictured was made with candy roaster squash grown by Debbi's grandsons!) Look for more staff recipes online and shared next week in our social media.
Ingredients (Crust):
- 3 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 5 tablespoons ice water
- 1 1/4 cups shortening
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vinegar
To Make the Crust:
- Combine water and vinegar. Sift flour and salt together. Cut shortening into flour mixture. Beat egg. Add egg and vinegar mixture to flour mixture. Mix until everything comes into a ball.
- Roll 1/3 of the dough into a circle for a 9-inch pie dish.
- This recipe makes enough for three crusts. You can wrap it and keep it in the freezer.
Ingredients (Filling):
- 2 cups fresh pumpkin puree
- 1 can Eagle brand sweetened condensed milk
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
To Make the Pie:
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a large bowl, combing filling ingredients and mix well. Turn into prepared shell. Bake 15 minutes. Reduce oven to 350 degrees and continue baking25-30 minutes or until knife inserted 1 inch from the edge comes out clean. Cool before cutting. If desired, garnish with whipped cream and nuts.
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PHOTOGRAPHER SPOTLIGHT |
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Our November photo of the month comes from Reid's Cafe in the High Country, featuring produce from Mountainwise Farm. Menus that reflect the season take time and commitment, especially as the restaurant industry has met with significant challenges over the past two years. We encourage you to seek out restaurants that are continuing to buy local and support farmers. You can search for Appalachian Grown partner restaurants at appalachiangrown.org.
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 MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS |
| "Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project has been essential to helping those very farmers create strong relationships with smaller food banks and child care centers. [...] ASAP, through grants and outside funding, was able to create a win-win situation for food banks and farmers: The food banks and feeding centers received fresh, locally grown produce; participating farmers got compensated at market price for food that otherwise might go to waste."
—Mountain Xpress reporting on ASAP's Appalachian Farms Feeding Families program as part of an article on area nonprofits combatting hunger despite pandemic supply chain woes
"One of the things I love about ASAP is that we really view local food as a community connection point and then really live that as well. One of my favorite memories working at ASAP is as a staff coming to the market together."
—Communications Manager Sarah Hart in a video by Wicked Weed for Cultura's Cultivated Community Dinner Series |
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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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