monthly news from ASAP    |   July 2025    |    asapconnections.org

Farms Announced for the 2025 Farm Tour
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24 farms will participate in ASAP's 2025 Farm Tour : [link removed], taking place Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 20-21, noon to 5 p.m. These farms, including seven new to the tour in 2025, represent some of the amazing diversity of agriculture happening in our region. Pick your own fruit or flowers, feed friendly farm animals, learn about regenerative agriculture, sample locally made cheese and beverages, and much more! This year’s Farm Tour is especially important as a part of Helene recovery as it helps the local food economy rebound, strengthens the relationships between farmers and consumers, and encourages tourism from outside of Asheville. Join ASAP in sustaining our farming community!
 
Farms are organized by cluster to help you plan and maximize your time on the farm. Spanish-language tours will be offered at seven farms. The Farm Tour is appropriate for attendees of all ages and abilities. Learn more about what each farm will offer on the tour at the links below, and use our Farm Tour map : [link removed] to start planning your weekend. 
Candler/Canton Cluster: Well Seasoned Table : [link removed] | The Ruby Ranch : [link removed] | Burnette Family Farm : [link removed] | 
KT’s Orchard and Apiary : [link removed] | The Ten Acre Garden : [link removed] Cluster: Good Wheel Farm : [link removed] | Mount Gilead Farm & Creamery : [link removed] | Black Thorn Farm & Kitchen : [link removed] | Addison Farms Vineyard : [link removed] Cluster: Hickory Nut Gap : [link removed] | Flying Cloud Farm : [link removed] | Wilderkin Beekeeping : [link removed] | 
Root Cause Farm : [link removed] | Terramonga Farm : [link removed] | Warren Wilson College Center for Working Lands : [link removed] Cluster: Broom’s Blooms : [link removed] | Marked Tree Vineyard : [link removed] | Pilot Mountain Pears : [link removed] | Sideways Farm & Brewery : [link removed] Cluster: Caitlyn Farms : [link removed] | Overmountain Vineyards : [link removed] | TK Family Farm : [link removed] | Looking Glass Creamery : [link removed] | Melvin Hill Meats : [link removed] Farm Tour guides will be available to pick up in mid August. Advance passes ($35, good for all passengers in your vehicle) are on sale now : [link removed]. You can also sign up to volunteer : [link removed] for one day of the tour and tour for free the day you aren't working. Pictured is Broom's Blooms, in the Henderson Cluster, photographed by Camilla Calnan Photography.



Tickets for HarvestFest on Sale Now!
Join us on August 23 from 3 to 6 p.m. at Olivette Riverside Community and Farm : [link removed] for the 4th Annual Harvestfest : [link removed]. This special event, produced by Olivette and Chatt Hills Music : [link removed], celebrates local farmers, community and music while supporting ASAP, farmers, and the community. Doors open at 3 p.m. with family games, activities, and live music. Purchase tickets or get more information here. : [link removed]
 

All ticket proceeds support ASAP's Double SNAP for Fruits and Vegetables program : [link removed]. “Without SNAP and Double SNAP, it is very difficult for a family who’s struggling to meet their monthly bills to prioritize healthy food, rather than just affordable food," a participant told us. "My family’s most valuable health insurance is ingesting healthy, local, non-sprayed food. With SNAP, I am more able to provide the best food possible for them, without having to compromise for lower quality food. It's been a huge and vital blessing in our lives!”

All farmers and their families will have free entry to the event, to honor all they do to sustain our community. There will also be a VIF section (Very Important Farmers) that will pamper farmers during the busy harvest season.



Spotlight on Educator Gretchen Ross

Gretchen Ross spent three weeks embedded in ASAP's programs this past month as part of the 2025-26 Kenan Fellows Program for Teacher Leadership : [link removed]. The fellowship connects outstanding educators with mentors, creating opportunities and relationships to help students understand how STEM concepts apply in the real world.
 
Gretchen, pictured on the left with ASAP summer intern Gianna Rath at River Arts District Farmers Market : [link removed], has taught in North Carolina schools for 27 years. She currently teaches 6th grade science at Asheville Middle School. She loves inspiring curiosity and critical thinking through science, helping students connect with the natural world.



Join Our Team!
ASAP is hiring a Finance and Operations Director. This position partners closely with the Executive Director to lead the organization in consistently achieving its mission and financial objectives. The Finance and Operations Director plays a critical role as advisor and strategic thought-partner with the leadership team, helping to develop the organization’s capacity through strategic planning, policy making, and maintaining organizational effectiveness. This position provides leadership for the organization’s operations with an emphasis on long-term goals and financial health, working as part of the leadership team to create high engagement from staff, board, and partners.
 

View job qualifications and application instructions here. : [link removed] LOCAL
Duane Gibson and Lindsey Giglio

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Duane Gibson and Lindsey Giglio are co-owners of Two Stones Farm + Mill : [link removed] in Greenville, Tennessee. Just a few miles from the North Carolina border, they are growing grains like corn and wheat along with classic summer fruits like blueberries, watermelon, cantaloupe, and more. Two Stones is participating in Appalachian Farms Feeding Families : [link removed], one of ASAP’s post-Helene programs aimed at supporting restaurants and strengthening market outlets for farms. They are paired with OWL Bakery : [link removed], and will be providing employees with CSA shares. Find Two Stones at West Asheville : [link removed] and North Asheville : [link removed] tailgate markets and their milled products at local stores and small grocers across Western North Carolina.
 
Share more about the origins of Two Stones Farm + Mill. 
 

Duane: My family had a blueberry propagation operation and helped kick off the Georgia blueberry bloom in the mid ’70s. The farm started when my folks moved up from Augusta, Georgia to Greenville, Tennessee in the ’80s. We kept bees, chickens, and horses, but we didn’t really farm the land at first, just leased it out. As a homeschool project, I planted our (now) older blueberry patch. In 2010, a tornado came through. It was emotional and destroyed a lot of the farm. It’s kind of what we’re going through now post-Helene. After that, most of my family moved to Alaska. All the large trees were gone, the two barns and the bees were gone. I was doing massage in Asheville during that time and asked my family not to sell the farm, but to lease it to me. That’s when we really started tending to the patch and investing in the land. I met Lindsey about 6 years ago, in 2019. Her being a miller and baker convinced me to be a grain farmer, too.
 

What is driving y’all to local grain production?
 

Lindsey: When Duane and I met, I was baking at OWL and milling for Farm & Sparrow : [link removed]. We both told each other that we want to grow grains. We started dating and our passions seemed to align—blueberries and grains. If you look at the whole system, why are so many people having problems around wheat specifically and who’s going to change it at a local level? That’s the question we asked ourselves and what brought us to grain growing and milling. It’s challenging to grow wheat in the south but we really like bread and we want to keep that as something that people can have in their diets.
 

Duane: I am actually gluten sensitive. When the tornado came through the farm, I lost so much weight just eating survivor food and was sent into a mental, physical, and emotional crisis. I made it two weeks before I got really sick and that’s one of the reasons I’m a farmer. Grains are a staple food, something that communities can subsist on. We find that organic or low-sprayed grain isn’t really being grown in our community. Most markets are pretty fruit and veggie forward, especially for the Asheville market and for the restaurants. For us it’s more than just growing and milling. We want to build community around it, like having a bakery and having pizza nights out here at the farm.
 

Lindsey: It’s all about the connection of food and how we feel connected to each other. The idea is if you go to the market, you can get everything you need—your milk, your eggs, your produce. Once people start seeing wheat as a plant, it shifts your mind completely. It’s not just a commodity—this massive, lifeless aspect that is a huge part of everyone’s diet. It is bread that is one of the best parts of life, especially with strangers. Anywhere in the world, bread ties people together. It feels special to be a part of that and show people more of where and what bread comes from.
 

Duane: Wheat is one of the few crops where you start with a handful of seeds, then in a few years you have more than you know what to do with! The sheer abundance this crop grows is amazing. As our society has become more industrial and city-driven, we have forgotten what our parents and maybe grandparents used to do in terms of farming and subsistence. We are not doing anything new, but we are reminding people what is still happening and making it available locally. 
 

Lindsey: When Helene happened, or in 2020, no one could get flour. People needed to sustain. What do you get when a tragedy happens? Milk and bread. If we had all the grain to provide our community, we wouldn’t give into the scarcity mindset. We are imagining that if we have enough grain here that our local community is going to be set if something happens. If more people support that now, then we can grow the infrastructure faster. We want to get back to localized food systems, localizing bread as it has been for thousands of years. We can’t let bread ruin us now! We need to take that power back.
 

How has ASAP’s programming supported your business and ability to farm?
 

Duane: As a farmer, ASAP’s Business Farming Conference : [link removed] gave me the chance to keep learning and be surrounded by amazing peers, who some are now mentors. It’s connected me to the greater farming community. Over time, ASAP's Appalachian Grown branding : [link removed] works within the ecosystem of Appalachia, people recognize it and helps them feel more trusting of their farmers and food sources. As a Tennessee farmer, ASAP has benefited the East Tennessee area. Greenville and Greene County often get lost. It’s more rural, and I’m grateful to live in South Greene which is very close to the NC border, but I’m not in the Johnson City or Knoxville markets. ASAP helped me feel more a part of the Southern Appalachian region. By ASAP having all the infrastructure, ASAP really helped post Helene. 

Lindsey: ASAP is great with making it work for the farmer. Recent funding with Helene and even getting emails letting us know it’s going to be okay and information about where other outlets are were super helpful. Now, with the Appalachian Farms Feeding Families mini-grant with the restaurants, we are working with restaurants and bakeries who already support us. OWL and their staff are going to benefit by getting our produce as CSAs. It supports us when we are in a time of deep funding cuts, and it’s a marketing aspect because now the employees of OWL know us and where to find us. There is the educational aspect, too. Farmers do so much, so to have the educational aspect relieved a little bit is great. We give recipes out, but ASAP having recipes and activities for kids at markets, Double SNAP : [link removed]—everyone is benefitting.

RECIPE OF THE MONTH

Blue Ridge Peach CevicheLuis Martinez, chef and owner of Taqueria Rosita : [link removed] and Tequio Foods in Asheville, shared this recipe with ASAP for the 2025-26 Local Food Guide : [link removed]. 
 
"At home in Oaxaca, this is exactly how we eat," he says. "We have a similar culture to people here in Appalachia in how we grew up and what we eat. If you go to a farmers market, those products are grown by the people themselves, and they are not only trying to make a living but sharing what they are so proud of. It’s about identity—identity of origin and identity of who these people are. There’s a farm-to-table movement now that reminds me a lot of back home—it’s easier to be a chef here with really good farms, really good people, and really good produce.
 
"This is a fresh and flavorful peach ceviche recipe inspired by what you’d typically find at farmers markets—think juicy peaches, heirloom tomatoes, fresh herbs, and a hint of mountain flair. I love to cook with stone fruits like peaches, mangos, and nectarines, and since we only have peaches for a short time of year, it makes me get creative."

Serves: 4
Active Time: 25 minutes
 
Ingredients
3 ripe peaches, peeled (if desired), pitted, and diced1 medium heirloom tomato, finely diced (yellow or red)1 small cucumber, peeled, seeded, and diced1 small shallot or sweet local onion, very finely minced1 jalapeño or local hot pepper, finely chopped (adjust to heat preference)1 ear of fresh sweet corn, kernels sliced off rawZest and juice of 2 limesZest and juice of 1 lemon1 handful of fresh cilantro, chopped (or try local basil or mint for a twist)2 tablespoons of sorghum syrup or local wildflower honey (for that mountain sweetness)Pinch of sea saltInstructions
Mix citrus: In a large bowl, combine the lime juice, lemon juice, zest, and sorghum or honey. Add a pinch of salt and stir well.Combine produce: Add the diced peaches, tomatoes, cucumber, shallot, corn, and jalapeño into the bowl. Toss everything gently to coat.Let it marinate: Cover and refrigerate for 20–30 minutes. The citrus will gently “cook” the ingredients and meld the flavors.Add herbs: Just before serving, stir in the chopped cilantro (or basil or mint).Serve: Spoon into small bowls or atop grilled sourdough, crispy tortilla chips, or cucumber rounds. Top with garnish if you wish.Find more recipes at growing-minds.org : [link removed] and asapconnections.org : [link removed] or in ASAP's Local Food Guide : [link removed].

CONNECT WITH 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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