Lady Luck Flower Farm (Photo courtesy of ASAP)
Hop on ASAP’s Farm Tour June 25-26
This time of year inspires locals and visitors alike to drive around Buncombe and the surrounding counties to enjoy the scenery and take in the tastes and smells of late spring and early summer. Those who are prone to these casual, impromptu driving adventures can’t help but notice Western North Carolina’s thriving farm community, spread throughout the landscape.
This region’s farms benefit greatly from the support of the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project, otherwise known as ASAP. With a mission to help local farms thrive, link farmers to markets and supporters, and build healthy communities through connections to local food, ASAP invites the public to participate in an organized tour of farms across several counties.
On June 25 and 26, the gates and barns of Appalachian Grown™ family farms will open to the public for ASAP’s highly anticipated Farm Tour. This weekend offers a chance for everyone to taste farm-fresh fare, meet the community’s local producers, and learn more about how food is grown and raised in the mountains.
“From u-pick operations to flower farms to creameries, this year’s tour will delight visitors of all ages, who can choose from 20 different farms,” says Scott Bunn, ASAP’s development director. “Farm Tour passes will allow you to visit as many farms on the tour as you can pack in, though most groups get to three or four farms per day.”
One of the sweet tastes of summer that attendees can look forward to enjoying on the tour is seasonal fruit such as berries. “Visitors will be able to learn about the working side of a pick-your-own farm and hopefully (if mother nature permits) they will also be able to pick black raspberries,” says Pam Zimmerman, owner of Zimmerman Berry Farm.
Spinning Spider Creamery welcomes visitors to its artisan goat dairy to tour the milking parlor and interact with goats. “The Farm Tour is an important way for us to allow our customer base to get an educational opportunity, not just to see the animals, but to hear us as family members talking about what we’re doing and why,” says co-owner Chris Owen. “When people come here they’ll actually get one of us from the creamery saying, ‘This is how I make the cheese; this is where we milk the goats.’”
This year’s tour features farms in Buncombe, Madison, and McDowell counties. Future ASAP tours will highlight different counties, giving visitors the opportunity to experience new farms across the central mountains of Western North Carolina each year.
Farm tour passes (one per carload) are on sale now at asapconnections.org. Passes are $30 in advance, $40 the weekend of the tour. The tour runs noon to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
More information, including a list of where to pick up a tour guide and details on volunteering and attending the tour for free, can be found at asapconnections.org or by calling 828.236.1282. ASAP will share details and stories leading up to the tour on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
