Farmer's Market

They seem to pop up each summer like wild onions in the lettuce – small farmers markets around Charlotte selling produce that might or might not be locally grown. Some last barely a season, while others put down roots and continue for years. They’re part of a farm-to-city regional economic system that includes the large […]

Back in the woods off N.C. 49, the winding blacktop ends beside a greenhouse. Thomas Gentry, a UNC Charlotte architecture professor, is watering tomatoes on a humid July afternoon. A man in a work truck creeps along the gravel drive. “The power back on?” he asks, pulling next to the greenhouse. Gentry nods. “Good.” It’s […]

Is “urban agriculture” possible in a city like Charlotte? Can backyard chickens and rooftop gardens solve urban hunger? The public will get a chance to consider those questions – and sip martinis crafted from local ingredients – at the June 13 KEEPING WATCH Clean Martini Screens. The event, free and open to the public, will […]

Just west of the Yadkin-Pee Dee River, a start-up farm and food council is emerging with a vision to fill small farmers’ wallets with money and the Charlotte region’s plates with local food. The collection of farmers, elected officials, health professionals and educators held its official inaugural meeting last week at Stanly Community College. But […]

Members of the Farm and Food Council for Anson, Montgomery and Stanly counties: Anson County Farmer: Gary Sikes, heritage turkey farmer, Bountiful Harvest Farm. Government: Charles Dunevant, resource conservationist. Public Health/Medical: To be determined. Education: Stuart Wasilowski, vice president, South Piedmont Community College. Interested citizen: Martha Parker, retired nurse, farmer. Montgomery County Farmer: Donny Epps, […]

Two different organizations in the Charlotte region are using borrowed land and volunteer labor to get fresh, local food on the plates of people who need it most. Sow Much Good raises vegetables to sell well below market cost in low-income neighborhoods that are far from traditional farmers markets, while Friendship Gardens, started by Slow […]

This article opposes plans to build a new ballpark for the Charlotte Knights uptown. Read architect Marley Carroll’s article supporting the idea here. Missing from recent discussions about granting more public money for a privately developed baseball park in Third Ward is any talk about the potential advantages of using the land for public purposes […]

This interactive map of the U.S. displays data on food availability, local foods, health and socioeconomic statistics. Data are displayed at the state or county level, depending on availability. Staff

The farmer points toward a long stretch of turned earth warming in the sun. Tomatoes and squash will grow well there, he says. More crops will be planted over there, he says, gesturing toward another neatly plowed rectangle. Behind him, small fruit trees cast shadows across the grass. It’s bucolic enough to make you almost […]

I’ve spent many hours in the last few years working on behalf of Charlotte-area farms and farmers, trying to help build and nurture a community-based food system and experimenting with new ways to distribute food from local farms to customers. But this summer my focus shifted from farmers in the fields to customers in the […]