While the storm strikes and when recovery begins, we’ll hear a lot about Hurricane Florence. But the toughest times for the region’s farmers will likely come long after the reporters and TV cameras have gone home. Scott Marlow, a “farm-crisis advocate” who has worked with farmers after 16 previous hurricanes, […]
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Jimmy Tosh sells a lot of pigs. He is owner and CEO of Tosh Farms, Tosh Pork, and Bacon By Gosh, in Henry County, Tennessee, and has 84 contracted barns in the region where farmers grow pigs for his products. On a recent July day, Tosh craned over some 1,200 piglets and reflected […]
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It was April and snowing when Aura Broida Fontánez came to West Virginia, and there were no leaves on the trees. It reminded her of the trees in Puerto Rico, when the leaves were swept away by Hurricane Maria. Months after the hurricane, Broida arrived as an intern at Harmony […]
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Meredith Jensen is doing some gardening on a sunny day in a secluded part of Athens, Ohio. “I’m working on our pollinator garden beds,” she said. “Which are a bunch of fun flowers that’ll help attract butterflies, bumble bees, you name it.” Her partner Jamie Betit pushes a full wheel […]
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With the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in the news because of proposed cuts, we took another look at the data. The bottom line: Rural areas cluster near the top of counties that are most reliant on SNAP. Rural counties and small metropolitan areas crowd the top of the list of […]
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The screen door slams, punctuating our conversation as a couple navigates a sleeping baby, undisturbed and still in her car seat, through the entryway of the Swannanoa Valley Christian Ministry headquarters in Black Mountain, North Carolina. The shelter provides relief in myriad ways for folks who find themselves in a […]
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