Aloft Downtown Asheville Volunteers
We’d like to give a HUGE thank you to the terrific team of volunteers from Aloft Downtown Asheville who came out to work on our Community Farm on Tuesday, October 17. This energetic crew arrived ready to get their boots dirty and do some good! They helped our Headwaters Market Garden incubator farmers harvest carrots, beets and kale, wrapping up summer production in the fields and preparing to transition to cold-weather operations.
“The Aloft staff volunteers came eager to work and very excited to be productive,” said Community Farm & Food Associate Chris Link. “They were truly interested in having an impact, and they made a big difference for our incubator farmers. With 10 volunteers working on multiple projects for three hours, they accomplished essentially a week’s worth of work for Will and Savannah [Headwaters Market Garden farmers] and helped ease the seasonal transition in production.”
The group lightened the work load with a strong sense of humor, joking together with each other. Some of the volunteers had never worked in a vegetable garden. They were particularly excited to take home produce they had harvested themselves.
“They were very interested in fresh local food,” added Chris. “When you eat straight out of the ground, the flavors can surprise you — they’re more intense.”
The volunteers also did bed preparation for winter production in the hoop-houses (aka caterpillar tunnels), pulled weeds, spread compost, and helped ready our greenhouses for growing cold-weather greens.
Aloft Downtown Asheville General Manager David McCartney even tried his hand with the BCS tractor and broadfork. A broadfork is a long-handled manual tool with strong tines which is used to break up soil without inverting it. An important tool of the low-till garden, it helps mitigate soil compaction in semi-permanent beds. Inverting soil can be problematic because the disturbance breaks up the soil structure and microbial ecosystems while raising weed seeds.
“We had an AWESOME experience today,” said David. “Thank you so much for letting the Aloft team be part of something really special. SAHC does amazing work and the farm is just as amazing.”
Thanks to the Aloft staff for having such a huge impact, and for choosing our Community Farm for their service project this month. We really appreciate their time, effort, energy and go-get-it attitude!
Fresh Produce from Our Community Farm!
Starting in November, Headwater Market Garden produce will be available for purchase on Saturdays at the Asheville City Market downtown, 9 am to noon. Come say ‘Hi’ and get your farm-fresh veggies!
