Conservation • Education • Celebration
An educational site and working farm located just outside Asheville, NC, the SAHC Community Farm provides a continually evolving home for conservation projects and agricultural production. The 140-acre Community Farm started with the generous donation of just over 100 acres of farmland in 2010. Now, the site hosts an innovative Farm Incubator Program, Education Center, and more, providing a nationally recognized model for environmentally-friendly land management and productive agriculture.
Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy’s Farm Incubator Program provides opportunities for entrepreneurial farmers to hone their skills while launching or expanding agricultural operations. The program offers affordable access to land and resources for a limited period of time.
Our workshop series offers educational resources for farmers across the region, from backyard growers to commercial operations. Our diverse topics range from health and safety on the farm to hands-on design/build projects and livestock handling.
The 1.5-mile educational Discovery Trail loops across the entire farm property, with interpretive signage for each of the project areas on the farm. It was built with contract and donated volunteer hours from local community groups. We periodically offer guided tours along the trail.
We restored over 3,000 linear feet of streams flowing into Newfound Creek in the French Broad River watershed, and created a protected buffer of 25 acres, planted with native grasses, trees, and shrubs to prevent future erosion.
In our reforestation project area, we are creating a healthy shortleaf pine stand which offers wildlife habitat beneath an open forest canopy. We have planted over 2,500 native shortleaf pine seedlings and removed competing and invasive species, with the help of many volunteers.
Our new Education Center facility offers space for workshops, meetings, social gatherings and more. We renovated an existing structure on the farm property to create a versatile space, with a recently certified commercial kitchen.
Recent Community Farm Stories
