Issue5Page8
1
8 wingspan • may 20, 2011 feature "#$% &#%'($ )*+,$#*-. "#$% &#%'($ )*+,$#*-. "#$% &#%'($ )*+,$#*-. "#$% &#%'($ )*+,$#*-. //0 12*3# 42+5# 6$ //0 12*3# 42+5# 6$ //0 12*3# 42+5# 6$ //0 12*3# 42+5# 6$ 7.*3.$+(*82''.9 :; 7.*3.$+(*82''.9 :; 7.*3.$+(*82''.9 :; 7.*3.$+(*82''.9 :; <2=>5 ?.'(@ 7(A. 6.B(5 <2=>5 ?.'(@ 7(A. 6.B(5 <2=>5 ?.'(@ 7(A. 6.B(5 <2=>5 ?.'(@ 7(A. 6.B(5 828 828 828 8 2 8 -6 9 7 697 697 6 9 7 -9 7 7 7 9777 9777 9777 2270 Hendersonville Rd, Unit 4, Arden 828.684.4949 Hours: Monday - Saturday www.cuddlycouture.com 10 - 6 p.m. (828) 890-3507 Email: [email protected] Website: als88.com TERRY A. BAKER, N.C. PLS 3107 P.O. BOX 578 HORSE SHOE, NC 28742 V endors from across the area assembled on Saturday for the weekly farmers’ market in Mills River. The market, open from 8 a.m. to noon every Saturday, provides a place for 16 dif- ferent vendors to sell their produce. “The reasons for having the farmers’ market was that there was a growing demand from area residents for fresh, local food,” Jim Reed, leader of the market’s board said. “There was also a food scarcity in meats and milk. The customers tend to claim that the food tastes better than imported food.” Local farmers’ markets allow consumers to interact with the growers. “Locally grown food provides the consumer with the ability of knowing where their food is coming from. A lot of the farmers either are at the markets that they sell at, or someone who works on the farm is there to sell the products,” Dawn Creasman of Creasman Farms said. “Some area farms actually allow you to come and pick or visit their roadside stands to buy products. It allows the consumer to talk to the people who actually grow the products. It also helps stimulate the local economy if you buy local; then the money stays in our community.” An experiment conducted by www.foodbuzz. com comparing store-bought eggs to fresh eggs clearly showed that the fresh farm eggs were more appealing in color, texture and shell strength, al- though little difference in the taste of the eggs was reported. North Carolina’s main crops are soybeans, corn, peanuts, wheat and a variety of fruits and vegetables. “The establishment of CSAs (community supported agriculture) and new small farmers’ markets have helped to provide the community with safe, fresh products to feed their families as well as help boost our local economy,” Creasman said. Freshman Gavin McWhirter’s family grows food that is sold at Smiley’s Flea Market and Antique Mall on Asheville Highway in Fletcher. “I have sold green beans, tomatoes and a lot of other vegetables,” WcWhirter said. “We have sold everything but eggplant. We didn’t sell egg- plant because they went bad in about a week.” According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 3,000 Americans die and 48 mil- lion become sick each year from salmonella and other forms of food poisoning. “When you are shopping in the grocery store, you need to look at where your food is coming from. The United States has all kinds of rules and regulations that growers and processors must follow to ensure food safety,” Creasman said. “Not all countries from where our food is import- ed have to follow the same standards.” Events such as Hendersonville’s Apple Festival honor the area’s homegrown foods. This event, featured annually each Labor Day weekend, gives local farmers the chance to sell their apples and promote locally grown food. Local organization promotes community garden Rachel Shoemaker Feature Writer Local farms offer fresh alternatives Katie Miller Feature Writer Rise in food allergies results in gluten-free options Angela Gross Feature Writer “ ” We’re trying to bring the community together. This gives people an outlet to be a part of something better. Charles Keefer owner of Harvest-Thyme Food Co-op W alking down the brightly lit aisle, a customer inspects the options in the organic vegetable section of her neighborhood store. Upon finding the vegeta- ble she was looking for, she looks up to check the price. The look on her face shifts from content- ment to shock, and for good reason. The sign reads $2.49/lb., 29 cents more than last week’s price. Just down the aisle, the non-organic ver- sion is $1.59, nearly a dollar less Charles Keefer, co-owner of N.C. Harvest- Thyme Food Co-op with wife Tarah Singh, sees community gardens as a solution to counteract the increasingly high prices of food (contrib- uted to by escalating oil prices). “What are we going to do when gas gets to $4 or $5 a gallon? We have to go more local to afford food as prices get higher,” Keefer said. “We can water our gardens, but it will become increasingly difficult for farmers to water their huge fields.” Keefer has worked with gardens since he was a child. Previously, he initiated a food co- op in Raleigh and transformed several plots of land into Harvest-Thyme and a vegetarian restaurant. “We’ve been doing community gardening for years and just moved back here last year. We were part of the Highland Lake Inn Gardens; I took over last year, and we’ve started to devel- op at least two (gardening plots),” Keefer said. “We’ve had at least five spaces offered to us, but if your area is too spread out, you can’t do it well. Gardening takes a lot of work; it requires you to be attentive.” Keefer owns several plots of land that mem- bers grow on in Clear Creek, Laurel Park and Sugarloaf Mountain. He also offers lots to apart- ment owners lacking growing space. Members are required to pay a monthly fee to participate in Harvest-Thyme. “Our co-op is a group of people; we’ve got 35 people right now that all go in together. We’ve got a set fee, which is $50 a month, and we distribute the produce out,” Keefer said. “We gather all the crops and put together a mixed box; you get lots of food. We’ve really had to quell the amounts of food we put in our boxes because there is so much.” According to Keefer, co-ops benefit the com- munity because their prices differ significantly from those in local grocery stores. “You pay the retail price of the store who’s paying for their electrical bills and everything else. Instead, we are dealing with the farmer, so our prices are less than what they would be from a grocer,” Keefer said. “Buying from the farmer is a lot cheaper, and you get more food.” Though Keefer continues to travel back and forth to his farm in Raleigh, he considers Harvest-Thyme a change of direction from previ- ous trades. “Raleigh was very different from here. This is part of our attempt to change direction about what we’re doing, from just being craftsmen — Tarah’s a local artist — to doing more than just S he was singing and almost dancing as she drove to the grocery store, cel- ebrating the new Whole Foods health food store opening in Greenville, S.C. No more surfing the Internet for expensive and nasty tasting foods, thought Jennifer Taylor, West’s early childhood and develop- ment teacher. She was beyond excited. Now taking care of her 5-year- old daughter, Caroline, would be much easier. Caroline is one of a growing number of children and young adults deal- ing with food allergies and sensitivities. In fact, the number of people with food allergies went up 18 percent from 1997 to 2007, according to www. cnnheath.com. Hypersensitivities to gluten are becoming common in a country that loves its pasta and bread. Gluten is a pro- tein that is found in most grains, like wheat, rye and barley. There are many different levels of gluten sensitivities. Some people lack the enzymes necessary to digest certain pro- teins containing gluten, causing a gluten intolerance. Intolerance to gluten is not technically an allergy; in- stead gluten causes a physical irritation in a person’s diges- tive system. The undigested grains inflame the microvilli, a membrane that increases cell size. If the microvilli are damaged it becomes much harder for the small intestine to absorb nutrients, resulting in anemia, nausea and even depression. With “celiac disease,” a much more serious form of gluten intolerance, any exposure to gluten can cause an autoimmune reaction in the body. The immune system sees the gluten as a foreign object and attacks it. Taylor’s daughter has multiple food allergies, including an allergy to wheat, and Taylor has worked around her need for allergy-safe foods. “In the five years we have been doing this, it has gotten so much easier,” Taylor said. “You get a choice now; you don’t feel so stuck. When I first start- ed, I had to order online; you couldn’t just go to the grocery store and get allergy-friendly foods.” A growing number of grocery stores, including Ingles, have whole aisles dedicated to allergen-friendly foods. There are many theories regarding the sudden rise in gluten, nut and dairy sensitivities. The “hygiene hypoth- esis” holds that children are growing up in environments that are too clean, not giving their immune systems the chance to fight off allergy-causing pathogens. “We are too clean,” biology teacher Alexsandra Lawson said. “We need to eat and play in dirt. When we don’t chal- lenge our immune system, it overreacts; that’s what an al- lergy is.” Another theory involves the way food is stored in America. In store houses, foods like grains and nuts sit and get moldy before being shipped off and sold. Many restaurants now have allergy-friendly menus. Acropolis on Airport Road recently started serving a gluten- free pizza; Olive Garden has gluten free pasta options. “Traveling is tough; snacks are tough. We always say, ‘If only we could get rid of wheat.’ It’s in everything,” Taylor said. “If you think about fast food, there is no fast food that is gluten-free.” Corner of 64 & S. Rugby Horse Shoe, NC 28742 (828) 891-8702 www.etowahflorist.com “Serving the Area for over 20 years” Etowah Florist Come see us for all of your floral needs that because food is one of our basic things,” Keefer said. “You have to have food to survive; it’s a basic, primal issue. Every time I put to- gether boxes and work with our customers, I feel great; it’s something totally different.” Like Keefer, sophomore Ally Pfotzer has grown up around gardening and considers the task worthwhile. “My mother has a huge garden, and we eat from it almost the entire summer; it’s a lot of food. She grows a variety of fruits and vegetables, and I help out, especially during the summer,” Pfotzer said. “Gardening is very rewarding. It’s such a tangible thing; a grade at school isn’t as tangible as a tomato or some- thing you grew.” Pfotzer also considers organic food a wise substitute for processed foods and often buys specifics from Hendersonville Co-op and Earth Fare. According to Pfotzer, chemicals and ad- ditives in processed foods can negatively affect the way she feels. “My mom and I have gluten intolerance, so we have to buy gluten-free and organic foods. You feel better because there aren’t chemicals in your food,” Pfotzer said. “If I slip up and eat something that’s been processed, I feel sluggish or get a headache.” Besides health benefits, Keefer also con- siders his organic co-op to be a community opportunity. “It’s not just about growing food; it’s about people — people who work together at the garden start to become friends and un- derstand each other; that’s a whole other part of what this is really about,” he said.
description
P.O. BOX 578 HORSE SHOE, NC 28742 TERRY A. BAKER, N.C. PLS 3107 We’re trying to bring the community together. This gives people an outlet to be a part of something better. 828.684.4949 (828) 890-3507 Email: [email protected] Website: als88.com Katie Miller Feature Writer Angela Gross Feature Writer wingspan • may 20, 2011 828828828828----697697697697----9777977797779777 ! Rachel Shoemaker Feature Writer www.etowahflorist.com Charles Keefer owner of Harvest-Thyme Food Co-op (828) 891-8702 ! !
Transcript of Issue5Page8
8 wingspan • may 20, 2011feature
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2270 Hendersonville Rd, Unit 4, Arden
828.684.4949
Hours:Monday - Saturday
www.cuddlycouture.com
10 - 6 p.m.
(828) 890-3507Email: [email protected]
Website: als88.com
TERRY A. BAKER, N.C. PLS 3107
P.O. BOX 578HORSE SHOE, NC 28742
V endors from across the area assembled on Saturday for the weekly farmers’ market in Mills River. The market, open from 8 a.m. to
noon every Saturday, provides a place for 16 dif-ferent vendors to sell their produce.
“The reasons for having the farmers’ market was that there was a growing demand from area residents for fresh, local food,” Jim Reed, leader of the market’s board said. “There was also a food scarcity in meats and milk. The customers tend to claim that the food tastes better than imported food.”
Local farmers’ markets allow consumers to interact with the growers.
“Locally grown food provides the consumer with the ability of knowing where their food is coming from. A lot of the farmers either are at the markets that they sell at, or someone who works on the farm is there to sell the products,” Dawn Creasman of Creasman Farms said. “Some area farms actually allow you to come and pick or visit their roadside stands to buy products. It allows the consumer to talk to the people who actually grow the products. It also helps stimulate the local economy if you buy local; then the money stays in our community.”
An experiment conducted by www.foodbuzz.com comparing store-bought eggs to fresh eggs clearly showed that the fresh farm eggs were more appealing in color, texture and shell strength, al-though little difference in the taste of the eggs was reported.
North Carolina’s main crops are soybeans, corn, peanuts, wheat and a variety of fruits and vegetables.
“The establishment of CSAs (community supported agriculture) and new small farmers’ markets have helped to provide the community with safe, fresh products to feed their families as well as help boost our local economy,” Creasman said.
Freshman Gavin McWhirter’s family grows food that is sold at Smiley’s Flea Market and Antique Mall on Asheville Highway in Fletcher.
“I have sold green beans, tomatoes and a lot of other vegetables,” WcWhirter said. “We have sold everything but eggplant. We didn’t sell egg-plant because they went bad in about a week.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 3,000 Americans die and 48 mil-lion become sick each year from salmonella and other forms of food poisoning.
“When you are shopping in the grocery store, you need to look at where your food is coming from. The United States has all kinds of rules and regulations that growers and processors must follow to ensure food safety,” Creasman said. “Not all countries from where our food is import-ed have to follow the same standards.”
Events such as Hendersonville’s Apple Festival honor the area’s homegrown foods. This event, featured annually each Labor Day weekend, gives local farmers the chance to sell their apples and promote locally grown food.
Local organization promotes community gardenRachel Shoemaker
Feature Writer
Local farms offer fresh alternatives
Katie MillerFeature Writer
Rise in food allergies results in gluten-free optionsAngela Gross
Feature Writer
“
”
We’re trying to bring the community together. This gives people an outlet to be a part of something better.
Charles Keeferowner of Harvest-Thyme
Food Co-op
Walking down the brightly lit aisle, a customer inspects the options in the organic vegetable section of her
neighborhood store. Upon finding the vegeta-ble she was looking for, she looks up to check the price. The look on her face shifts from content-ment to shock, and for good reason. The sign reads $2.49/lb., 29 cents more than last week’s price. Just down the aisle, the non-organic ver-sion is $1.59, nearly a dollar less
Charles Keefer, co-owner of N.C. Harvest-Thyme Food Co-op with wife Tarah Singh, sees community gardens as a solution to counteract the increasingly high prices of food (contrib-uted to by escalating oil prices).
“What are we going to do when gas gets to $4 or $5 a gallon? We have to go more local to afford food as prices get higher,” Keefer said. “We can water our gardens, but it will become increasingly difficult for farmers to water their huge fields.”
Keefer has worked with gardens since he was a child. Previously, he initiated a food co-op in Raleigh and transformed several plots of land into Harvest-Thyme and a vegetarian restaurant.
“We’ve been doing community gardening for years and just moved back here last year. We were part of the Highland Lake Inn Gardens; I took over last year, and we’ve started to devel-op at least two (gardening plots),” Keefer said.
“We’ve had at least five spaces offered to us, but if your area is too spread out, you can’t do it well. Gardening takes a lot of work; it requires you to be attentive.”
Keefer owns several plots of land that mem-bers grow on in Clear Creek, Laurel Park and Sugarloaf Mountain. He also offers lots to apart-ment owners lacking growing space. Members are required to pay a monthly fee to participate in Harvest-Thyme.
“Our co-op is a group of people; we’ve got 35 people right now that all go in together. We’ve got a set fee, which is $50 a month, and we distribute the produce out,” Keefer said. “We gather all the crops and put together a mixed box; you get lots of food. We’ve really had to quell the amounts of food we put in our boxes because there is so much.”
According to Keefer, co-ops benefit the com-munity because their prices differ significantly from those in local grocery stores.
“You pay the retail price of the store who’s paying for their electrical bills and everything else. Instead, we are dealing with the farmer, so our prices are less than what they would be from a grocer,” Keefer said. “Buying from the farmer is a lot cheaper, and you get more food.”
Though Keefer continues to travel back and forth to his farm in Raleigh, he considers Harvest-Thyme a change of direction from previ-ous trades.
“Raleigh was very different from here. This is part of our attempt to change direction about what we’re doing, from just being craftsmen — Tarah’s a local artist — to doing more than just
She was singing and almost dancing as she drove to the grocery store, cel-ebrating the new Whole Foods health food store opening in Greenville, S.C. No more surfing the Internet for expensive and nasty tasting foods,
thought Jennifer Taylor, West’s early childhood and develop-ment teacher. She was beyond excited. Now taking care of her 5-year-old daughter, Caroline, would be much easier. Caroline is one of a growing number of children and young adults deal-ing with food allergies and sensitivities. In fact, the number of people with food allergies went up 18 percent from 1997 to 2007, according to www.cnnheath.com.
Hypersensitivities to gluten are becoming common in a country that loves its pasta and bread. Gluten is a pro-tein that is found in most grains, like wheat, rye and barley. There are many different levels of gluten sensitivities. Some people lack the enzymes necessary to digest certain pro-teins containing gluten, causing a gluten intolerance.
Intolerance to gluten is not technically an allergy; in-stead gluten causes a physical irritation in a person’s diges-tive system. The undigested grains inflame the microvilli, a membrane that increases cell size. If the microvilli are damaged it becomes much harder for the small intestine to absorb nutrients, resulting in anemia, nausea and even depression.
With “celiac disease,” a much more serious form of gluten intolerance,
any exposure to gluten can cause an autoimmune reaction in the body. The immune system sees the gluten as a foreign object and attacks it.
Taylor’s daughter has multiple food allergies, including an allergy to wheat, and Taylor has worked around her need for allergy-safe foods.
“In the five years we have been doing this, it has gotten so much easier,” Taylor said. “You get a choice now; you don’t feel so stuck. When I first start-
ed, I had to order online; you couldn’t just go to the grocery store and get allergy-friendly foods.”
A growing number of grocery stores, including Ingles, have whole aisles dedicated to allergen-friendly foods.
There are many theories regarding the sudden rise in gluten, nut and dairy sensitivities. The “hygiene hypoth-esis” holds that children are growing up in environments that are too clean, not giving their immune systems the chance to fight off allergy-causing pathogens.
“We are too clean,” biology teacher Alexsandra Lawson said. “We need to eat and play in dirt. When we don’t chal-lenge our immune system, it overreacts; that’s what an al-lergy is.”
Another theory involves the way food is stored in America. In store houses, foods like grains and nuts sit and get moldy before being shipped off and sold.
Many restaurants now have allergy-friendly menus. Acropolis on Airport Road recently started serving a gluten-
free pizza; Olive Garden has gluten free pasta options.“Traveling is tough; snacks are tough. We always say, ‘If only we could
get rid of wheat.’ It’s in everything,” Taylor said. “If you think about fast food, there is no fast food that is gluten-free.”
Corner of 64& S. RugbyHorse Shoe, NC 28742
(828) 891-8702
www.etowahflorist.com
“Serving the Area for over 20 years”Etowah Florist
Come see us for all of your floral needs
that because food is one of our basic things,” Keefer said. “You have to have food to survive; it’s a basic, primal issue. Every time I put to-gether boxes and work with our customers, I feel great; it’s something totally different.”
Like Keefer, sophomore Ally Pfotzer has grown up around gardening and considers the task worthwhile.
“My mother has a huge garden, and we eat from it almost the entire summer; it’s a lot of food. She grows a variety of fruits and vegetables, and I help out, especially during the summer,” Pfotzer said. “Gardening is very rewarding. It’s such a tangible thing; a grade at school isn’t as tangible as a tomato or some-thing you grew.”
Pfotzer also considers organic food a wise substitute for processed foods and often buys specifics from Hendersonville Co-op and Earth Fare. According to Pfotzer, chemicals and ad-ditives in processed foods can negatively affect the way she feels.
“My mom and I have gluten intolerance, so we have to buy gluten-free and organic foods. You feel better because there aren’t chemicals in your food,” Pfotzer said. “If I slip up and eat something that’s been processed, I feel sluggish or get a headache.”
Besides health benefits, Keefer also con-siders his organic co-op to be a community opportunity. “It’s not just about growing food; it’s about people — people who work together at the garden start to become friends and un-derstand each other; that’s a whole other part of what this is really about,” he said.
