Looking Back at One Year Here

This time last year I broke ground on my dream property and moved my urban farm to a 3 acre pasture on a ridge in the south mountains of NC ⛰️
Encompass Farm started in 2019 on a network of front yards and abandoned lots in downtown Black Mountain. These lots were all donated to me by generous landowners, and over the course of four years I transformed 9 unused spaces into abundant organic gardens. Those urban gardens taught me how to farm, how to operate a business, how to collaborate with others, how to navigate difficult people + local government restrictions, how to find wisdom in failure, and how to bootstrap a dream to make something out of nothing. Those lessons shaped what Encompass is today, and the urban sites are still teaching those lessons to a new farmer!

January '24 I stepped foot on this property and knew it was the one. The next month I broke ground on the gently sloping hill, built a greenhouse, installed infrastructure like irrigation + electricity, and began to sow seeds. It's all been a blur from there - a rush of planting and harvesting, flowers blooming, fruit ripening. Before I knew it, a year had passed. A chaotic, gorgeous, incredibly abundant year that changed me to my core.

We hit some incredible benchmarks in 2024:
~ I shipped farm grown goods nationwide to 27 states
~ I hired my first employee, the incredible Leigh, who delivers Veggie Boxes into Asheville and Black Mountain every week
~ I even took time off with built-in breaks to reduce burnout, which included a week in Spain!

What a year of monumental labor, bountiful crops and good food piled high on our tables. Thank you to every one of my customers - the ones who've been with me thru years and farm moves, and the new faces who've joined us recently. I quite literally couldn't do it without you 💚

2025 is shaping up to be such an exciting year too with the arrival of 48 hens for eggs, digging an ecological pond, planting perennial hedgerows + the introduction of another person to the team (who I can't wait for you to meet)!

January 2024:

April 2024:

June 2024:

October 2024:

In this week's Veggie Box:

Cabbage OR Broccolini, Radishes, Carrots, Purple Butter Lettuce, Garlic OR Onion

Recipes + Tips:

• Miso mustard butter chicken and cabbage. The assembly of this dish couldn’t really be any easier, and if you think baked chicken and cabbage sounds, well, a bit pedestrian, this is definitely not the case. Be sure to scoop up all the pan juices when you serve the chicken.
  
• I'm always hesitant to add cabbages to Veggie Boxes. Their huge size creates some logistic issues for me - how to keep them from crushing the other contents of your bag? How will my back cope with lifting totes of the heaviest veg EVER in and out of the van? Will folks even like cabbage? I limit our cabbage intake to once per season for these reasons, but can't call it quits all together. Cabbage is just too tasty to give up! Especially in this Melty Braised Cabbage + Carrots with Bacon and Pecans dish.
  
• Lemon Pepper Smashed Potato + Cabbage Salad - this recipe calls for Brussels but I plan to sub for this week's cabbage. Raise your hand if you get to shortcut the epic dressing with your Lemon Pepper Rosemary farm grown seasoning blend!
  
• Vietnamese chicken and cabbage salad with carrots + radish. This recipe is on REPEAT it's so good.
  
• Pierogi with cabbage and feta. Make your potato dumplings from scratch with the recipe below, or take a weeknight shortcut: I plan to braise a bed of cabbage with store bought frozen perogi atop. I know, I know, not very local foodie of me but sometimes you just need dinner quick, fast + in a hurry!
  
• A light + fresh take on coleslaw with radish + carrot. I know we all have enough cabbage to make a bucket load of coleslaw now!
  
• This Moroccan-spiced carrot & radish salad is dressed in a ras el hanout vinaigrette. The peppery roasted radishes serve as the perfect contrast to the tender sweet carrots. It’s great year-round for a weeknight meal or side dish.
  
• Shaved radish, carrot + even cabbage make the perfect veggie ramen.
  
• The perfect salad - butter lettuce, radish, carrot + a homemade Dijon dressing. I will not be convinced otherwise.
  
• Pack in a few of your daily requirements of both veggies and protein with this simple and speedy Beef and Cabbage Stir Fry! Once all of the the vegetables are sliced, shredded and minced as needed this dish comes together quickly and easily in only one large skillet or pan making this a great, easy meal to enjoy on busy weeknights!
  
• A surprising flavour combination will knock your socks off! This salad is made with finely shredded cabbage, radish and carrot, tossed with a spiced Indian coconut “sambal” of sorts (in India they might call it a “dry chutney”). Based on the traditional South Indian Thoran dry curries, this is ridiculously delicious!
  
• Too much carrot in your life lately? Use this method to preserve your carrots for future soups, casseroles + stews.
  
• Make a year's supply of kraut with this surprisingly easy way to preserve cabbage.
  
• Once you go down the quick pickle path, there's no going back. You wont be able to survive without the tart crunch of pickled veggies on tacos, sandwiches, with ribs + on salads. Plus, quick pickles last weeks in the fridge!
  

Made to Make Farm to Table Easy: