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Regional farm visits? There’s an app for that.
The Visit NC Farms App, to be specific. This growing initiative from NCDA&CS connects residents with a wide range of farms and agribusinesses, spotlighting traditional farmers markets + U-picks, fisheries, food stores, ecotourism activities, and everything in between.
Buncombe, McDowell, Rutherford + Polk counties registered with Visit NC Farms this summer. And it was announced this week that Haywood, Madison, Mitchell, Jackson, Swain, and Henderson counties will have their agribusinesses on board in early spring 2022 — a huge boon for the app’s utility.
Ready to explore all that WNC’s farmland has to offer? Here’s your tutorial.
How it works:
- Download the app on an Apple or Android device. If you’re experiencing any tech problems, you can also consult this troubleshooting page or watch this tutorial video.
- Choose from eight search categories: Farm + Fisheries, Pick Your Own, Farmer’s Markets, Local Food and Drink, Shop Local, Farm Stays and Lodging, Itineraries and Trips, and Special Events.
- To view all of the NC offerings per category, scroll the list or select the map tab.
- If you want to search within a certain radius, click the filter button in the top right corner to select a range between 10-500 miles of your location.
- There are also helpful filters that will allow you to search by product (think: honey, dairy, hemp, vegetables, etc.), seasonal activities (holiday markets and Christmas tree choose and cuts), and available services (farm tours, event spaces, overnight stays, etc.).
A few of our favorite finds:
- Good Fibrations — an Angora goat farm + fiber crafts business in Barnardsville.
- The Firefly Cabin mountain homestead at the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy’s Robinson Rough Preserve (~30 min drive from Asheville).
- Sandy Hollar Farms — a 40+ year old family-owned farm that sells holiday wreaths and U-pick Christmas trees.
- Pro tip: There are also itineraries available for special offerings like the WNC Cheese Trail and the iconic Sampson County Barn Quilts, which can help you map out a day or week of explorations.
