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Who Grows Your Food?  Growing
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 Biodiversity at Hickory Nut Gap FarmBy Charlie Jackson (Originally
printed in the August/September 2003 New
Life Journal)
Biodiversity is what farming is all about for Jamie and Amy Ager. Located in the Fairview community of Buncombe County, they are the fourth generation to farm the 600 acres of Hickory Nut Gap Farm. On the 60 acres of pasture on the farm, they strive to mimic nature in a “perennial polyculture” that includes open fields and woodlands, grass-fed cattle, and sustainably raised lambs and pigs. “We maintain open land the way that nature has always done it” says Jamie, “by grazing herbivores.” What this means for the consumer is naturally raised meats from humanely treated animals. Jamie and Amy believe that this type of production is particularly suited to the geographic conditions of the mountains. “Meat makes sense around here,” according to Jamie, “this landscape is well-suited to raising animals.” A trip to the farm is an eye-opener. No confined animals here. All the animals are raised in open fields with plenty of sunshine and fresh water. Jamie and Amy sell their meats, labeled under the business name Spring House Natural Meats, straight from the farm. “People can come out to the farm and see how their meat is raised,” says Amy. “We are very customer driven.” They have been selling their products at the North Asheville Tailgate Market for three seasons now, and they also provide meat to many area restaurants. Jamie and Amy have spent the last few years re-claiming farm land that has been out of production. With farms going out of business and land being gobbled up for development, their model is tonic. Farms in western North Carolina have been disappearing for a century and only through innovative production and the support of the community will farms survive. Amy and Jamie are bringing people back out to the farm and demonstrating that farming can again be an important part of the community. Find Hickory Nut Gap Farm online in the Local
Food Guide! ©Copyright 2004 Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture
Project
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In
September of 2005, Amy and Jamie hosted a crowd of kindergarten, first-,
and second-graders from Isaac Dickson Elementary School in Asheville. On
a