Our farmers need your help!

The costs of farmers’ supplies - produce boxes, egg cartons, bags, labels, grain, fuel, and more - are rising. If you’re able, please consider making a monetary donation so we can help support the essential work of our local farmers and continue to feed our community - any contribution is helpful!

Pease join us in spreading the word. On behalf of our farmers, thank you!

This week, author Ken Kolb discussed his new book Retail Inequality: Reframing the Food Desert Debate at UNCW. In the book, he makes the argument that we have misunderstood the “food desert” concept. Kolb conducted research in two historically Black neighborhoods in Greenville, S.C. that suffered significant urban decline in the aftermath of the collapse of the textile industry in the 1970s.

 

Kaiyon, our Mobile Market Manager, and Blair, our Project Manager for the Community Learning Farm, spoke at the panel. They were joined by Cierra Washington of the Northside Food Co-Op and Beth Gaglione of the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina, Wilmington Branch. 

 

Watch the recording below.

March is Cape Fear River Fish Consumption Month!

Celebrate by joining Feast Down East and other community organizations on Sunday, March 27th for the Go Fish Fest! Bring your family for a day of music, speakers, food, games, and learn how you can make safer choices when eating fish from the Cape Fear River. Learn more here.

Brussel sprouts, carrots, cilantro, salad greens, garlic, and a variety of different herbs are in season this spring.

 

Cottle Organics, Red Beard Farms, Shelton Herb Farm, Cape Fear Greens, and Stanistreet Farm are all suppliers of spring produce!

 

Those interested in receiving our wholesale availability list should email foodhub@feastdowneast.org. Otherwise, customers can shop at the Local Motive Mobile Farmers' Market to purchase the latest, seasonal produce at an affordable price.

This women's month, we're featuring one of our newer farmers:

Lori Stanistreet, owner/operator of Stanistreet Farm, lives in Sanford, NC and her farm is located on a small parcel of land in Godwin, NC.

 

Lori found farming after serving 25 years in the United States Army. Through the Soldier to Agriculture Program at Fort Bragg, Lori spent time growing garlic, potatoes, flowers, and more with her young sons until she began managing Stanistreet Farm in 2020. Lori and her family farm just shy of six acres, along with a greenhouse and a high-tunnel. She loves growing many of the greens, garlic, and onions you can find on our weekly availability list this time of year.

 

Lori will also be a vendor at the Sanford Farmers' Market this season.

The Local Motive Mobile Farmers’ Market's mission is to support our local farmers while addressing food insecurity and access towards healthy, nutrient-dense foods among vulnerable populations. We offer seasonal produce at an affordable price for our community. Our markets are always open to the public. 

 

In addition to fruits and vegetables, we offer eggs, beef, pork, pecans, and honey.

 

We welcome you to shop with us!

Looking for volunteer opportunities? We have produce handler and survey/data collectors positions available. Sign up for a position below.

Thanks to a new USDA grant for “Urban Agriculture & Innovative Production”, downtown’s first urban teaching farm & food forest will be coming to Wilmington in 2023 via Feast Down East. The farm will share a lot with the “NCino Hunger Solutions Center” which  broke ground in late February. This facility is located in the middle of New Hanover County’s most severe food desert, on the corner of 11th & Greenfield Street, where a strip mall including an IGA named “Everybody’s” burned down in 2018.

Feast Down East and the New Hanover County NC Cooperative Extension have teamed up to complete a comprehensive strategic plan to educate and empower the surrounding community to grow food for both consumption and profit. Equally important, the teaching farm hopes to be a safe space for the community to gather and to feel seen and heard. Our staff is currently engaged in conversations with the Southside community to best understand and address its needs, which will result in specific programming and farm design. Beyond the surrounding communities, we will also be guided by an advisory committee which will meet once a quarter. If you're interested in joining a committee, please contact Blair, our Project Manager.

The Wilmington Realignment Project will improve connectivity across neighborhoods throughout the city by rerouting the existing freight rail line to a new location. Constructing this new bypass route for freight rail will help improve safety, mobility, economic development, infrastructure resiliency and quality of life for people across the city and the region. The project will eliminate 32 at-grade railroad crossings. An environmental review and engineering design work are currently underway for the project. The city is doing this work to ensure that potential impacts to the natural environment, cultural resources and human environment are avoided, minimized, or mitigated.