20th Anniversary

BRWIA is 20 Years and Growing!

Celebrating two decades of building a more resilient High Country local food system.

BRWIA's 20th Anniversary is here!

We're celebrating our 20th Anniversary! BRWIA has helped shape the direction of community focused agriculture and we owe our gratitude to our Founding Mothers and all those who have made the past 20 years possible!

Many events this year will be dedicated to our past, present and future!

Check out all BRWIA Events, Farm to Plate Dinners, Farmers' Markets, and more below!

Upcoming Events

September 14 - Percentage Night at Bistro Roca in Blowing Rock

September 30 - BRWIA's Savory Shindig @ The Apple Barn: Purchase tickets here

October 8 - High Country Farm Tour: Purchase tickets here

October 19 - Song to Seed @ BRAHM in Blowing Rock with William Ritter

October 31 - Percentage Night at The Beacon Butcher Bar in Boone

November 7 - Percentage Night at Reid's Cafe in Banner Elk

BRWIA EVENTS CALENDAR

20th Anniversary Partners

Thank you to all our 2023 partners who have supported this great milestone, including:

Louma Designs

Leila Jackson of Louma Designs designed our 20th anniversary logo and will be making many products for us this year, including wood burned cutting boards, T-shirts, and other pieces of art for sale as fundraisers.
Thank you, Leila! 

SNIPS of Watauga Humane Society

The wonderful women at SNIPS are offering special edition seed packets in celebration of our 20th anniversary! Spring and Summer varieties will be available through the High Country Food Hub under "Featured Products." A portion of every purchase goes to BRWIA and a portion of each purchase helps support low cost spay and neutering for pets of those who are struggling financially. SNIPS also created beautiful garden gift bags for all those attending the Mother's Day Tea. Thank you, SNIPS!

Gail Greco

Gail Greco, author of "Afternoon Tea is the New Happy Hour" has generously donated 100% of book sales to BRWIA from our Mother's Day Tea and beyond. Gail is a local food advocate, uses fresh ingredients whenever possible, has authored numerous cookbooks, and is a contributor to many magazines in the High Country. Thank you, Gail!

Jeanine Hasty

To celebrate our 20th anniversary, we collaborated with local artist and Food Hub fan Jeanine Hasty (jeaninehasty.com). She created 5 custom linoleum stamps Check out Jeanine's delightful reel on Instagram here!

You can now buy these beautiful prints on the Food Hub!

Thank you, Jeanine!

Savory Shindig attendees will be able to meet Jeanine and lend a hand in helping in creating a large quilt art piece. Grab your tickets before they sell out!

8x10 Prints on the Food Hub

BRWIA's History (Herstory)

Thank you to ALL those involved in our first 20 years, and especially our Founding Mothers, for all that they did to envision a community of support for female farmers and to officially incorporate this organization. Our history (herstory) is rich, and continues to evolve around the community's needs to support our local food ecosystem.

Meet Our Founding Mothers

The Archives

Original Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture | Watauga Democrat | Originally Published July 9th, 2015
(Republished in 2023 for our 20th anniversary)

BRWIA's First Grant, June 2003, Mountain Times Article

BRWIA in 2015, with Support of Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation

Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture (June 2015) from ZSRFoundation on Vimeo.

The Power of Local Food
In 2022, our community, together with the generosity of our donors, enabled BRWIA to:

Reach a major milestone in Food Hub sales — we’ve now seen over $2.7 million dollars invested by community members in local food since the Food Hub began as a market channel in 2017. That’s over $2.2 million dollars paid back to producers, staying in our community, funding the livelihoods of our neighbors.
Open 7 Satellite Pickup Locations for the Food Hub in Watauga, Ashe, and Avery counties resulting in over $137,000 in additional revenue for local producers.
Make the Boone Winter Farmers' Market and King Street Farmers Market more vibrant and inclusive places where our community gathers on a weekly basis.
Match federal nutrition benefits 1:1. This year over 300 families have been able to access more healthy, local food thanks to the Double Up Food Bucks Program.
Launch the Betsy Lawson Willis Scholarship for Female Farmers.
Purchase and distribute over 20,000 pounds of local vegetables, eggs, and meat through our Local Food As Medicine program in partnership with local funders and partner agencies. We are improving access to local food and investing in our community’s long term health outcomes.

To read more about our community's visions for a just, vibrant local food system please keep reading.

Our system is fragile. Its disparities are so clear — from food shortages during the pandemic to rising costs of food in the grocery stores. And we have seen how Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture’s work makes our community and world more resilient and just.

In 2023, Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture looks forward to:

Adding new products and satellite locations at the High Country Food Hub to connect more producers with consumers and more opportunities to pick up local food in the High Country
Hosting educational workshops and opportunities for High Country farmers. See our CRAFT website for upcoming workshops.
Matching federal nutrition benefits at the High Country Food Hub and farmers markets in Watauga County. See our Double Up Food Bucks program for ways to get involved.
Continuing to make farmers markets more welcoming and inclusive spaces for the community gather. See our Winter Market and King Street Market calendars!
Working with community partners to build a more equitable, accessible and sustainable food system in these mountains we call home. See our LocalFAM program.

With support like yours, BRWIA works to build a resilient, collaborative and sustainable local food economy in the High Country.

"We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give."
-Winston Churchill

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