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Carol Coulter, Founding Mother and Former Executive Director, Recognized as "Pioneer" in 10 Influential Women Making their Mark Series

4/2/2018

Carol Coulter was named one of ten highly influential women in the High Country as part of All About Women's "Making their Mark Series."

Identified as a Pioneer, Carol is highly deserving of this award and we are forever proud and grateful for her contributions to Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture and the greater High Country community.

“We will not stop working to shape regional food systems and moving forward. We want to create a clear understanding of what is local and how to gain access to it.”
-Carol Coulter

A tribute to outgoing Board Chair, Judith Phoenix

4/2/2018

Judith Phoenix served as BRWIA Board Chair from 2014 - 2018 and continues to be an outstanding advocate for Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture. During her tenure, BRWIA experienced tremendous growth and grew in recognition, with great thanks to Judith's arrangement of numerous speaking engagements and her dedication to the organization.

Judith understands the important role that consumers play in ensuring a healthy and vibrant local food system. She believes that consumers have a responsibility to the growers to ensure that they are able to keep producing high quality food grown from our community's soil. While she doesn't plan on growing food for herself, her commitment to supporting local producers is an integral piece to the health of our local food economy.

As a farewell, Judith shared the following:

"Over the past 10 years, I have had many roles with BRWIA from Farm Tour volunteer, participant in the many of the Home Grown workshops, Board Member, and most recently as Board Chair.

Each role has given me the opportunity to support what I believe in and what I want to have access to: local vegetables, eggs, meat and other value added products. I love knowing where my food REALLY comes from and connecting with the individual farmer.

As Board Chair I felt empowered to “shamelessly” promote BRWIA and the High Country Food Hub to friends, strangers and civic organizations because I know that supporting BRWIA helps our community thrive. I know my membership dues go beyond my immediate needs to help ensure food justice by underwriting programs such as the Double Bucks initiative that gives SNAP users easier access to fresh food grown by our local producers.

Ultimately it always comes down to the people. The BRWIA women and men are hardworking visionaries who are helping make Boone and the High Country a strong and resilient community.

It is with great confidence that I turn the reins over to the new board chair, Julia Showalter."

Judith Phoenix

Seeds are back!

4/2/2018

For the second year, Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture (BRWIA), the Watauga County Public Library and the Ashe County Public Library are working together to provide a catalogue of fruit, vegetable and flower seeds in time for the growing season. The mission of the seed libraries is to promote food security, community resilience, and a culture of sharing in the High Country.

“The seed library is a great way to help preserve and promote the amazing crop diversity of our region. Through the act of seed sharing, we are eager to make the practices of home gardening and seed saving accessible to the whole community.” explained Julia Showalter, board chair for Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture.

Carol Coulter, Founding Mother and Former Executive Director, Recognized as "Pioneer" in 10 Influential Women Making their Mark Series

A tribute to outgoing Board Chair, Judith Phoenix

Seeds are back!

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