Help Asheville Farmers Rebuild After Hurricane

Hurricane Helene damaged a family farm near Asheville.

I’m a concerned parent reaching out on behalf of my stepdaughter, Anouska, and her partner, John, who started a small farming venture (Holmestead Farms) five years ago in Leicester, NC, near Asheville. Though John works in food service to generate a steady paycheck (losing ten days of work, post-storm) their joint passion is homestead farming. They raise chickens that they themselves process for sale, plus they sell free range chicken eggs and duck eggs. Hurricane Helene caused two local streams to overflow their banks and flood their property, destroying their humble operation and washing out the single dirt road that leads to their home (a private road not maintained by any municipality). Their entire enterprise was destroyed including 140 chickens, two chicken coops, rabbit hutch and rabbits, a supply of feed for the chickens, and most of their vegetables. To replace their chickens (benefiting from bulk purchase) would cost about $450; to rebuild the animal pens would cost over $1800; to replace the lost feed would cost about $360; and, the revenue lost from not being able to sell their products for the next 6-12 months would total about $3200. All in all, they’ll need time and approximately $6000 to get back on their feet. They have said if they can raise more, they’ll contribute to repairing the one-mile private dirt road that leads to their home that was washed out by Hurricane Helene. Let’s help them to recover from this storm-related damage.