North Buncombe Sustainable agriculture thrives at Echoview Farm
By Matt Tate Ever sipped a beer outside on a
balmy summer evening and had a bee buzz around the brim of the glass? Tat is a taste of the agricultural
combination at Echoview Farm north of Weaverville. Bees and hops, the primary in-
gredient in beer, are two of the pri- mary functions of this burgeoning sustainable spread on Old Mars Hill Highway.
Owner Julie Jensen purchased the
land in 2005 and began operations two or three years ago, according to Deirdre O’Boyle, the farm’s mar- keting consultant. Te two-acre hop farm is the
largest in the state, Jensen said. Cultivating the crop is labor inten- sive, she said, including hand-string each vine up to 20 feet high. She added the staff at Echoview
is still learning when best to har- vest them, but expects the hops to be ready by late July or early Au- gust and hopes to get them in to the 10 breweries that populate the Asheville area. Other uses for hops include those
in the herb and craft communities, Jensen said. Te buzz around Echoview Farm
is not from the hops, though, but rather the bee hives. Te pollination process is one
that goes unnoticed much of the time, but bees play an integral role in agriculture. Populations, though, are dwin-
dling, said Ryan Wooton at Echo- view, with as much as 30 percent of honeybees across the nation dying off because a phenomenon known as colony collapse disorder. Echoview hopes to have as many
Colter Horst plays in a pit of corn.
as 10 hives eventually and by keep- ing bees healthy and happy locally,
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4 THE TRIBUNE - June 3 - June 9, 2010 Owner Julie Jensen looks at her crop.
the sustainability of farming in Western North Carolina increases. It has been estimated pollinating
work done by bees is worth more than $100 million annually to the state.
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PO Box 2293 • Weaverville, NC 28787 Volume 8, Issue 22
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Clint Parker Matt Tate
Patrick Braswell Pat Starnes
Another sustainable aspect of the
farm is the work with solar energy. Tere is a 2,400 square foot bank of panels that is already producing clean energy for the main power grid.
Echoview held its inaugural open
house event Saturday (May 29) and plan to have more educational workshops in the future, O’Boyle said.
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