Dig In, Reconciliation House, and TRACTOR Food and Farms in Spruce Pine collaboratively operate a weekly no-cost market in Burnsville with fresh, locally grown and seasonal produce. Called Harvest Share, the walk-up market will be open on Wednesdays from 10 am – noon, starting June 3, in the parking lot of West Burnsville Baptist Church. There will be two dates where there is no market: July 1 and August 12.

Some of the vegetables are from our community garden on Blankenship Creek Rd. Dig In and TRACTOR also buy some local vegetables, supporting the livelihoods of local and regional farmers. Finally, other Yancey County community gardens, individual homesteaders, and local farms donate produce when they have extra to share. 

Everyone is welcome at Harvest Share – because everyone needs to eat. We invite participants to continue the practice of giving and sharing by bringing home additional bags for friends, family and neighbors. There is no proof of need; participants will simply be asked the number of people in each household.

New this year, Harvest Share will feature weekly cooking demonstrations. Dig In has partnered with Niki Maness of the Yancey County Cooperative Extension and Susan Fish-Cedergren of Plant Based Burnsville to host Locally Grown and Fed cooking demonstrations highlighting seasonal foods. All the partners would like to thank the Yancey Fund of Community Foundation of WNC for investing in this food education project.

Harvest Share is also an opportunity for community members to donate their food scraps to Dig In’s community compost system. Many households in Yancey County already compost at home or feed their kitchen scraps to pets or livestock. But for those who are throwing their food waste in the garbage, Dig In aims to offer a landfill alternative through participation in community composting. Anyone is welcome to bring their kitchen waste to Harvest Share where it will be recycled into valuable compost and enrich the soil at the Dig In garden. 

At Dig In, we believe that access to healthy food is a right. We are working toward healthy food access for all of Yancey County through these programs alongside our farmers, volunteers, partners and participants.

For those wishing to support Harvest Share and other Food for All programs, Dig In offers weekly volunteer opportunities for growing and sharing food. Donations of fresh produce, eggs, and flowers from local farms and gardens are also accepted. Contact farmer@diginyancey.org for more information on how to support these programs.