Only a 30-minute drive from Boone, the App State Farm sits on the Blackburn-Vannoy Estate, spanning 150 acres with diverse landscapes, gardens and technologies.
The farm is home to many gardens and the classroom for several sustainable development classes. App State Farm Director Clarence “Chip” Hope says the farm aims to teach a variety of lifestyle skills such as sustainable agriculture practices, food safety and herbal medicine. Hope emphasized the importance of the farm being run by students for other students.
App State Farm is about “empowering more people to take charge of their lives,” Hope said.
A variety of departments utilize the farm as a place for hands-on experience. From archaeology to nursing, the App State Farm is a resource giving students and staff opportunities to learn in new environments.
Many of the farm’s crops go to either App State’s dining halls or the on-campus Mountaineer Food Hub and Free Store. Alongside the fresh produce the farm provides for campus, campus provides nutrients for the farm in return. Compost from campus is taken to the farm and used as fertilizer for the gardens and greenhouses, Hope said. This is one of the ways App State Farm aims to reduce waste, with the goal of becoming zero-waste in mind.
Another way the farm is reducing waste is saving seeds to use for future seasons. Seeds that aren’t saved for the farm’s use are dried and packaged to donate to local seed libraries. Hope said in 2024, 2,000 seed packs were donated to the Ashe and Watauga Seed Library.
Hope said App State Farm tends to shy away from using pesticides, opting to allow nature to run its course. When pesticides are necessary, they use organic pesticides since students aren’t just consuming the food but working closely with the crop as well.
Aside from its gardens, the farm has blossoming new technologies. App State Farm was previously managed under the Sustainable Development department and recently switched to the Office of Research and Innovation. Due to this shift, even more opportunities are being brought out to the farm. App State Farm has given several departments the opportunity to collect data and conduct research on things such as wind, solar power and bees.
“I think that it is just such a great opportunity for the university and gives students and all departments, not just ours, an opportunity to learn from hands-on experience,” said Blythe Ransdell, a senior sustainable development major who works closely with App State Farm.
App State Farm also has its own Farm Club, which aims to connect people and draw more students to the opportunities the farm has to offer. They hold fundraisers and events at the farm as well as work days to aid in managing the crops.
“A lot of students don’t have the opportunity to get their hands dirty until they go out to the farm,” said Megan Prosser, senior sustainable development president of App State Farm Club.
Moving forward, the farm hopes to bring back livestock, an aspect of the farm that had once been common but had been phased out during the COVID-19 pandemic. They are also hoping to use some of the woodland around the farm as an opportunity to make accessible hiking trails.
