Campus Farm Program

About the Farm

Eliada has deep agricultural roots, serving as a working farm since the early 1900’s. Today, Eliada’s Campus Farm program provides fresh organic produce, agricultural education opportunities, and community-based agritourism events to students at Eliada and the greater Asheville community. Our farm features several production spaces including a geodesic Grow Dome, Hoophouse, Corn Maze, and Learning Garden. With these garden spaces, we are equipped to grow food year-round. A majority of the produce grown on campus goes directly to our central kitchen, traveling only a hundred yards, and is prepared for student meals weekly. Excess produce is sold to local community partners who support food justice work in our community.

Upcoming Events

Farm to Fork Dinner

Fall Festival and Corn Maze

Agricultural Education

Agricultural education classes are taught by our Farm Director weekly at our garden sites to students ages 11-17 at Eliada Academy. Class sessions address various agricultural topics including gardening, conservation, farm ecology, irrigation, and pest control, and are part of the science curriculum. Students utilize our growing spaces and gardens to learn about regenerative farming practices and get hands-on experience working the land.

Farm Tours

Join us to learn about our impact in regenerative agriculture, food distribution, and agricultural education. See first-hand our innovative practices and programs and visit our Hoophouse, Grow Dome, Learning Garden, and Corn Maze.

Please wear close-toed shoes and bring a refillable water bottle, sunscreen, and a hat. Pre-registration only.

At this time, our farm tours are not handicap accessible and require participants to climb stairs, walk on uneven ground, and stand/walk for 1 hour during the guided tour.

Available as requested and available M-F between 9 am and 2pm.

We offer a 60-minute guided walking tour. Farm Tours operates on a pay-what-you-can basis with a suggested donation of $10 per person, 10-person maximum.

Your donation supports us in continuing to make our impact, including providing the majority of our harvest feed students at Eliada every day.

Get a behind-the-scenes glimpse of our production methods as you enjoy a walk through the ever-evolving and diverse vegetable, herb, and flower gardens. On this 60-minute tour, you’ll learn about Eliada Farm’s innovative practices and programs and visit our market-style production beds, greenhouses, and agritourism sites. Pre-registration only. Suggested donation $10/person.

Service Animals: Service dogs are allowed only if they have been individually trained to do work or perform tasks for an individual with a disability. The task(s) performed by the dog must be directly related to the person’s disability. Emotional support, therapy, comfort, or companion animals are not considered service animals under the ADA. Due to our farming practices, dogs will only be allowed in certain areas.

Photo Release: We will be taking photos and possibly videos to use on our website, social media, and other media outlets. By attending Eliada Farm programs, you agree to our photo and video release policy.

Please include the following information in your email inquiry to farmtours@eliada.org:

First and last name, email address, and phone number
number of participants including yourself
Interested dates and times for a tour

We will reply about confirming a date and time.

Read Our Newsletter!

Sign-up for Email List

Shop our Farm Merchandise

Buy

Farm Volunteer Work Days

Volunteering on the farm:

Our farm accepts volunteers and volunteer groups year-round.

Sign Up

Please note: the onboarding process may take 2-3 weeks to complete.

Volunteering on the farm is best suited for people who are comfortable with outdoor work in a garden setting. During the colder months, projects are primarily done in our greenhouses.

We also host monthly volunteer workdays on the first Friday of every month from 10am12noon. Joining a workday requires you to have already signed up to become a volunteer. If you are already a volunteer and are interested in joining and upcoming workday, please reach out and let us know in advance.