Keep it fun while following social (physical) distancing recommendations! Join us in taking the #BackyardChallenge to celebrate #EarthMonth2020 in your own backyard. How have you been enjoying time outdoors? Check out the gallery below to see ways SAHC staff have been getting fresh air while sticking close to home. Share your own and tag us on social media. #BackyardChallenge #EarthMonth2020 #MyAppalachia #SAHC

Across the nation, thousands of people are stepping up to solve the crisis that is afflicting our heroic frontline health workers and first responders. As hospitals struggle to find safe and reliable supplies, companies, organizations, and individuals are joining forces to get health care workers the personal protective equipment and lifesaving medical devices they need. No single organization can do this alone. In fact, the proliferation of organizations in this space has made it incredibly challenging to navigate.

National PPE Coalition’s goal is to aid that process by enabling connections. We’re working to bring crucial partners – state governments, corporations, manufacturers, non profits, and individuals – together in order to build an efficient, unified supply chain.

By coordinating all emergency PPE crisis efforts, we not only minimize the risk of misdirecting critical supplies to places that may need them less urgently, but increase their individual power exponentially. Working together, the PPE Coalition members are working together to ensure that every shipment of PPE sent is a life-saving shipment.

• AFT’s Farmer Relief Fund will award farmers with cash grants of up to $1,000 each to help them weather the current storm of market disruptions caused by the coronavirus crisis.
• Initially, eligible applicants include any small and mid-size direct-market producers. These are defined as producers with annual gross revenue of between $10,000 and $1 million from sales at farmers markets and/or direct sales to restaurants, caterers, schools, stores, or makers who use farm products as inputs.
• The application (linked to below in both English and Spanish) is simple and easy to complete but includes sufficient detail to ensure AFT is awarding producers that have the greatest needs. Applicants will be asked to estimate their financial loss.
• AFT envisions an initial application round extending until April 23, with grants beginning to be made by May 1.
• https://farmland.org/farmer-relief-fund/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=637ece80-2dc9-49d1-9afb-6b97c772e470&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Apply%20Here&utm_campaign=March%202020%20Newsletter

Welcome to Art in the Time of COVID– an online artwork exhibition by Pink Dog Creative artists. The work in this exhibition is either related to the COVID-19 pandemic, made during the time of Stay-At-Home orders, or is uplifting or otherwise helpful during this challenging time. Most of the work is for sale. Our artists are hard at work and appreciate your support during this difficult time. Check out our artist pages and please get in touch with artists directly for information on work, online classes, & commissions! Work will continue to be added during the quarantine, so please check back for updates.

Karen Keil Brown, Where Will Our Path Take Us, Oil on canvas, 14 x 11″

We are always looking for ways to better serve Buncombe County. For this reason we are rolling out a new program to protect our residents and their property in the most effective way possible. Community Connect is a free, secure, and easy to use platform that allows you to share critical information about your household that will aid first responders and emergency response personnel when responding to your residence. By providing information about your household that you feel is important for us to know about at the time of an emergency, we can ensure you and everything you care about is protected to the best of our ability.

COVID-19 Relief Funds Available to Farmers starting April 3rd The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) is part of the massive economic rescue package passed by Congress last week to address urgent needs created by the COVID-19 pandemic. Incorporated businesses, sole proprietors, single-member LLCs, self-employed individuals, and nonprofits are all eligible to apply for this relief. Apply Here

Organic Growers School

COVID-19 Updates for Business With the rapid update of information at the Federal, State, and local levels, we will be issuing these special edition updates each Thursday, in addition to our regular Tuesday, E-News. Visit our COVID-19 Updates Page March 26th Issue of COVID-19 Updates for Businesses

EPA RESPONSE TO CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19).

EPA’s Coronavirus website provides key EPA resources and links to additional information about the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Read the most up-to-date information about EPA actions, disinfectants, drinking water and waste water, and other resources.
https://www.epa.gov/coronavirus

Disinfectants that meet EPA’s criteria for use against coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). When purchasing a disinfectant product, check if its EPA registration number is included on this list. If it is, you have a match and the product can be used against SARS-CoV-2.

• List of Disinfectants for use Against Coronavirus (COVID-19)
  https://www.epa.gov/pesticide-registration/list-n-disinfectants-use-against-sars-cov-2
• Frequently Asked Questions about Disinfectants for use Against Coronavirus
  https://www.epa.gov/pesticide-registration/frequently-asked-questions-about-list-n-disinfectants-use-against-sars-cov-2
• TWEET: EPA’s list of disinfectants for use against the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 is searchable, sortable, and contains more than 350 products.
  https://twitter.com/EPARegion8/status/1243307367229317120

Information on drinking water and wastewater. The COVID-19 virus has not been detected in drinking-water supplies. Based on current evidence, the risk to water supplies is low.

• Coronavirus (COVID-19) and drinking water and wastewater
  https://www.epa.gov/coronavirus/coronavirus-and-drinking-water-and-wastewater
• Flush Only Toilet Paper!  Flushing only toilet paper helps ensure that the toilets, plumbing, sewer systems, and septic systems will continue working properly.
  https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-encourages-americans-only-flush-toilet-paper

Resources related to COVID-19 in other languages:

• Español: https://espanol.epa.gov/espanol/enfermedad-del-coronavirus-2019-covid-19
• Other languages: https://www.epa.gov/lep

As we enter into an even vaster understanding of just how interdependent we are and how fast something travels between us all, we can appreciate the power of our interconnectedness. This can be seen in the thousands of cases in which a virus has impacted so much of our lives from travel, business, wellness and gatherings.
Fantastic Fungi is all about our interconnectedness and the common issues that we face as a species. We know that our biggest defense from these viruses is our own sense of wellbeing, our own immunity and the ability to live from a place of health and wellness both individually and collectively.

Fantastic Fungi Day:
More Global Than Ever

Watch Fantastic Fungi… At Home!

The messages of this film could not be any timelier, from the need to reconnect and understand the intelligence of nature, to partnering with fungi and our natural world to shift our consciousness. How prepared are we to face the pressing issues we have in our world?

We are facing a serious challenge, yet like the mycelium network we are adaptable. As a response to the worldwide pandemic of the coronavirus, we ask each community to take responsibility for establishing the best practice for them. We also know that we need to respond as mycelium and provide innovative ways of addressing these new challenges.

Join Us From The Safety of Wherever You Are.

In response to the Coronavirus we have decided to expand our reach and open the gates to the ever expanding movement of this film and provide an opportunity to people all around the world, no matter where you are located, to participate in Fantastic Fungi Day! Yes, we are creating an opportunity for everyone, wherever you are to view the film as well as tune into the post-screening Q&A. We have the ability to shift the way we are living in this world. Now is the time to tap into nature’s intelligence and come together as a worldwide audience seeking connection, hope and solutions.

With love and gratitude,
Louie, Paul and the FF Team

Care for Corona is a grassroots support system comprised of psychotherapists and healing practitioners who offer short term free virtual counseling and healing sessions for Buncombe County medical personnel and psychotherapists who are on the front lines of the Corona Virus Pandemic.

Care for Corona