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OCTOBER 2026
Weaving community
through food
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A NOTE FROM SONYA
Bringing our work home to the farm.
Dear friends,
Last month, we shared that Caja was entering a quieter season. Behind the scenes, we've been busy bringing more of our work together at the farm in Mills River.
The farm, Tool Library, shared-use kitchen and Food is Medicine programs each offer something useful on their own. Bringing them together creates more possibilities: a place to pick up food, learn to prepare it, borrow a tool and connect with neighbors.
Friends and partners have been helping us prepare these spaces and think through what comes next. I'm grateful for the many hands and ideas shaping this next chapter.
In this newsletter, you'll find an invitation to our free November 2 cooking and brain health class, a look at what's happening at the farm, and the questions we're bringing to statewide conversations about Food is Medicine.
I hope you'll find a reason to come spend time with us. There's more to build, and I'm glad we're building it together.
Warmly,
Sonya
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FROM OUR FARM TO OUR NEIGHBORS
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More ways to share the harvest
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The vegetables we grow in Mills River are finding more paths to our neighbors’ tables through new partnerships.
We've launched a partnership with MANNA FoodBank to provide fresh vegetables to neighbors through IAM. We're glad to connect our harvest with the work these partners do to help people access food.
We're also supplying vegetables to the amazing folks at Equal Plates Project and selling produce to Pisgah Bakehouse. It's exciting to know food grown here is becoming part of what these local kitchens prepare and share.
Each partnership builds a connection between our farm and the people who feed our community. Together, we're creating more ways for locally grown food to reach the table.
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FROM SHARED KITCHEN TO NEXT STEP
Start small.
Build something.
Grow into it.
Keep sharing.
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A SHARED-USE KITCHEN SUCCESS STORY
Porter's Pantry is taking the next step.
This is what shared infrastructure can do.
One of Caja's shared-use kitchen businesses,
Porter's Pantry, is taking a big next step:
renting the kitchen space Caja is leaving as we bring our
programs together at the farm.
Our shared-use kitchen gave Porter's Pantry a place to build
the business without taking on the cost and risk of a
commercial space from day one. Now the business is ready
for a space of its own.
And the sharing won't entirely stop. Porter's Pantry intends
to continue making the kitchen available to other food
entrepreneurs on a limited basis.
That's a win worth celebrating: shared
infrastructure helping a local business grow, then that
business carrying some of the sharing forward.
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BUILDING IT TOGETHER
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Grow food. Share tools.
Build knowledge. Keep it local.
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Many hands are helping bring the farm to life
September was a month of getting ready.
Friends from AdventHealth joined us at the farm to help prepare the Tool Library, farm and Food is Medicine spaces as we bring more of Caja's work together in Mills River.
We also welcomed Resourceful Communities and emerging food hubs from across the region for Knowing Food Hub Costs and Opportunities, a hands-on workshop about the real economics of building local food infrastructure.
Together, these efforts are building the places, relationships and practical knowledge that help more food, resources and capacity stay rooted in our communities.
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COME LEARN WITH US
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Good Food, Healthy Brain
Your brain lives in a body. What we eat affects much more than one organ at a time.
Join Sonya Jones, PhD, for a free plant-based cooking and nutrition class exploring food and brain health. We'll look at what research tells us and share practical ways to bring these foods into everyday meals.
And because this is Caja, we'll cook, taste and eat together. You'll leave with free ingredients to prepare the food again at home!
Monday, November 2, 2026
5:30–6:30 p.m.
75 Bryson Road, Mills River, NC
Sponsored by AdventHealth.
The class and take-home ingredients are free.
Please register in advance so we can prepare ingredients for everyone.
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FROM PRACTICE TO POLICY
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SUSTAINING FOOD IS MEDICINE
Who carries the risk when healthcare pays for food?
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THE BIG QUESTION
Can we finance Food is Medicine without shifting financial risk onto the community organizations doing the work?
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That question is taking Caja from the farm to statewide conversations about the future of Food is Medicine.
Ripple Effects, our tabletop simulation, puts participants inside the financial decisions that farmers, food organizations and healthcare partners face. What happens when enrollment is lower than expected, food costs rise or payments arrive late? Who has the resources to absorb the disruption?
This month, Sonya brought the simulation to the GRRO Rural Food and Health Forum in Raleigh. At the October 15 Blue Cross NC convening, we continued conversations about financing that works for healthcare, farmers, food organizations and communities.
These conversations grow directly from our work at the farm: how do we build systems that keep resources, capacity and decision-making rooted in communities?
Visit our website to explore Ripple Effects and the questions it brings to the table.
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COME FIND US AT THE FARM
There's more happening here than ever.
Food. Tools. Kitchens. Learning. Community.
This fall, we're bringing more of Caja's work together at the
farm and opening more ways for you to be part of it.
Pick up food. Prep your vegetables. Borrow a tool. Take a class.
Volunteer. Cook with us. Or just come see what we're building
together.
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A QUICK OCTOBER NOTE
Caja will be closed the final week of October. We'll be back
in November, rested and ready for the next season.
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There's room for you in the weave.
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