The Queen’s Garden: Oral Histories of the Piedmont Foodshed seeks to collect the stories of those who grow, cultivate, produce, and distribute fresh food in the greater Charlotte region.
A lot of changes have happened to our foodshed over the past half-century. Growing urbanization and an active farm-to-fork movement have created new demands, while encroaching sprawl and rising land costs have led to new innovations like agrotourism, urban farming, and growing microgreens. This oral history project explores both the rewards and challenges of those who currently and historically have participated in and helped to create the region’s foodshed. By documenting the oral histories of farmers, gardeners, ranchers, gleaners, and other distribution efforts, we hope to portray the sometimes unexpected and creative ways that local food production and distribution has occurred and changed over time.