evan
evan.
evan, known by many as the culinary gardener, is a transplant from new york city - but has been in asheville for seven years. we visited his farm and home on a sunny sunday afternoon, and jived with him immediately. the farm, as evan describes, is both his wife and his child - and although he is very serious about & dedicated to his business, his personality counteracts it with lighthearted jokes, strong morals, and romantic depth. evan openheartedly talks of his impressive work ethic, his recent divorce, his love for what he does, and his longing to share it all.
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how would you describe your upbringing?
very suburban. i grew up a little less than 10 miles from new york city. it was fine, but it wasn’t particularly special. my parents have a long way to come in being who i want them to be, and maybe they never will be..their emotional intelligence is really lacking. and it was because of their parents not being able to translate that, or even being aware of that. when it came to them being parents they weren’t super super great.
how did you get into the gardening bit?
through cooking. i’ve always had a passion for cooking my whole life ever since i was young and about 12 or 13 years ago i started experimenting with growing things. i started to realize if i want to cook really good food and have access to particular or special ingredients or varieties of crops, the most straight forward way to do it is to grow them. it was a very slow progression. i would say i’m 75% self taught.
what was one of your favorite experiences or times in your life?
i hesitate to say this because it’s kind of sad but i was married for awhile and was with someone for awhile - just many things involved in that. but one that really comes to mind right now is a trip to big sur we took. i can’t even believe it exists.
what is a scent that triggers a strong memory for you?
a scent? oh my god there are so many things. uh, woodsmoke i would say. in italy, tuscany - i was there for two months working at an agriturismo and that was the smell. the mountains and woodsmoke was the smell.
what is one surprising thing you carry with you?
my maxed out credit card? i don’t really carry something with me all the time. a sharpie? i always have a sharpie on me.
you said you are a wine guy, what is your drink of choice?
french wine is pretty much 95% of what i drink. and the german rieslings.
when you are working do you prefer quiet or noise? do you play music while you are working outside?
i don’t. even when i was just working for myself i always felt really disconnected if i had headphones on listening to something, and now that i have employees i would never do that because i feel like i need to be aware of everything that is happening all the time. i definitely prefer quiet - not silence - but the quiet that is outside. you hear the birds, people mowing their lawn, that kind of background.
what is your favorite technological advancement?
i am really not tech savvy, it is a weak point for me. i do like sonos. i do really love instagram i must say. mainly i love it because i have been able to connect to a lot of other farmers across the country and the world. instagram is the perfect app for farmers because farmers are quite isolated in general. instagram with its focus on photos allows you to see a lot of things and then communicate about them. i have learned from so much from people i have connected with.
if you could spend 24 hours in the life of someone else, alive or dead, who would it be?
there are so many people but it is always jerry garcia. the grateful dead was a really formative musical experience for me. i was too young to see them live with jerry but when i was 13 that was the music i gravitated towards.
what is the best part of your day?
oh, that is an easy one. after the day is done everyone goes home and i am able to go outside and walk around in the peace, and pick what i want for dinner. and within an hour and a half i am eating it. the experience of that is really special to me.
what is one thing that without fail can ruin your day?
anything going wrong that is related to the farm. i guess it would have to be significant enough that it would really put a wrench in my plan, but in the summer for example - a really heavy downpour. a summer thunderstorm where *boom* a half inch of rain falls in 20 minutes that will definitely ruin my day. there are so many things that go wrong that are out of my control or i didn’t foresee happening. there are a lot of hard shitty days. and i am really UP in it.
what could really make your day?
generally the answer to that would be a very successful crop that we harvested where i see that it’s everything i wanted it to be. it’s good quality, it’s good weight (so it’s going to be good money), the harvest was easy, there wasn’t very much we had to navigate through like rot, it was very smooth and i see that i am going to be able to make people happy and make good money off this.
what trait do you dislike in yourself?
i have a lot of anxiety and it really limits me.
what trait do you dislike in others? when do you get let down by humans?
it’s hard to put words to how i feel. to put it in very few words i would say stupid people, but that sounds judgmental. for me it is people that don’t necessarily think of life as something they should care about. they don’t really have a clear idea of life, maybe they don’t have anything they are passionate about or are not well versed enough, educated enough to be perceptive to a significant degree. just weak. you know? they don’t have any sort of direction or desire for direction.
what are you learning or working on right now personally?
many things. i am learning a lot about myself - my needs, my desires, what i want out of life, what is lacking in my life.
i am definitely still working on moving on from my marriage. it has been a year and a half or maybe a bit more, but the way it all went down was really challenging for me. it wasn’t a lack of love that broke it apart, it was our different trajectories in life. at one point i was given an ultimatum like “is it me or is it the farm?” and i immediately was able to say the farm…but it was still really challenging. you know? you go from everything to nothing overnight, and for me it was a very hard transition to being in touch. it’s basically been a year and a half of nothing, because i can’t handle it yet. and i know at the same time that i am going to need to see her in person to have closure, but i am not ready for that yet. it is a really hard period.
i don’t know how long it is going to take, or what it is going to take. but i can tell you right now, spending a day with her would make my life generally so much better, but i don’t want to do that yet. so it’s crazy.
what is asheville to you?
for me it’s community. it is the people that i have met and the relationships i have made through my business or otherwise. that is integral to me to why i care about this place and why i am still living here.
how would you describe it to someone else?
well, it would be like - you probably already have an idea of it because of the way it is meant to be perceived in articles, but first of all there are only a couple of really good restaurants. all the articles are like “IT’S A FOOD HEAVEN!” but most of those places suck. there is so much lacking in the food scene here anyway. but i would say it’s a small place, it has a lot of great things about it - i think there is still good food, you get good music coming through, you get a bunch of good people even with the influx of the bros and southern belles or whatever you want to label them as.
you think it is worth it still?
for me it is. for someone moving here tomorrow, they would have to navigate their own path. all of us have. it took me probably two years to really develop the sense of community that i have now.
what do you think the direction of asheville is? many people think it’s too far gone and is just heading towards mediocrity.
i think that is true from someone looking from the outside. i think that if you have lived here and you are not moving here tomorrow or in a year that it is going to mean something different for you. for me, my close friends and the relationships that i have here, are not going anywhere. so what i have here, i feel like it is grandfathered in, in a sense. but because of the influx of people, i guess, that people like us would deem as not people we would want to associate with, the people that have lived here for a while do not want to even engage with them, even if they have the potential to be someone you could be friends with.
i don’t think asheville is going to go to shit. i don’t think it is going to lose everything it has. i think the people that have left - if you are just going to leave like that you are looking for something else that you literally can’t find here, and also probably could never have found here.
what is asheville missing?
black people. 8% of the population in asheville is black, but you don’t see it. even if they weren’t being pushed out, it’s very segregated. it’s a white persons town. it attracts white people.
by saying that, it is also just diversity in general and whatever would come with that - including food, culture, and just general vibe. i would label that the number one thing i struggle with living here.
you go to charlotte and find middle class black people, and you just don’t see that here.
where are you a regular?
bull and beggar and cucina 24. i am a creature of habit and that is where i go. if i am spending money and it’s on food and drinks it’s a significant majority at one of those two places.
what is your go to outfit? what makes you feel like A FARMER?
first of all i wear the same thing all week. i will wear these same pants - they are tree climber pants. i’ll wear the same outerwear in the winter, in the summer i will wear a uv collar button down shirt and i will wear that all week. it gets dirty after one day, what am i going to have seven of them? no, i am going to wear it everyday. so that. and a hat. that makes me feel like wherever i am it’s like - yes. unapologetically though, this is just who i am. i am not coming here wearing this to try to stand out like “look at me i am dirty,” this is just how it is happening.
other than that if i am not wearing this kind of outfit or i am going somewhere where i am going to wear normal clothes, for outerwear i wear a lot of filson. and i buy a lot at old north that i would wear on those occasions. selvage denim and nicer boots.
what is one small thing that is abnormally special to you? what would you grab in a fire?
this is not a good answer, but i would grab my cast iron. i have a couple of pans i have had for fifteen years or something that i feel strangely attached to.
it’s funny but i would try to grab the house, it’s very special to me this house.
what would you say is undeniably you?
food. it’s just - i am food. 80% about me is food, or other ingestibles.
is there anything you don’t eat or are allergic to?
i actually have a gluten allergy. i have celiac. it’s really hard. i recently had a reaction. but it’s been over 10 years so i don’t really spend the time feeling bad about it. when it comes down to these things i just end up taking it into my own hands. i cook and i have access to this so generally you are going to find me doing it myself. i make gluten free sourdough bread once a week. my starter has been going for six years.
i love cooking so much that i’d rather spend an hour and a half or two hours even drinking wine and listening to music and cooking, than going out to a quick meal. even if i am stressed out. i respect that, but in the end i just want to be so satisfied and i know generally if i do it i will be. but then there are those times when i fuck something up and i am so upset. it is a very bad night when that happens. so yeah like you asked earlier what could ruin my day? making a bad dinner.
in a book about your life thus far what would three of the chapters be?
welcome to asheville
me and my wieners
help
what is one thing not many people know about you?
my left armpit smells way worse than my right.
do you have a good vomit story?
a couple of years ago out here farming i had one employee and i was just getting really drunk a lot. more than once we would come to the day here at 8 o’clock and at some point soon after that i would just be throwing up in the field while working.
if there was a new two dollar bill whose face should be on it?
i don’t know. i think without sounding cliche i am just going to go with jerry garcia.
do you have a motto or words that you live by?
it’s always a sense of urgency.
i try to instill that in my employees. just because it is winter, doesn’t mean you should take 20 minutes longer to do this. our list is never done. it’s more about work i guess, but it translates to my life. i am not going to not clean my house because i just don’t feel like it. i’m going to do it, and i am going to do a really good job.
what traits do you rate highest in others?
intelligence. awareness - whether that is in turns of current events, or..you just know if someone knows and they are carrying themselves well. but also empathy. caring. being able to care. tenderness. being able to feel. yeah, being able to feel.
do you have a great mentor?
i wish. where i am at right now i am able to be other people’s mentors in farming so it is really special to me to be that for someone else, as i have never had someone be that for me. it is the closest i can get to having that feeling.
what has been the most tragic thing in your life?
definitely my divorce.
when you are pushed to your limit how do you cope?
alcohol. (wine). and my dogs, they are just bundles of love. no judgment.
what is one small thing that always makes you cringe?
one that is coming to me right now is someone talking about or saying that they care about something and clearly not having any clue or any depth. posers i guess.
what is the most beautiful part of your job?
each year there are things that go completely awry and i have full crops that fail. winter squash two years ago just straight up died. so the feeling i get of trying it again and being really focused on succeeding with it, and succeeding with it - it’s redemption.
we grew this eggplant variety last year called violet king - it turned out to not be a variety i would grow again. it didn’t suck but it wasn’t incredible, but i took on that name. so in situations when it is pure success i just am like, “I AM THE VIOLET KING!”
one lesson you learned from love:
communication
how would you define confidence?
i think true confidence is having a deep understanding of whatever you are focusing on feeling confident about. if you have that, then that is what confidence is. it can be whatever, you don’t even have to be necessarily good at that thing, you just have to understand and have an awareness of whatever it is — of yourself, or of your job, or a hobby.
how do you get your news?
the new york times, and npr.
what are you consuming that is nourishing you in a positive way?
i don’t read, other than on my phone and the new york times. i don’t read novels or anything like that. my reading comprehension and listening comprehension suck. i am very much an experiential learner. i would probably say therapy. i go once a week and that is important to me. i also used to go to acupuncture and i recently got back into it. and that has been very special to me. for a long time i didn’t think i had the space or time or money to be able to put into that, but it was always important to me and i have actually felt better from it. a month ago i started going again that that has been really great.
one memorable birthday:
my 30th birthday last year was really nice. i had it here, probably 85% of the people i invited that are the people i care about were able to come. we grilled, hung up some string lights, it was really awesome. i am not really a birthday person, i don’t like getting people to care and focus on me. generally i don’t want to do anything, but then i am always disappointed. for my 30th i knew it was no question - i had to make it special. and i felt like i could actually do that more than just decade birthdays and people could come and enjoy themselves.
do you have a funny or unique family tradition?
thanksgiving is very special to me. and i host it. ever since i moved down here i’ve hosted it - it’s been seven years. it’s always really special. every year i fine tune it, it gets a little bit better. at the same time, i’m not like, “oh i am going to do this really amazing curry sweet potato dish.” it’s really straight up. but refined.
what do you need around you? what brings you happiness?
my dogs, food, wine, a clean house. the missing link is a special significant other. someone to share all of this with.
what are you proud of?
my business. i am definitely proud of it. i have made some epic sacrifices to get to where i am, and it’s generally really hard and shitty - farming. i generally hate way more than 50% of it but i also love it and would never think of doing anything else. being where i am at right now and pushing, always pushing forward, trying to do better and be more productive from the soil, and being a better manager - trying to do all these things that are really hard. it’s not just farming, you know? when you are a farmer you have to be the mechanic, and the electrician, and the manager, and the people person, and the not people person, and understand the soil and the crops and all these things. i really throw myself into that and it’s definitely what i am most proud of.
what do you dream about? what are your goals?
a special woman. someone very attractive to me, very caring, tender, but also very independent too and has her own shit she cares about in life and it’s not just latching onto me. and she’s funny. and wants to live this lifestyle. at this point if i meet anyone, (the farm) is part of it.
what are you scared of?
that not happening. (laughs)
more than that, there are tons of things i am scared of. i am scared of competition in my business. it’s all a pretty well working machine, except for a partner. that is the thing for me right now in this moment that is really lacking. in asheville, a city of 90,000 people, there just aren’t enough people. when it all gets whittled down the pool is really small.
do you have a secret hunch about how you will die?
no. maybe from cancer. a lot of things are organic that i use but like vermiculite: this rock that is expanded with heat and you use it in soil mixes is very dusty and causes cancer. i eat enough antioxidants but i still think it is probably going to be cancer.
what do you want to accomplish before that happens?
i want to have at least one kid. the experience of seeing your progeny is very special.
i would also like to accomplish not being so in the shit with this. to have employees that stick around for longer than a year or two and actually want to do this as their career. to make my career their career, or at least together. that way they really get to know things, like what i need out of this. it’s like a chef in a restaurant and the sous chef. being able to have someone who can translate what i want out of this into it actually happening without me having to be that person.