North Carolina is a proud agricultural state. Its industrialization brought valuable gains, but a new cast of farmers are returning to the land against all odds to find what has been lost: sustainability, stewardship, harmony, freedom, and more. Photos by Juli Leonard.

Residents of McDougald Terrace describe the response to the chaos caused by the shooting Wednesday night that injured five people, killed one, and how the trauma is affecting the community, especially the children, on Thursday, Aug. 19, 2021.

To the long list of how the pandemic has changed our communities, add Feed Durham: a crowdfunded mutual aid collective hosting no-contact cookouts in the front yard of filmmaker Katina Parker's home to serve thousands of tasty, nutrient-dense meals.

The Cobblestone Farmers Market is dedicated to significantly increasing equitable access to local, sustainably grown food in Winston-Salem, NC, and growing the regional food economy by creating and nurturing diverse, thriving marketplaces. The market is well known for both the quality and diversity of its fresh farm products and artisan-prepared foods, offering customers the guarantee that all vendors meet the sustainable, naturally-grown, and humane practices required by the market.

Five-year-old Avery Neill was diagnosed with an incurable brain tumor in December 2017. Life changed quickly for Avery and her family, including her twin sister, Bekah, and their little brother, James. Her parents, Emily and Andy Neill, hoped to make the most of the time Avery had left, only to watch her condition decline quickly and sooner than expected. Friends and family surrounded the Neills as Avery slipped away quietly on Mother's Day, May 13, 2018.

Learn. Play. Gather. Stay. Opening 2023. www.hawkinsloop.com

On his eighth day of freedom, from a 44-year imprisonment for a crime he says he never committed, Ronnie Long spends the evening at home cooking dinner with his wife Ashleigh Long, on Friday, Sept. 4, 2020, in Durham, N.C.

The NC Community Bail Fund of Durham brought $100,000 in cash to free nearly 30 men from the Durham County jail as a celebration of Juneteenth and in time for them to spend Father’s Day at home while they await their trials, on Friday Jun. 19, 2020.

Classrooms and offices in the Triangle were short a few hundred people Friday Sep. 20, 2019, as Halifax Mall filled with people participating in the global climate strike in Raleigh, NC.

After Hurricane Florence, Crusoe Island couple, Westly Dorsch and Chasity Hewett, helped a Coast Guard crew navigate flooded streets to rescue their neighbors' pets stuck in homes flooded by the Waccamaw River.

A series of potential carbon monoxide poisonings reported at McDougald Terrace have prompted community-wide inspections and evacuations, but the fire department says there is no evidence of it in the deaths of two infants on Nov 20. and Dec 8, 2019.

Krista Padgett inherited the role of protector of a 250-year-old oak when she purchased her home from Wayne Crawford, who spent his childhood under its branches and saved it from construction twice before. Together they grieve its upcoming removal.

If you go to the SPCA of Wake County on a weekend, long-time volunteer Jerry Kroll, 85, will ask you to greet a "Jerry Dog" as the staff now affectionately calls them. He brings hard-to-adopt dogs out to the lobby to help them perk up and hopefully find a home.