Farmers and Food Artisans
Our farm, located in the temperate Thermal Belt Region of Western North Carolina, is rich in historic character and agricultural history. Once Cherokee Indians land, the farm borders an old Indian trail which was chartered as the Howard Gap Toll Road in 1835. During this time, the land grew corn and provided rest for drovers and their animals. In the late 1880's until the 1930's, our land grew the famous Tryon Grapes.
The farm has been tended by Carolyn's parents using "regenerative agricultural practices" since 1964. Initially, when we took over working the family farm on a part time basis, we grew and sold heirloom vegetables and cut flowers at local Farmers Markets. With commercial farming and food science backgrounds, as well as a couple of seasons evaluating our farming efforts, we refocused our sights on using what we grow on our farm to produce a line of "seed to bottle" products which we craft in our NCDA Certified Kitchen. Seven years after stepping back into farm life, we are full time farmers and food artisans growing thirty ingredients for our curated line of six seasoning salts, five simple syrups and three herb mixes.
Growing our ingredients is a year round cycle of seed starting, planting, tending, weeding, harvesting, drying and processing. Somewhere in between this cycle, we stop, find our kitchen clothes and make our small batch products!
Our family lifestyle is about growing nutrient dense foods using all natural amendments to enrich our soil. The basis of our farm business is built on these tenets, as the quality of our ingredients is dependent upon soil, our well water and rainfall.
Specialty products like ours showcase not only what we grow on the farm but hearken back to a time where artisanal mountain crafts like agricultural goods, toy making, furniture building and weaving were a notable part of our area's local economy. Today, sustainable family farms and small businesses offer diversity to our local food system and promote community. Given these accomplishments, it is easy to figure out that we get a great deal of satisfaction from honoring our mountain traditions and being good stewards of our land.