Evans Family Farm

Like most homesteading stories, it all started with some chickens. They're the gateway animal to homesteading. First came some chickens, then eggs, then more chickens, then meat chickens, then some dairy goats, then a cross country move to our own farm. Jessica runs the day-to-day operations on the farm. She comes up with the big ideas, creates the "honey-dos," crunches the numbers, manages the tech and cares for the animals. She loves homeschooling her girls and cooking fresh food for the family. Matt is the builder on the farm. He's handy at just about anything and is always working on a new project. Off of the farm he works as an electrical contractor. Our two girls, Estella and Elaina love playing outdoors and helping around the farm. Not pictured are Grandma and Grandpa E. They took a big chance on us and followed us across the country. They're building a house in the back 40 and are always around to lend a hand. Grandpa Jon is the primary farm hand and chief egg collector. We are both native Southern Californians. We grew up with backyard gardens but had little livestock experience (okay, we had no idea what we were doing at first). We dipped our toes into backyard homesteading and were hooked. We loved Southern California, but we had known for some time that it just wasn't the right place for us to raise our family. After years of searching and exploring, the Carolina's were calling our name. We sold our California business, our house and animals and moved to central North Carolina. We love it here and are so excited to be farming our beautiful 10 acre property in Mt Ulla. We wanted to grow food for ourselves and a little extra to sell on the side. The demand grew and grew. We added sheep, turkeys, pigs, cattle and more and more laying hens. We needed more space to grow more and more for our community and were blessed to be able to purchase the land around us, bringing the original 100 acre farm back together. We now sell online, in person at farmers markets and in our on farm store. Woodgrove Farm, Mt Ulla, NC Amy and Justin Poirier | Pork This is a budding farm partnership with beginning farmers Amy and Justin. They have been anxious to start raising animals on their 100 acres of certified organic land. We've been guiding them through this first year of raising pigs in their wooded area and have plans to help them expand to cattle in the coming year. Seven Sisters Farm, Denton, NC Michael and Janice Fine | Produce They are a three-season farm, and with the recent addition of our high tunnel, are working to produce for market year-round. They strive to be as economically and ecologically sustainable as possible. Their way of life depends on them educating themselves on the responsible use of resources, and the needs of our customers. They practice cover cropping, crop rotation, integrated pest management, use of regionally selected and bred seed varieties, mulching, and season extension techniques. Check out their Facebook page!