Summerfield Farms

Summerfield Farms commits passionately to enhancing the lives and community by sustainably cultivating, nourishing and celebrating authentic experiences and connections to food, health and land through education. Settled on over 600 acres in the heart of Summerfield, North Carolina, Summerfield Farms has been welcoming folks to the farm with a big helping of southern hospitality since 2012. Long before Summerfield Farms existed, the land has been a gathering ground to many over the decades. Proprietor David Couch always dreamed of owning the land that now constitutes Summerfield Farms – (hear his admission of sneaking onto the property in the video below!). Knowing it was a BIG dream to one day own the property, he would satisfy his desire by driving by the farm every now and then. The land and farmhouse eventually went up for sale and the rest is history… In true Carolina fashion, the farm welcomes you to an authentic, restorative destination that expandswellness for people and planet in a caring, inclusive and sustainable way. The story of the land begins long before human history accounts for it. Prior to the revolutionary and civil wars, prior to the railroad, the rolling hills of what is now called Summerfield Farms was home to sturdy oak trees and life-giving ponds, trickling streams and grassy fields. Recorded history catches up to the farm just after the civil war when it was known as Many Oaks farm. It was abandoned and then homesteaded, part of it owned by Katherine Hoskins, a historian of Summerfield. By the 1930s the farm was owned by the Gamble family, who raised tobacco and produced milk at Many Oaks, the sale of which allowed them to pay for their children’s schooling. They used lumber from the property to build Many Oaks farmhouse and built a barn in 1946, which remains on the property today as The Barn. In the early 1950’s, the Gamble children could not agree on distribution of the property and the farm went up for auction. J.C. Cowan, CEO of Burlington Industries, put in a winning upset bid for the farm. Cowan was known for the many fishing and camping outings he hosted for local Boy Scouts. With all its ponds, fields, shaded oaks and creeks, the farm was paradise for young boys. In the late 1970s, the Clarke family bought Many Oaks farm and began to raise Black Angus cattle for beef. They also kept horses and goats on the farm, and installed a large bell at the front of the house to call the family in from the fields for dinner. Fast forward nearly 20 years to 1998, when the property was acquired by David Couch, an Asheboro native who believes he is not the owner of the land, but merely a steward of it. David purchased the property that constitutes the heart of the farm, and over the years he has acquired the adjoining parcels of what is now known collectively as Summerfield Farms. After nearly a century of being farmed, the land was in desperate need of renewal. David introduced holistic management on the farm, a system of regenerative agricultural practices that help heal the land and improve quality of life. As part of this practice, he began to raise the highest quality beef cattle that graze to maturity on 100% grass. The result of introducing herbivores to these abused and health depleted soils has been nothing less than stunning. By way of their impact, the cattle feed the soil’s microbial ecology, which in turn stimulates healthy plant growth and increases diversity. To offer a retail outlet for100% grass-fed beef,The Marketwas converted from a tractor shed in 2014, and sells beef, Summerfield Farms organic produce, gifts, dry goods—including many paleo-friendly and gluten-free items—and beer and wine. Summerfield Farms is the exclusive North American distributor of Health20, the world’s finest volcanic artesian water from Ecuador. From 2000 to 2016, extensive renovation and restoration of the farm’s original buildings created event venues and luxury lodging for entertaining and housing g