Eco Farm History:

John and Cindy did not originally enter the Carrboro Farmers' Market as farmers. In 1994, Cindy joined as an artist creating fabric appliques for her customers of their houses and of their pets. Then she added spearmint to her table since their land has a field of spearmint, and then she added some of the many tomatoes she grew in the ample garden John had plowed for her. Cindy had grown up with gardening; her father, a school teacher, had raised apples, pears, peaches, and many other fruits, and her mother grew some garden vegetables. Their family was strongly influenced by living in Greece in the early Seventies, frequenting farmers' markets since supermarkets did not yet exist there.

John had had no gardening experience as a youth. He spent many years working as a machinist in his father's machine shop in Lynbrook, Long Island, and left that job to become a commercial fisherman in the Long Island Sound. John and Cindy were forced to sell their home on Long Island, New York when their town took them to court for keeping a dozen hens (originally a homeschooling project), so they purchased a farm in North Carolina in 1992 and moved their chickens south.

Once in Chapel Hill, John got a job as a carpenter, and Cindy found another homeschooling group for learning and socializing . After they'd been in North Carolina for five weeks, their family was involved in an automobile collision on NC 54 that put their family through years of surgeries and therapies. Afterwards, John went back to college to become an occupational therapy assistant, and then got a job at Murdock Center in Butner. Cindy got a stand at the farmers' market, and also began working part-time as a clerk at Weaver Street Market. John began putting more and more effort into working their land so that he and Cindy could grow more produce to sell; and when he realized the productivity possible in farming, he quit his OTA job, bought a tractor, and became a farmer.

John now manages Eco Farm working with employees and volunteers raising vegetables, fruits, herbs, and livestock; he has become a quality role model, and many of his former workers now have farms of their own. Cindy concentrates on growing flowers, creating artwork, photographs, and books, and feeding the farm crew. Their three offspring, Shane, Nichole, and Willie, all live and work on the farm. More information is available in their book "Photos of an Organic Family Farm: Who We Are, What We Do, and How We Do It".

Eco Farm Photos

More photos coming weekly!

In the wintertime when the gardens are mostly empty, we release our poultry from their chicken coop. This hen has chosen to roost in the fig tree where she can enjoy the sunshine.	Our newest and youngest piglets enjoy rooting in the earth.	This tatsoy makes a nice salad mix when our lettuce is wintered out. It can also be sauteed with onions and garlic, or made into a cream soup (please see recipe section).	Nichole cuts the last of the Red Russian Kale for a late January market.
Cindy bought an Australian traffic sign at the thrift shop, and in her wintertime leisure she painted an addition to make it Eco Farm-appropriate.	John sells high quality dry hardwoods for firewood.	In the wintertime we've got plenty of firewood and pork to sell at market.	John washes off the carrots he'll be bringing to Saturday's market. In late January it's so warm he only needs a t-shirt.
On a cold winter day, three large hogs lie side by side in the sunshine through the doorway of their house, sheltered from the wind.	Our newest and youngest piglets wander in their pen beside one of our firewood splitting stations. In the background is our solar greenhouse.	These tiny piglets are learning to eat and put on some weight.	On a cold January day Willie, Nichole, and Scotty sit on upside down buckets in the greenhouse transplanting seedlings.
John, Willie, and Scotty are installing fencing for some new piglets.	Nichole harvests red Russian kale and tatsoy for a January Saturday market.	On a gusty January morning, Shane, Nichole, Scotty, and Willie work at innoculating shiitake mushroom logs.	Cindy is weeding the Eco Farm carrots in our field at Maple View Farm... in a T-shirt in December!
On a misty morning, Willie chainsaws logs to split for firewood.	This pig chews happily on a taste of clover she found.	In December, Nichole transports the split firewood logs into piles. Then we load it into our pick-up trucks to bring to customers.	Willie harvests collards, broccoli, and cabbage for the market.
Nichole harvests turnips in our fields at Maple View Farm.	Scotty tosses a log into the truck while John splits firewood.	Willie and John split firewood, loading it into the pick-up for delivery.	Mark, John, and Scotty load pigs for slaughter and meat-packing.
Shane sprung-tooth harrows a field using Scotty, John, and Bobby to add additional weight.	John grows four acres of vegetables and flowers at Maple View Farm where their Agricultural Center demonstrates crop growth to students.	John trailers his tractor from Eco Farm to the assortment of other fields he leases to grow additional crops.	In the summertime heat, John cools off his boar and a sow by spraying them with cold water.
When the piglets are very young, they can slip their tiny bodies beneath their electric fence. They startle quickly and run en masse, which keeps them safe from the few cars on our drive.	Their muzzles dusted with corn, these piglets look up momentarily while enjoying their grain.	The porch fills up with strawberries!	Willie, John, Bengie, Alena, and Scotty fold strawberry boxes on our back porch in May.
Nichole, Scotty, Mark, John, and Willie plant garlic in the fall.	On a rainy morning, John, Nichole, Scotty, Alena, and Willie don rain gear before going out to harvest in the fields.	Nichole and Elsa cut shiitake mushrooms from the logs we've innoculated.	Our cold frame reflects a magnificent sunset.
	Spaghetti is a favorite poultry treat, maybe with the birds imagining they've just captured a juicy worm.	Nichole, John, Cindy, and Willie attend an earlier farmers' market.
		In our earliest days at the farmers' market, Cindy sold appliques she sewed of houses, pets, and people. In this 1995 photo, Cindy is accompanied by her niece, Amarandi, who was only three at that time.	This old photo was taken the week that Willie was born in their home in New York. Shane, Willie, John, Cindy, and Nichole pose in their first photograph as a family of five.