Sidney Cruze

Ten years ago, when Judy Wicks learned the horrors of industrialized pig farming, she took pork off the menu at her famed White Dog Cafe in Philadelphiauntil she could find a farmer who raised pigs humanely. “I realized you can’t have one sustainable, locally owned business, there must be a sustainable business system,” Wicks told […]

When Mike Jones looks across his Franklin County farm, he sees pigs, pine trees and fields of scrubby green clover. “If you drew a circle 200 yards out from this point, we’d be surrounded by about that many hogs,” he says before calling out to Ernestine, one of his favorite sows. “Now I ask you, […]

April McGreger’s “kilt” lettuce salad offers a taste of North Carolina’s past and future. Made with lettuce and red spring onions grown by Joanne and Brian Gallagher, two of the Triangle’s newest farmers, and a recipe passed down from her Appalachian great-grandparents, it is a warm salad wilted by spicy vinegar-seasoned dressing. McGreger paired up […]

You could say horticulturist Dr. Lee Barnes has good karma. Barnes grew Bolivian rainbow pepper plants for years because he enjoyed watching the finger-shaped peppers change from purple to cream, then orange to red, and he liked eating the spicy fruits. By saving seeds over time, he cultivated a plant that thrived on his land […]

Raleigh’s Moore Square Park was once a peaceful spot to eat a picnic lunch during the workweek. Now on Wednesdays between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. it’s bustling with toddlers sporting plastic sunglasses, lawyers draped in elegant suits and city employees searching for the perfect tomato. They are here to see what’s for sale at […]

Few places appeal to children more than a farm. At Genesis Farm, five miles west of Chapel Hill, kids can climb on Daisy the tractor, chase chickens and eat fresh tomatoes right out of the garden. They can also learn how to milk a cow and plant cucumbers. This month, farm owner Trudy Matheny will […]

In a lightening flash of irony, Mother Nature served up the first big rain we’ve had in months during the farm tour sponsored by the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association. Despite the storms, almost 100 people visited Castlemaine Farm, owned by Brian and Joann Gallagher. Named for a village on the coast of Ireland and for […]

After years of living in the San Francisco Bay area, working corporate jobs to keep up with the high cost of living, Gayle Hoover and Michael Morphy were ready to escape. “Life there was nuts,” Hoover says. “It was a very competitive world, and people were stressed out all the time. In the 20 years […]

Amy and Ray Sugg moved to the Chatham County community of Bonlee in 1991 with a dream of opening a hardware store. They both had good jobs working for the Town of Wrightsville Beach–he as the director of Parks and Recreation, she as the department’s program supervisor–but they wanted to raise their family in a […]