Low-tech farm produces 'a little bit of everything'

Credit: Photo by Regan Hill

Eric Brown leads his cows out to a grazing area on his farm in Northeast Iredell County.

By: Bethany Fuller | Statesville Record & Landmark
Published: September 25, 2010

HARMONY — The ground at Milk and Honey Farm looked a bit dry Thursday.
As farmers Eric and Melissa Brown walked around the farm, they said the weather conditions during the past couple of weeks have slowed the growth of some of the fall crops they had planned.
Today, Melissa hopes to get some strawberries planted while Eric brings fresh fruits and vegetables to their customers at the Statesville Rotary Farmers Market.
The Milk and Honey Farm utilizes Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA). Eric said CSAs were born in big cities where people who wanted fresh produce would contract for a share of a farmer’s crop.
Unlike other CSAs where the customer has no control over the produce they receive every week, the Browns send out an e-mail to their 40 customers to tell them what is available that particular week.
Customers pre-pay for a share of the crop, and the Browns limit the number of customers they are willing to take on. This way, they have the chance to get to know their customers, they said.
“I feel like people are really going to appreciate what we are doing,” Eric said.
The customers in the CSA have first dibs on that week’s harvest, Eric said, and the rest is sold at the farmers market.
Customers who come by their table can also purchase some of the soaps and candles the couple makes.
The couple moved to their home in North Iredell from Wilkes County in 2007.
Their farm is a marriage of their interests. Melissa grew up on her family’s farm in Michigan, and worked on an organic farm in Vermont where she was first introduced to direct marketing.
Eric grew up in the suburban areas around various big cities, and fell in love with farming while working on a farm in Switzerland. When he came back to the United States, he started keeping bees.
The list of items the Browns grow is enormous. They are about to plant garlic and strawberries, but other crops, such as luffa, eggplant, sweet potatoes, peppers, lettuce and okra are in one of their fields. They are growing shiitake mushrooms on oak logs near their beehives.
“We needed to be diverse to do this,” Melissa said. “We want to do a little bit of everything. Every year, we add a few more things.”
The couple tries to keep the entire process as natural as possible. They don’t use pesticides, synthetic fertilizers or pharmaceutical products on their crops or livestock.
The beef steer is grass-fed and other than field corn, the chickens feed themselves.
“It means we can sell eggs without relying on genetically modified crops,” Eric said.
The couple is also experimenting with some different fruit tree types. He said they are trying to find fruit trees that produce well without sprays.
Some of the popular fruits, such as apples and peaches, are heavy spray crops, he said.
A lot of the Browns’ methods are kind of old fashioned, the couple admitted. Their 1952 Ford tractor looks decades behind the John Deere tractors typically seen around Iredell County.
Melissa said her father, who owns the farm in Michigan, uses a combine to harvest wheat. She and Eric used a sickle to cut down this year’s crop.
“We certainly keep things low tech,” Melissa said.

Low-tech farm produces 'a little bit of everything'

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