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Organic Produce Farming in Triplett, North Carolina--Kara Dodson and Jacob Crigler

As told by Jacob Crigler and Kara Dodson
Triplett, North Carolina

Story Narrative:

Interview with Kara Dodson and Jacob Crigler conducted by Willard Watson at Full Moon Farm in Triplett, North Carolina, for the Blowing Rock Art and History Museum, Blowing Rock, North Carolina, in conjunction with Smithsonian's "The Way We Worked" exhibition. 

What do you do for a living?
JC - "We are organic produce farmers. It’s a new thing for us, we’ve successfully made it through one growing season. We do various odd jobs as well, I’m a carpenter and builder on the side. We have a band sawmill that we have built a barn on our property with and have gotten paid to build some other structures for some folks."

KD – "Yeah it’s a livelihood, a living. I also do massage work, and I have done that the last few years. When Jacob and I were doing an apprenticeship on a farm I did massage school at nights. So it was kind of a paired livelihood, I could work in town doing that in the off season and in the farming season we would be here 100% of the time or most of the time, that is our plan, and that’s what we tried this past year. It worked out pretty well." How long have you been involved in growing your own produce?

C – "A couple years ago we worked for Ian Snyder who runs a farm over in Ashe County. We kind of apprenticed under him. He is one of only a few horse farmers left in the region. That was the primary reason for wanting to work with him was to learn kind of the horse farming side of the business. All told, I think we are probably a good solid three years now of different levels of commitment to produce growing."

KD – "When we worked for Ian we had cattle and land operation too. It was small but it was important to learn that when you start farming. Do you want to do livestock management? Do you want to kill animals that you raise to eat and sell? I think for us it was really cool to learn how the very small meat industry operates and local meat farming happens. It’s ultimately not for us cause of the headaches with managing livestock, just the fencing, and breeding, capital, and then our property here wouldn’t hold any livestock..."

Read the full transcript below.

Asset ID: 7803

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