NC Young Farmers (34 images)

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  • STORY SUMMARY: Although the average age of a farmer in the US is 57, a new group of "Young farmers" in their 20's and 30's are foregoing urban lifestyles to work together in radical living and farming collectives. This sustainable farming community is especially growing in the piedmont of North Carolina. Through hard work, this evolving community seeks to break free from mechanization and consumerism, becoming a self-sustaining system. THIS IMAGE: Brandon Hines and Sun Butler make planting beds at a "Crop Mob" - an activity in which people from different farms get together to complete a major project at one location. The experience builds community and helps out fellow farmers with a great deal of work, while also encouraging conversation, working together and the sharing of knowledge.

  • During a "Crop Mob" - an activity in which people from different farms get together to complete a major project at one location - farmers gather rocks and large stones from a muddy field. This odd "harvest" inspired a brief chanting of "Farming Rocks!"

  • Gray T. wipes his brow while hoeing rows of beds during a Crop Mob, an activity in which farmers from different farms get together to complete a major project at one location. The experience builds community, helps out fellow farmers with a great deal of work, while encouraging conversation, working together and the sharing of knowledge.

  • Amanda Egdorf-Sand is a soil specialist who works with small farmers in North Carolina. She and friends jokingly painted their faces with mud while she participated in a Crop Mob - an activity in which farmers from different farms work together to complete a major project at one location.

  • A group of farmers brings felled trees from the forest to be used on farms as wood for fences and supports.

  • Scott digs a rice paddy and creates a landbridge. He was working at a Crop Mob - an activity in which people from different farms get together to complete a major project at one location - in this case Eatable Earthscapes in Pittsboro, NC.

  • On the way to a community lunch, Amanda washes her hands off in a puddle after working in the fields. Many of the farms and plots on which the Young Farmers work were abandoned or unused for many many years, so are lacking basic infrastructure such as electricity or indoor plumbing.

  • Doug J. and Greg A. eat a lunch of steaming rice, lentils and homemade bread during a farmer's gathering called "Crop Mob" at Eatable Earthscapes Farm. Young Farmers around Pittsboro NC get together regularly to socialize, sharing ideas and thoughts, as well as accomplish work and chores.

  • Beth M. (right) feeds Adah F. a spoonful of rice and lentils while ating lunch during Crop mob at Eatable Earthscapes Farm in Pittsboro, NC. The "Mob" is as much about socializing, sharing ideas and thoughts as it is accomplishing work and chores.

  • During a lighthearted break at a Crop Mob, Beth M smeared mud on her face and searched out other farmers to paint, laughing as she chased them around the field.

  • Beads of rainwater cing to Scott's bread and slicker as he digs a project during a Crop Mob at Eatable Earthscapes in Pittsboro, NC.

  • Putting her feet as close to the wood-stove as she can bear, a farmer tries to warm up and drying out after a long, cold, wet day of work..

  • With mud still on this forehead, Link S. falls asleep next to the wood-stove after a long, cold, wet day of work at Eatable Earthscapes farm.

  • Danielle E. hugs her frend hello while a group of farmers harvest Sweet potatoes at Piedmont Biofarm during Crop Mob, a community-building exercise where people get together to work on a large-scale project on one farm.

  • Noel digs though straw to check the soil beneath. The straw encourages decomposition of matter under it, which enriches the soil for future crop beds.

  • Gray T. picks and packages potatoes at Circle Acres farm to be sold.

  • Noel and Danielle's sleeping pad outside with mosquito netting at the farm at Circle Acres. Other farmers in the group live in a broken down RV, and others live in the condemned house.

  • Gray and Noel eat breakfast before heading out to pread lime over felids at Circle Acres farm. Books about farming and agriculture fill the shelves behind him. The group has rigged up an makeshift circuit board, which powers an oven, some lights and a radio, but does not have indoor plumbing.

  • Gray, Noel and Danielle have breakfast before starting work on the farm.

  • Steven H, hoes rows at a Crop Mob, an activity in which farmers from different farms get together to complete a major project at one location. The experience builds community, helps out fellow farmers with a great deal of work, while encouraging conversation, working together and the sharing of knowledge.

  • Kristen gives one of the pigs, Alf, a hug two days before the animals are sent to slaughter. Before working on the farm, Kristin was vegan, not eating meat or animal products. Sending the pigs to slaughter was very upsetting to her.

  • Gray T. rests near a machete and work boots, taking a mid-day break from clearing reclaimed land at the Circle Acres farm. Before Gray and his "landmates" began working on it this year, the farm was foreclosed on and lay abandoned for over a decade, so the new owners have a sizable amount of work to do before the whole farm is up and running again.

  • Nick F. laughs while waiting to eat dinner with a group eats dinner at Circle Acres Farm.

  • Young Farmers get together for dinner at the Circle Acres farm in Chatham County. Some farmers in the group live in the broken down RV, some sleep in nearby tents, others live in the condemned house. The group got together to eat, but also discussed strategies of water systems and usage at their different farms.

  • Gray and Danielle laugh and share a beer to the end of a long day's work.

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