I am so thrilled to get in on the ground floor with such a beautiful new publication. Not only is shooting for a food and lifestyle magazine like Edible Charlotte a welcomed step to the left from my usual work, but it taps into my belief in the importance of healthy eating and supporting local businesses. Win win, I think. This first issue was a blast.

While shooting for the article on young farmers, I was privileged to meet some inspiring local farmers. Michael and Christy Underwood operate Underwood Family Farms, a natural beef, pork and lamb farm in Lawndale, NC. Not only was I welcomed into their home, I received a tour of their various operations, and they were kind enough to send me home with a dog.

 

Then, I met Jill Klosterman and Shane Poplin of Poplin Farms in Albemarle, NC. Jill, hands down, grows the most beautiful kale I have ever laid eyes on. Poplin Farms offers a variety of produce through their CSA program and at the regional farmers market, but that kale almost brought tears to my eyes. If you know me at all, you know I absolutely LOVE kale. It’s on my list of the few possessions I would be allowed to have everyday for the rest of my life if stranded on a desert island. Since I discovered it, three days is about the longest I can go without it. I have a problem. I’m fine with that. I could have far worse problems than a kale addiction. I digress… Jill and Shane produce Certified Grassfed beef, as well as a variety of organic vegetables. Definitely pop in on them next time you are at the airport farmers market. Do yourself a favor, buy her kale–that is, if she hasn’t sold out.

Then I traveled back to the Shelby, NC area to meet Donald Eslick of Fairview Farms, only I already know Donald. He is the boisterous, handsome, and often hilarious husband of my hairstylist Laura Eslick, owner of Halcyon Salon in Shelby. Yes, I drive to Shelby for haircuts. She’s that good. Anyways, Donald is a hoot, he is always up to something new and is impossible to predict. His farm is a mix of his varied interests. He has hogs, and goats, and chickens for eggs, and chickens he is raising to be enjoyed at an upcoming friend’s wedding, he even has bees. The star of his menagerie is definitely his milk cow in training, Clara Bell. When he is not busy with school, or working the farm, Donald manages the Foothills Farmer’s Market in downtown Shelby.

Enjoy some of the images below. If you want to see more of these photos, as well as the ones I shot for the microgreens article about Lucky Leaf Gardens and NODA’s newest brewery, NODA Brewing Company, go pick up your copy of Edible Charlotte  here.