Recently, I spent the day touring Reverence Farms in Graham, North Carolina. I had no idea this 400-acre farm was less than thirty minutes from my home in Carrboro. I’m so happy to visit yet another farm in North Carolina that quietly serves the local community and reminds us to be grateful for our land and our food. To see both soil and creatures with the awe and respect that they deserve.
I started my day with Reverence Farms first at their cafe, which is down the road from their farm. It’s there I learned they source their own eggs and make their barbecue with livestock from their farm. I spent my day with Vanessa who unofficially wears many hats with Reverence, but officially she’s their Director of Outreach. We shared a delicious spread of beef barbecue (that made me nostalgic for Texas BBQ brisket), blistered shishito peppers, the fluffiest quiche I’ve ever had, and a cozy bowl of butternut squash soup.
While we talked about the origins of Reverence Farms, their pastry chef brought out these heavenly lemon thumbprint cookies that were glutenfree and delicious. I usually stray away from anything that is labeled glutenfree when it comes to pastries and desserts, but I wish I had a neverending supply of these cookies.
If you’re curious bout the origins of Reverence Farms, I encourage you to take an afternoon or come for Sunday brunch to their cafe. Their story, along with beautiful photos of their animals are on their walls. The brief summary is a woman named Suzanne, with no family farm history, decided she was ready to start her own farm. She started humbly with a cow named Greeley, Greeley’s heifer calf, Gracie, five sheep, four goats, a couple of dozen laying hens, and a rooster named Jedidiah. That was over ten years ago and now Greeley’s great-great-grandddaughter is milked on their farms, and Suzanne has recruited her family into the farm way-of-life.
After our bellies were nice and plump, Vanessa and I hopped on an RTV and she took me to meet some of the farm animals. Reverence Farms give their animals much freedom to graze. Reverence Farms practice regenerative farming where their hens follow their dairy cows and sheep in rotation to help account for the time grass needs to regenerate. The animals all seemed happy. Just being around them made me feel a sereneness I rarely feel in my everyday life.
Reverence Farms carries its mission and core values in its name. Walking amongst their animals, I can see that they are respected, taken care of, and seen as gifts. I think a farm tour at Reverence Farms and a delicious meal at their cafe will wake you up from your everyday consumption of food. It served as a quiet reminder to me that our earth and food are precious and we should treat it so.
Many thanks to Reverence Farms for having me for the day!
Reverence Farms BBQ & Catering
reverencefarmsbbq.com
Since moving here, I’ve gone a few farm tours now! Read my righthand Anh-Tuan’s take on touring cattle farms in this article.
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