20 ACRES OF FOREST, FIELD,

AND DEEP RED CLAY

Rose Produce is a market garden farm and wild expanse, situated between the towns of Carrboro and Hillsborough, NC.

Here we grow herbs, fruit, and vegetables for food, medicine, and craft.

You can find our produce by reaching out to us at heyroseproduce@gmail.com for bulk quantities, or by joining Herb Club- a 7 month membership of seasonal herbs! We’ll also be offering herbs and botanical goods at the Carrboro Farmers’ Market on the first Saturday of each month (May-Dec.)- we’d love to see you there!

Our produce should be
an expression of this land, and our time on it.

To do this we tread lightly, using hand tools and our bodies to plant and cultivate our beds. There’s no tractor, and not many modern implements, just two pairs of hands and a lot of determination. Our first priority is maintaining a right relationship with the land, observing and contributing more than we take.

Our Practices

  • We meet, and often exceed, requirements for organic certification. Our seed as well as our soil inputs (compost, minerals, etc) are all certified organic. Weed pressure is managed with hand tools and tarps, and we utilize row cover and crop rotations to keep pest populations in balance. In the rare case that a treatment is needed, we only use those that are OMRI Listed.

  • We practice minimal to no-till soil disturbance techniques, ensuring that life below ground is just as biodiverse as above. We are establishing pollinator hedgerows around each of our field blocks; spaces we are filling with native perennials, fruit trees, and bird houses that will host the diverse beneficial insects and wildlife present on the property. We are currently cultivating 2 acres, maintaining the additional 18 as wild spaces for native species to thrive.

  • We grow plants native or naturalized to the sub-tropical climate here in the piedmont region of North Carolina. We believe locally adapted plants enable adaptive bodies, more resilient ecosystems, and tether us to a sense of place.

History

Seated on ancestral Eno and Occaneechi land, the farm dates back to the early 19th century when it was known as the Davis Homeplace. In the early 1800s, the land was settled by James and Josephine Davis, serving as a family homestead that was passed down in their family for nearly 200 years thereafter.

In its heyday, the homestead housed a 19th century cotton gin, corn mill, and blacksmith shop. While cotton was not grown on the property, the farm more likely served as a community hub for other small farmers to process their harvests.

In 2020, Weston and Payton Rose were fortunate to acquire the property from the Davis family, hearts set on preserving the spirit of this place for future generations.