Meet Our Farmers

We are honored to support incredible farmers like Berry Hines Sr. and want to share his story this Black History Month:

"I was born in Roberson County and mainly raised by my grandfather, a farmer—basically, I was born a sharecropper kid. I moved to Edgecomb County as a kid, and we were a migratory farming family moving around the state working. I grew up farming cotton, corn, peanuts, and more, as well as raising hogs, mules, and sheep. During the Vietnam War, I graduated from Warwick High School in Newport News, VA and joined the military to get out of farming.

I was a Combat Infantryman, 82nd Airborne, drill sergeant, and taught communications electronics while serving in Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, and Desert Shield/Desert Storm. After retiring as a Master Sergeant, I owned a janitorial company, but after a year, I had a stroke. It was during this time that I asked myself where I was healthiest, and I thought back and realized it was when I was on my grandfather's farm. So I decided to get back into farming.

My Grandfather said to me, 'You ain’t nothing but a farmer, and a farmer is all you're ever going to be.' He knew what I was going to do, he prophesied it; it’s an honorable profession. So I founded Bee Blessed Pure Honey as a commercial pollinator in 14 counties. For over 25 years now I have produced honey products, vegetables, grits, and pollination services; I’m also a Master Beekeeper in the NCSBA. I started the Eastern NC Farmer Collaborative in 2022 after receiving a grant to help small farmers market their products; 12 have joined the collaborative.

'Some people see things as they are and say why, and I see things that never were and say why not' has been my motto since a teenager. I can’t see failures and don’t judge my standards by others. I am a Black Indigenous Person of Color (BIPOC), and my Grandfather’s lineage is from the Tuscarora Tribe. I was a Commissioner in Princeville, NC which was one of the first towns in America chartered by freed slaves. My greatest teacher was my grandfather; everything began with him, he taught me everything I know about farming and life. My faith and grandfather are the foundation of my work; it’s what I stand on."

"One of the things I like about working with and the partnership I have with Feast Down East, is most of us small farmers, the price of packaging is one of our really big problems; and they have come up with the idea where they purchase the packaging in bulk and let us have it at cost. That is way better than us trying to buy it on the retail market, it saves us anywhere from 9 to 10 dollars on packaging and thats one of the good things about Feast Down East. 

The number two thing I like about them, is that we don’t have a lot of staff as small farmers, and what we do is we send our shopping list to them of the things we have available on our farm and they do the selling and the calling around to the different customers; and that alleviates that. Then they send us a pick list prior to delivering and we fill the pick list; and that is amazing because i don’t have to worry about the farmers money, they do ACH direct deposit with the individual farmer. They work the prices out with the individual farmers so I don’t have to do it. 

Right now, I work with about 12 farmers that's in the partnership with us down here. Their aggregation is really nice, and the other thing I like too is they have the Local Motive vehicles that they take food down into the lower income areas, and they can accept EBT or what have you — the same food that they sell in the high-end restaurants. That's one of the footprints, or main things, that I really like about Feast Down East is they make it easy for the small farmer to participate in the main market."

"A HUGE thank you goes out to Feast Down East for providing funding to help with the cost of our very 1st permanent Farm Sign y'all! Having a sign will allow our visitors to easily spot the farm as you round the bend on Old 30 Road. ... #teamworkmakesthedreamwork #feastdowneastrocks"

"We started our association with Feast Down East 10 plus years ago.  We started produce farming in 2007 and in the fall of 2008, we planted our first strawberry crop.  In the beginning we had just an acre of berries and didn’t have any trouble selling all of them at the State Farmers Market and in our CSA subscriptions.  We went on to increase our acreage of berries, and sometimes was not able to market all of them.  Vernon saw a Billboard for FDE one day and decided to contact them.  We formed a partnership with them that has been most beneficial for our farm.  Typically, with any farmers market, the first of the week is slow, and it gets better towards the end of the week.  Produce doesn’t distinguish the days, so the first of the week presented obstacles on how to sell the produce the first of the week.  We tried the CSA route, but as gas prices increased, it was less profitable.  Feast Down East has given us a way to sell our produce at a fair price.  

Feast Down East has given us an opportunity to sell our fresh produce at many different locations and not have to travel so much.  Once we receive the order, we pack it and deliver to the depot.  We have been offered other opportunities that otherwise, such a selling to the Food Bank, that we would not have the connections to contact these organizations.    They price our products so that we can make a profit.  We not only sell strawberries and peaches, but a wide variety of vegetables.  They also help us determine different kinds of vegetables that the restaurants and the mobile market will purchase."