The recent opening of a Lincolnton farm-to-table restaurant is making a significant economic impact for several farmers throughout Lincoln County and the surrounding area.
Harvest Moon Grille, located at 331 East Main Street, officially opened its doors to the public on Aug. 7. The restaurant commits to “sharing the freshest seasonal ingredients from our own (farm) as well as that from those of other small-scale sustainable farms nearby,” according to its website.
Harvest Moon Grille’s owner and head chef, Cassie Parsons, explained that the restaurant sources nearly all its ingredients within 100 miles of its doors. Harvest Moon Grille buys from Ellis Farms in Lincolnton, Little Tree Farm and Retreat in Lincolnton and Riverbend Heritage Farm in Stanley.
“I like the farms to be local, as close as I can find them,” Parsons said. “I get really jazzed when I can find a farm that’s pretty close to my venue. For example, Riverbend (Heritage Farm) is only a mile and half from our hub…in Mount Holly. And I met them because I kept going past their house and seeing (signs) that said, ‘No GMOs in our feed’ and that each chicken is clean, so I knew that they had some common interests in foods like ourselves.”
From there, Parsons toured the family farm, which is run by Duane and Sarah Smith. The Smith couple is assisted by their four young children, ranging between two and 10 years old: Tegan, Bryn, Aiden and Kaela.
A Union County native, Duane Smith did not grow up with a farming background but recalls fond childhood memories of visiting local farms. After receiving his degree in history, he took a job at the Historic Latta Plantation in Huntersville as a farm curator, educating visitors on historic farming methods. From there, he took a job at Historic Brattonsville in McConnells, South Carolina, where he met his wife, who was assisting at the historic site as a volunteer.
After several years in the museum field, Duane Smith opted in 2012 to begin his farm, utilizing the knowledge of Joel Salatin, author and farmer of Polyface Farm in Stanton, Virginia.
“He helped me visualize how to do a small farm and gave me a blueprint,” Duane Smith said.
Since 2012, the farm has grown, raising nearly 1,000 chickens and turkeys of various breeds for meat and egg production. While Riverbend Heritage Farm currently sells eggs, chicken and turkeys to Harvest Moon Grille, the farm is also raising hogs and beef cattle, which they hope to one day sell as well.
“Our focus (in addition to selling to Harvest Moon Grille), is to sell here from our farm so the customers know where their food is coming from,” Duane Smith said. “It keeps us honest and demonstrates clear accountability — that we’re not hiding behind a factory door.”
Like Riverbend Heritage Farm, Little Tree Farm and Retreat is also a relatively new farm operation but is comprised of two families: Derek Dunn, with his wife Amber and their two young children, Julia and Isaac, and Jason Williams, with his wife Joanie and their two young daughters, Joy Kate and Nora.
According to Derek Dunn, Little Tree is an “intentional Christian community, organized as a cooperative which branches out in several directions, including a farm, a retreat center and rural ministry in West Lincoln County.”
Presently, the 25-acre property hosts a growing food forest, 25 chickens known as “layers,” a kitchen garden for the family, and a market garden for ministry work and Harvest Moon Grille crops.
The Dunn family met the Williams family at Christ United Methodist Church in Charlotte, where Jason and Joanie Williams served as the youth minister and music director, respectively. Before forming Little Tree, the two families’ previous experience included gardening as well as knowledge of sustainable farming.
“We met them through church, and live in a community here together in one house,” Derek Dunn said. “We are an intentional community here. So, it resembles the early church. We have similar goals, and we can accomplish them more efficiently if we combine our efforts. So, we share burdens — we share finances, we share meals together, and we can pool our resources easier when we are together.”
The Dunn and Williams families formed the non-profit ministry in 2012, and have since then been actively cultivating a retreat space and farm to provide fresh food to immediate neighbors and Lincolnton residents as well as a facility for underprivileged people to rest and relax.
“Everything we do here is so that we can donate either our time, our services here for the retreat center or our food,” Derek Dunn said. “Most of the crops we grow are donated to Christian Ministries or local neighbors. We sell just enough (to Harvest Moon Grille) to cover our cost. So, what (HMG) is doing is great; because they’re buying from us, we can turn around, buy the seed for the chickens, and then that allows us to donate everything without dipping into any kind of budget. So, they’re sustaining our chickens right now by buying our eggs.”
In addition to selling Harvest Moon Grille approximately five dozen eggs a week, Little Tree also sold a couple of pounds of tomatoes during tomato season. Now that the farm’s tomato season is wrapping up, Derek Dunn and Parsons sat down earlier this month to discuss fall and winter crops that Little Tree could sell to her.
“Since we’re not a large farm, I spoke with her about some specialty items,” Derek Dunn said. “So, I got a list from her of items to grow that she would like to have…we’ve just seeded this week the fall and winter crops we’ll be providing — carrots, lettuce, beets, mustard greens, broccoli, any wild stuff. Not your normal run-of-the-mill crops. It’s really brightly colored stuff. Stuff that you’ll use to make dishes pretty with, stuff you won’t need a lot of. We can’t grow as much as some people, but that’s not our main goal. We can provide a small amount, cover our costs and still donate everything.”
Some of the other farms around the region that are benefitting from Harvest Moon Grille include Freedom Farm, Grateful Growers, Martins’ Charolais Farm, Lindley Mills, Carolina Ground, Guernsey Girl Creamery and Barbee Farms. However, these are just a few of the nearly 54 farms Parsons is looking into partnering with.
“We’re constantly looking for local farmers,” she said. “The community needs access to good, clean food.”
Riverbend Heritage Farm is located at 15425 Lucia Riverbend Highway in Stanley, and is open by appointment only. For more information about Riverbend Heritage Farm, call (704) 827-6214. The farm can also can be found on Facebook by searching for “Riverbend Heritage Farm.”
Little Tree is located at 1903 Shoal Road in Lincolnton. For more information about Little Tree, visit www.littletreenc.org or call (704) 479-1687.
For more information about Harvest Moon Grille and other farms the restaurant works with, visit www.harvestmoongrille.com.
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