WCU grads grow community at Ochre Hill Farms
Ochre Hill Farm鈥檚 first crop never saw market shelves.
The first folks to enjoy that harvest were at food pantries and soup kitchens across western North Carolina鈥檚 seven counties.
And though the business has grown from its humbler beginnings in 2018, with a farm stand and a wide variety of vegetables, fruits and flowers for sale to show for it, its focus on service has remained central to its mission.
Today, the family behind the operation excels at showing residents and visitors of Jackson County what quality produce looks like and how it鈥檚 grown.
Shelley and Kevin King are the founders of Ochre Hill Farms, two Western Carolina University Catamounts who first met as performers of the Pride of the Mountains Marching Band. But as they鈥檇 tell their story, Ochre Hill Farms was as much their children鈥檚 project as their own.
Shelley and Kevin King are locals of Western North Carolina, whose families have lived and worked the area for generations. They were the children of farmers and the very first in their families to attend college.
When they speak together about that time in their lives, coming to Cullowhee and finding mentorship and community among their teachers and peers, they describe a sense of the world opening up, discovering a support rooted in a different mentality than they鈥檇 first grown accustomed to.
鈥淲hen I got to Western, we had the most nurturing, caring people there,鈥� Shelley said.
鈥淭hey tried to help you. They tried to nurture you. They tried to mold you. They didn鈥檛 make it easy on you. It was hard,鈥� Shelley said. 鈥淏ut they tried to make you be successful, and to show you that the world was not this little box and that you were not crammed into it.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 why (Kevin) did what he did, and that鈥檚 why I did what I did, and that鈥檚 why our kids are doing what they鈥檙e doing. Because I do feel like because of Western, that little chain of 鈥榯his is your box and this is your world鈥� was broken, and I鈥檓 proud of that.鈥�
Kevin graduated with a degree in business and began a career in county government that he鈥檚 led for nearly three decades. Shelley earned an English degree and eventually returned to graduate school to get her doctorate in counseling. She worked in schools locally for 17 years before making the choice to homeschool their three children, Abbegail, Ayson and Avery.
Their lengthy careers endowed both parents with a deeper sense of the needs of their community.
鈥淭hese kids come from so many different places and backgrounds and support systems. Some have it and some don鈥檛. Some know what they want and some don鈥檛. Some are good at it, some are bad. But they all come to the very same place, and that鈥檚 the beauty of education. You can mold education to be what a particular person needs, and not everybody needs the same thing,鈥� Shelley said.
鈥淓ducation doesn鈥檛 always mean Aristotle. Education means learning how to be a good citizen, to learn how to be kind and respectful, learning how you use social media in a productive way that鈥檚 true and honest and not damaging鈥�.If you looked at society as a whole, and you looked at the one thread, the thing that鈥檚 most important, it鈥檚 going to be education.鈥�
When they speak about teaching their kids, all of whom are bound or enrolled in college, Shelley and Kevin agree that getting them involved in the 4-H program and getting their kids into Southwestern Community College鈥檚 farm school was transformative.
After all, it was their daughter Abbegail鈥檚 desire to keep cattle that eventually led to the family acquiring a plot from local farmer Danny Hooper and a grant from the state, which in turn led to their creation of the diverse farm we see today, covered in rows of lavender, blueberries, tomatoes, wildflowers and other produce.
鈥淭he 4-H program鈥檚 main focus and motto is to learn by doing, and that鈥檚 essentially what we鈥檝e done here. We鈥檝e learned by doing,鈥� Kevin said.
鈥淧eople love U-Pick, and that flows with our education goals. I want them to come out here, and I want them to pick the squash. When you go to the grocery store and pick it off the shelf, I want them to know what it takes to get it and to give them a little taste of it. That鈥檚 really the focus. This whole thing has been an educational experience for people.
鈥淚 want people to come here, not just because they want to buy something, but because they want to be a part of it,鈥� Kevin said.
They鈥檝e continued to pursue their mission not only through opening their farm to the wider public, increasing their neighbors鈥� access to fresh produce and homemade goods, but also by establishing AgHOPE, which stands for helping others and promoting education.
Through local partnerships with organizations like the Nantahala Health Foundation, they鈥檝e been able to help families with food insecurity through donations and by helping establish raised garden beds.
Every member of the King family has had a hand in growing Ochre Hill Farms, and despite the financial and physical difficulties the project has posed, they continue to work day in and day out to accomplish their mission and to continue the farming traditions that once defined the lives of so many in western North Carolina.
鈥淭his isn't a 3,000-acre farm with a GPS-driven tractor and a combine. We're tiny. We're a speck. But on this tiny little speck, we want to educate people, to give them a place to come and get fresh, natural stuff that鈥檚 good and that we eat ourselves and to create a sense of community,鈥� Shelley said.