About Ben
Ben was born and raised in Durham, and spent his childhood outside looking for critters, climbing trees, and exploring rivers.
For 16 years, he shared his passion for the natural world as a camp counselor – and later camp director – at a nature-based summer camp for kids ages 5-13.
His passion for forestry developed as he learned more about the nuanced ways woodland management could positively affect climate resiliency, ecosystem restoration, and food production. Regenerative forestry can help solve many of the challenges we face today and Ben is eager to help property owners make the most of their land.
Ben manages his own 6.5 acre property with regenerative practices – felling and recycling surplus trees into lumber and firewood, removing invasive species, planting fruit and nut-producing trees, reforesting a dilapidated former tobacco field with accelerated forest succession techniques, establishing native perennial grasslands, and integrating livestock into silvopasture. In just a few short years, his property has increased dramatically in biodiversity and habitat complexity, and is better-equipped to withstand extreme climate conditions.
About the Farm
Ben is a first generation (and part time) farmer who believes that healthy foods come from healthy ecosystems. As ecological diversity flourishes, nutrient density, food flavor, and health outcomes all improve. Fruits and nuts taste better when they come from plants grown in biologically active, nutrient-rich soils. Pork, chicken, and eggs taste better when those animals live active lives and eat a diverse diet full of vitamins and minerals. And the soil microbiome improves when nutrients are passed through animals’ digestive tracts and made more bioavailable.
The farm is not a wild ecosystem, but rather an ecology stewarded with intention. Species and genetics are carefully selected for planting and propagation in particular places on the property. Animals are moved from paddock to paddock with purpose. If the farm is an orchestra, and the species are the instruments, Ben is the conductor, ensuring that the right pieces are in play at the right times, and that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
A goal of the farm is delicious seasonal abundance. We want more chestnuts than we know what to do with, more persimmons than we can possibly turn to jam on our own, more flowers than we could ever appreciate. As the farm evolves with the seasons, we hope you’ll join us in enjoying those flavors, those experiences, and that beauty.
