I’d like to introduce you to the first Heart Song Farm employee, Emma Stapleton! I asked her to write a bio to better introduce herself, but first, I’d like to share why I find her so special.
Emma and I met at Central Carolina Community College, taking classes for Sustainable Agriculture a few years back. I’m thankful it was a friendship that stuck! The summer of 2020, Emma came out most Mondays to work with me on the farm. She was my lifesaver! Having someone I could trust to be on the farm during Covid, someone I could ask to do a job and walk away to do another job, someone I could talk to about my dreams & woes of farming. She was many things to me in a time when I needed it most. A major thing I learned after my first year of farming was I need more hands on the farm to help. So when I decided it was time to hire on my first employee, Emma was the most logical (and only) person I wanted to hire! She’s hilarious, a hard worker, smart as a whip, loyal, has a huge heart, and somehow shares my quirky sense of humor (see hilarious). Now, to let her share!
Why hello there!
Born and raised down the road in Chapel Hill, my farming ambitions started modestly with an unfulfilled but thoroughly planned out Senior Project. A glorified garden replete with city chickens, giant cabbages and leafy lettuces danced around my imagination. The Senior Project fell by the wayside as did any action towards fulfilling this dream. I followed the call of the mountains and moved to Boone, NC wherein I became deeply involved in hospitality and tourism while studying Biological Anthropology. Dedication to hard work enabled a dear friend and I to spend three months road tripping in an ‘84 Toyota Tercel around the states. We visited multitudes of national parks, met many a wonderful folks, and fantasized about how fulfilling it would be to spend a life outdoors connecting with nature and people. We moved down the mountain back to my childhood home yet never stopped fantasizing. It’s serendipitous how the idea started like a seed, at first sitting in the dark depths of my mind deciding on whether or not the conditions were ideal to germinate. I looked around at my local community colleges for anything that resembled a ‘work and live outside’ technical skill. I found a program just down the road in Pittsboro that boasted an impressive line up of academic rigor and physical skill: Central Carolina Community College and its Sustainable Agriculture Program.
That ‘idea seed’ sprouted roots, anchoring itself down, readying its cotyledons to pop through the shell and reach for the first rays of photons and begin growing. Well, from there, everything fell into place; my ‘idea cotyledons’ quickly gave way to the first true leaves of what I wanted to passionately do with my life.
Six months into the program, I applied for a farm hand position at Funny Girl Farm in Durham. It was there that I met my first Farm Mentor, Andrew. He propelled my classroom knowledge into true experience. I gained many firsts in the farming world from grueling summer harvest days to crawling under chicken trailers at night snatching waylaid pullets. This is around the time that I first met Emily at CCCC. We were immediately enchanted with each other for one another’s love of many different pens and markers. Also, we both laugh constantly.
As life happens, Funny Girl farm closed down. Since I resided on the land, I stayed on as the land manager until another chance opportunity presented itself to me. Dave of Red’s Quality Acre reached out; little did he know how many questions I would ask him in the following two years of working with him. His knowledge, tenacity and willingness to educate has been an invaluable addition to my life as for many others. Just last fall, I volunteered through WWOOF and lived on a sheep wool farm in Lancashire, England to further broaden my agricultural wonder. Be it vegetables, fruit, or animals, I am ready to try anything (hello, grains?).
I now find myself looking towards the future with a renewed enthusiasm to be a part of growing both vegetables and a community with Heart Song Farm. Ironically for how loquacious I am, I lack the words to properly express my gratitude for everything that has happened and is to come.
But enough about me. What brings me to farming is to hear your stories of why you take an interest in local food-sheds, farmers, and the like. I cannot wait to hear these tales unfold in the upcoming seasons of undoubtable taste (and humidity!). Thank you!
