Made in NC: Graham Family Farm

Every Saturday morning, the Graham family gets together at the Carrboro Farmers’ Market to sell produce and woodwork from their family farm.

The Grahams have been selling produce at the Carrboro Farmers’ Market for 35 years, when Louis Graham’s parents moved to the U.S. from Micronesia and started the Graham Family Farm in Pittsboro, N.C.. 

Since 1983, the Graham family has farmed and woodworked on their farm. In 2000, Louis took over for his father.

Now, in 2019, the Graham Family Farm is still a fixture at the market with their produce, woodworking and grass-fed beef, too. The Grahams sells produce like broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, beans and squash. Patricia Graham, Louis’ wife, handles the produce, while Louis handles the woodworking.

Even Louis and Patricia’s kids, Sydney and Louie Jr., help. It’s a family affair, and it means a lot to Louis to keep it in the family and keep the farm and its products as natural and local as possible.

“We’re not organic, but we grow without any chemicals,” Louis said.

The farm does not use black plastic to grow its produce, and Louis rarely sprays the plants unless he needs to. The spray he does use is naturally-based and not made in a lab.

And Louis’ woodworking uses local trees from Chatham County.

“It’s either off our farm or neighboring farms,” Louis said. “We start with a tree, I mill my own wood and make our own woodworking products out of it.”

From the wood he gathers in the Silk Hope area, Louis crafts coat hangers, park benches, tables, shoe racks, salmon planks, birdhouses, cedar chests and beyond. He sells all of those products weekly at the Carrboro Farmers’ Market.

It matters a great deal to Louis to keep Graham Family Farm local – from the wood he uses in his woodworking to the business they do selling produce and products.

That’s why you’ll find the Grahams set up at their table every Saturday morning at the Carrboro Farmers’ Market.

“I’d love to have more local sales, because I’d much rather shake the person’s hand that buys something from me,” Louis said. “It means a lot more than to have somebody buy online.”

Right now, you can only find Graham Family Farm’s produce at the farmers’ market on the weekends. If you’d like to peruse Louis’ woodworking, shop online at grahamwoodworking.com or on Etsy.

By Britney Nguyen