A family affair: Hopeful Acres Farm & Gardens still strong after a century
Published 12:00 am Thursday, July 13, 2023
Chris Morgan rides one of his tractors to feed his cows wheat and corn. Brad Dountz/Salisbury Post.
This field on Hopeful Acres has 25 acres of soybeans growing on it. Brad Dountz/Salisbury Post.
Hopeful Acres has a 10 acre cornfield nearby where Chris Morgan gets his own lumber. Brad Dountz/Salisbury Pst.
Stephanie Frisbee has been growing her own cut flowers so that Hopeful Acres can attract even more customers. Brad Dountz/Salisbury Post.
Perry Morgan, Chris Morgan and Stephanie Frisbee's father, came up with the name Hopeful Acres because he had high hopes for the future. Brad Dountz/Salisbury Post.
The cows at Hopeful Acres range from being 14-years-old to only a few days old. Brad Dountz/Salisbury Post.
This grain bin helps store grain for when it is ready to be sold. Brad Dountz/Salisbury Post.
CHINA GROVE— A century farm is a farm that has been officially recognized as being in operation for at least 100 years. Since 1914, six generations have been working at Hopeful Acres Farm & Gardens, allowing the rest of Rowan County to experience the fruits of their labor and to hear about their long and rich history.
Chris Morgan and Stephanie Frisbee are siblings who work together to keep the memories of their father, Perry, alive. They both grew up on the farm and still live on the property with their mom and Stephanie’s children.
“We’re all like a little family compound on the family farm,” Frisbee said. “We share the same passion for our farm, for our farming heritage, and are trying to make it be there, so if my boys want to farm, it will be there.”
They cultivate several crops like hay, corn, and soybeans while also raising their own cattle. Frisbee takes pride in that she works on her family farm, and even though she is confronted with the obstacles that go along with it, she relishes the opportunity to make it successful.
“If you look at statistics you see that family farms are declining. So, that’s something my brother and I are faced with. He doesn’t have children, I have two boys. Are my boys going to want to keep farming? What happens to the farm if they don’t want to keep farming? I kind of look at ourselves as the stewards of the farm. We are doing what the generations have done before us to ensure that it thrives,” Frisbee said.
In 2014, Perry passed away. Since then, Morgan and Frisbee have been stepping up to make sure Hopeful Acres doesn’t fall behind in all of the progress it has made over the decades. Stephanie did not have a degree in agriculture, so she began participating in NC Farm School through NC State, where she decided to include specialty cut flowers as a crop.
While selling her flowers, Frisbee realized she could monetize other aspects of the farm more effectively like by acquiring their meat handlers license for their cattle. She also created the tagline “beef and bloom” to make people aware about the new direction Hopeful Acres is taking.
By still having relationships with their customers and other farmers, Hopeful Acres offers a unique slice of what Rowan County agriculture is all about. That connection lets them stand out amongst everyone else. Hopeful Acres peels back the curtain on their practices, processes, and background to create an intimacy with their customers that makes them a place people want to return to.
“We try to tell our story because we want people to know where we came from. We were raised with these extreme values that your word is everything, your word to someone,” Frisbee said. “I think it’s us bringing that personal touch. When people say know your farmer, know your food. If people know you then they will support you.”
Having that love for what they do helps make the tough days go down better, but when someone has been farming for practically their whole lives, it becomes a part of them and what they’ll leave behind.
“Farming’s in my blood. You can’t get away from it. I guess it’s an energy you can’t get anywhere else or a feeling you can’t get from doing anything else. Doing what your family has been doing for generations, we’re just trying to carry on the legacy,” Morgan said.
