Out on Miller Road, halfway between Mooresville Road and West Church Street, stands a lone produce store on the corner of a road. Miller Farm Fresh Produce is the face of the farm that has been in the Miller family for five generations.

Ever since Mike Miller’s great-great-grandfather founded the farm in the 1890’s, it has been worked by every generation of the family. Each member of the Miller family grew up working the farm, spending hot days in the summer hand-picking produce.

“No pool days, no beach days, no vacation days during the summer. It was hard work and I’m sure we butted heads with my dad about it back then. But that was when we were kids, now I understand it taught us respect for the work. And now we just go out and have fun, we don’t work. We enjoy our jobs,” said Mike, whose son Adam represents the sixth generation that stands to inherit the farm.

By this point, Miller Farm has grown to become a member of the community in the area it was founded in. Just recently, the family installed an ATM outside the farm store for people from the area to use.

“One of our workers actually mentioned that there wasn’t one nearby, and so we thought it would be helpful. It’s open 24 hours and we don’t make a dime off of it,” said Mike.

The Miller family made it out to the first Farmer’s Day at China Grove 42 years ago, but Mike said that his family stopped going around 25 years ago when the festival evolved from focusing on local farmers selling produce into the large-scale event it is today. Five years ago, however, the family began to return to the festival and have been there every year since.

Mike also stated that despite the fact that his brother spun off his own company, Miller and Sons Produce, the two still work closely together almost every day. Miller and Sons makes it out to the Cabarrus farmers’ markets throughout the week while Millers Farm Fresh Produce take their products to the Salisbury Farmers’ Market every Saturday.

Ultimately, Miller Farm leans fully into an enjoyable family-owned and  -operated work environment. Mike stressed that even though they are picking corn and other vegetables in 90 degree Fahrenheit and up temperatures, the family loves what they do.

“We don’t work, we have fun,” said Mike.