Lewis Farms: A Labor of Love
Lewis Farms, a family-owned operation managed by Loyd and Sara Lewis, is located ½ mile north of Fallston, NC, on Highway 18. The husband and wife team have been farming for more than 40 years and sell only what they grow… and they grow plenty! Even in late September when most growers are bringing their season to a close, the fields at Lewis Farms are yielding fresh vegetables in abundance. This bounty is available for purchase at the roadside stand located in front of their home on Mondays through Saturdays, and at Foothills Farmers’ Market in Uptown Shelby and at the farmers’ market in Lincolnton.
Shop at the Lewis Farms stand and you’ll find almost anything you need. Their current product line includes southern peas, okra, squash, cucumbers, peppers, various greens, collards, kale, and freshly-dug sweetpotatoes. Loyd is an avid beekeeper... he uses the insects as crop pollinators and harvests their honey for sale. Lewis Farms has just begun harvesting a bumper crop of late-season Cherokee Purple tomatoes, an heirloom cultivar originating from Tennessee and reported to have been grown by the Cherokee people more than 100 years ago. The fruit has an unusual purple/red color and is beefsteak in style, with green shoulders across the top. They have a dense, juicy texture and small seeds. Their low-acid flavor is smoky/sweet, often compared to that of the ever-popular Brandywine. Growing alongside the Cherokee Purples are the more traditional red tomatoes, including the Biltmore (a customer favorite), Mountain Fresh and Romas. Fresh turnips, cabbage and four different lettuce varieties (Gourmet Blend, Romaine, Red Fire,and Buttercrunch) will be available by mid October. Traditional pie pumpkins will be ready for sale by Halloween.
Loyd and Sara provide most of the labor associated with production and sales, with assistance from a hired hand and Loyd’s nephew, Thomas Lewis. The operation is labor-intensive, and Loyd is always looker for ways to work smarter. Other than the bride he chose, Loyd says that one of the best moves he ever made was stop along the roadside near Chinmey Rock to watch a farmer harvest sweetpotatoes. He asked the farmer about the implement that allowed him to run so quickly though the fields with his tractor, cutting the vines and turning up the potatoes along the way. Soon after Loyd returned home, he bought a 70 year-old two disk Dearborn Plow, removed the front disk and put it to work.He even bought a spare just in case the original ever wears out. Loyd recently purchased a machine that will enable him to grow more vegetables on plastic next season. With this new technology, Loyd will get his crops ready for market earlier in the season, conserve irrigation water, reduce soil erosion, prevent weeds, and reduce the soiling of his lettuce and other low-growing crops that results from splashing rain.
Lewis Farms also sells vegetable transplants and sweetpotato plants (slips) to home gardeners and commercial growers in the spring and summer. This season, his largest order for sweetpotato slips was from a commercial grower in South Carolina – 20,000 of them, all pulled, counted, and bundled by hand.
Loyd and Sara take great pride in growing and selling the very best quality farm-fresh produce available anywhere, and enjoy the many loyal customers and friends they meet in the process. When you shop with Lewis Farms, you are supporting a dedicated local farm family and putting something nutritious and delicious on your plate!
