Home on the Farm

Situated just a half of a mile north of the Saxapahaw General Store lies a little farm with a big mission called TerraStay.

The farm at TerraStay is a collaborative effort. A couple of guys, Mike and Tony, were very passionate about food, and were driven by the knowledge that fresh foods grown with love taste better. So they started TerraStay in November of 2013 and asked veteran farmer, Matt Newlin to run it. Under Matt’s management the farm began operation in April of 2014 and through the hard work of the TerraStay employees they have seen consistent, sustainable growth. One might say Matt has farming in his blood, his Uncle, Larry Newlin runs Peaceful River Farm. Matt has been farming for eight years and has been managing farms for over six of those years. Matt got his farming start in our nation’s capital, Washington D.C. He has been instrumental in the success of nearby farms like Funny Girl farm in Durham, but has also experienced the hard realities of farming when finances, weather, and Mother Nature take a toll on a farm.

TerraStay’s crop is strictly veggies. They grow eggplant, basil, tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, kale, collards, carrots, beets, swiss chard, corn, and peppers, to name a few. They are able to harvest 500lbs of peppers weekly in their greenhouses and they distribute their harvest to about nine restaurants. TerraStay is not only in the business of creating their own profit, but in true understanding and practice of the thought that ‘we’re not okay, unless we’re all okay,’ they collect products of neighboring farms (T5 Farm, Boywood, Ran-Lew, Haw River Ranch, Peaceful River, etc.) to deliver to restaurants from here to Raleigh in an effort to expand the reach and profitability of our local farms. TerraStay is working towards becoming a full service farm – aggregation and distribution – and a place for tourists to stay when visiting the Saxapahaw area, hence the “stay” in TerraStay. All told, there will be nine houses for ecotourism.