|
Jason and Emily Fortenberry
Lincolnton, NC
Produce, Eggs, Soap
Fortenberry Produce & Soap is in its Fourth growing season although we’ve been backyard hobby gardeners our whole lives. Jason & Emily work full time as well as on the farm. Their family supplies the majority of the labor. Alan Chapman helps me part time, and at the market on Saturdays. Jason & Emily Fortenberry Live in Lincolnton, NC in a community called (Pumpkin Center). We live on my wife’s Grandparents old farm land where her dad and family farmed. We have 3 natural springs on the old farm and we farm some of the land her family farmed. Farming is my “Game of Golf” I enjoy doing this as a hobby hoping some day to grow bigger. Our farm is registered with the NC Cooperative Extension, NC Foothills Fresh, NC Farm Fresh, and the NC Dept of Agriculture and Consumer Services Food and Drug Protection Division.
Fortenberry’s Produce uses organic methods (but are not certified organic) that include crop rotation, compost and mulch, organic fertilizers. The chickens and Guineas are happy to help with the bugs. We have Honey Bees and sprays would kill them.
Soap / Body We started Making Soap about four years ago, my son has eczema, and goats milk has a PH level similar to our skin which protects the skin from harmful bacteria & chemicals as well as other natural oils. We make scented and unscented Goat Milk Soap. We also make Lye Soap (from Grandma's Recipe). We make other Body products like Bees Wax Lip Balm (the wax from our hives) Bar lotions, Hand Lotions. Produce Fortenberry’s Produce uses heirloom seeds, (we find seeds best for our area) we start most of our seeds in a small greenhouse or our cold frames. We use compost and manure (aged) and crop rotation along with cover crops, and rest periods to help out the soil. Eggs Fortenberry’s Produce has 25 laying hens of various ages and 1 rooster (Brooster the Rooster) that were purchased as day-old chicks from Duan Farm Supply in Newton, NC. The hens are free range, with 1 acre of pasture dedicated to them. The hens are fed a laying mash (Corn, Soybean Meal, Wheat, Alfalfa,) from a farm in West Lincoln. Also we give them crushed oyster shells for calcium. Never antibiotics or medicines. WE do not force molt, nor do we use artificial light to avoid molt / slow laying during short days.
Fortenberry Produce and Soap |
