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WHERE YOU’RE PLANTED A YOUNG COUPLE EXPLORES THEIR AGRICULTURAL AMBITIONS WITH THE HELP OF TWO LONGTIME FARMERS BY ANNA-RHESA VERSOLA | PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOHN MICHAEL SIMPSON
T
aij Cotten and Victoria
Carolina Community College and began
Edwards-Cotten quit their
their search for the perfect farm where they could learn on the job. “So that’s when Taij and Victoria and little Carleigh came driving up the driveway,” says Cathy Jones of Perry-winkle Farm, a property located just south of the Orange-Chatham county line along White Cross Road that she’s owned since 1984. “And then we started hearing their story. “They had the desire,” Cathy says, adding that only a few of their former employees went on to become farmers.
jobs in the restaurant industry because they wanted something different – not just a job, but a lifestyle they could share with their kids. “We wanted to farm, but we knew nothing about farming,” Victoria says. “No one in our family farms.” The Pittsboro natives enrolled in the sustainable agriculture program at Central
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CHATHAM MAGAZINE
SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2021