Jamie DeMent woke up one beautiful April morning 13 years ago and thought, as she listened to birdsong coming in through the window of the house at Coon Rock Farm, that she didn’t want to go to work. Why spend precious time driving from Hillsborough to Raleigh when she could pursue a dream? To live on her husband’s farm not just on the weekends, but every day, and to open a restaurant or two to showcase the farm’s bounty.
DeMent followed through on her daydream. She and her husband, Richard Holcomb, now run Coon Rock Farm full-time, growing more than 100 varieties of mostly heirloom fruits, vegetables, and herbs throughout the year. Fertilizer is provided courtesy of rotating herds of pigs and flocks of chickens. Conscientious consumers buy meat and produce through Coon Rock Farm’s CSA and online farmers market, Bella Bean Organics, and the couple completes the farm-to-fork pipeline at their Durham restaurant, Piedmont.
Whether she’s testing a recipe for the restaurant, her next cookbook, or tomorrow’s dinner, DeMent is a force in her home kitchen, tasting sauces and hollering for Holcomb to bring in a few radishes. The food she cooks comes from steps away, and only in season.
Though Coon Rock Farm and Piedmont are separate ventures, they nourish each other. “There are days we’re picking and hundreds of eggplants are ready right this minute,” DeMent says. Having a restaurant allows the couple to use an abundance of produce, even that dented heirloom tomato or blemished broccoli. “We can still take something imperfect and turn it into a gourmet meal.”
Coon Rock Farm
1021 Dimmocks Mill Road
Hillsborough, NC 27278
(919) 732-4168
coonrockfarm.com
Flaky buttermilk drop biscuits, creamy potato and sausage casserole, and soul-warming chicken and cabbage soup were among your favorite recipes in January. Find out what else made the list.
For only three days each week, a former hosiery mill building in the foothills becomes a barbecue destination powered by a hardworking family.
When demand for tobacco and cotton diminished, this one-square-mile Halifax County town followed suit. Now, one couple is revitalizing Littleton into a lively location once more.
Each year, Our State celebrates the very best in North Carolina craftsmanship with the Made in NC Awards. Meet the talented artisans who won top honors in 2022 — and watch them at work.
