Our Farms & Artisans

Plein Aire Painters will be painting at all farms.

Main Street Marketplace

308 South Main Street, China Grove, NC 28023

Featuring Hydroponic Greens

Main Street Marketplace, formerly a community food bank, has now transitioned to an equitable community market with a hydroponic garden. Our market provides access to healthy, fresh, and local foods for all in our community on a sliding scale based on family size and income. Our 400 square foot hydroponic garden offers a variety of lettuce and micro-greens that we grow in-house and sell in our market. The garden serves as a way for us to become more self-sustainable as an organization while also providing fresh, local, greens, and nutrition education.

Visit our market, shop, and see our Hydroponic garden.

www.marketandmeeting.org
https://www.facebook.com/marketandmeeting

Kim Rose and the Williams Family Bee Keepers will be demonstrating their craft.
J. Mark DeYoung will feature handmade unisex jewelry.

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Kim Rose

Kim is employed at Main Street Marketplace in China Grove where her copper rings are available for purchasing. Kim has been making rings for about two years using a look, see, self-teach method. During the Arts and Ag Tour, Kim will be designing and selling her rings and other items.

Williams Family Bee Keepers

J. Mark DeYoung

Mark is a native of North Carolina. For over 20 years he was as a hair stylist, with an interest in art and design. Over the years I studied and practiced countless techniques of metal forming and texturizing, utilizing both ancient practices and state of the art technologies. Always eager to learn and explore, I quickly discovered a true passion and fascination with metal fabrication and manipulation. With a great appreciation of jewelry and accessories as individual expression Mark offers his own style and visions J. Mark Designs tries to fill the limited world of unisex jewelry which is lacking designs outside the trending styles of mainstream jewelry.

Circle D Farm

350 Saw Road, China Grove, NC 28023

Featuring crossbred Angus beef cattle and purebred Katahdin sheep.

Circle D Farm is a 7th generation family-owned and operated farm in China Grove. Oscho and his son Eric manage the day-to-day operations of this beef cattle and sheep farm. In addition to the daily operation of the facilities, Eric’s wife Sherilee and their 2 children, Guy and Maggie Jane help with the variety of farm tasks that come along with caring for approximately 80 beef cattle and 40 sheep. Sherilee also operates a pick and pay roadside flower patch during the summer months. Circle D Farm has been in business since the late 1800s and although the farm has transitioned from producing row crops such as corn and soybeans to all animal products, the Deals have always worked to raise quality animals while at the same time improving the environment. This sustainable mindset includes a variety of conservation practices such as native grass regeneration, wildlife habitats, and stream bank restoration projects.

Visitors will be able to view the cattle and sheep. They will see a demonstration of rotational grazing and will be washing sheep. Visitors can also tour the antique house and view various farm equipment. Grazing demonstrations will be at 10 a.m. & 2 p.m.

Bo Jones and Debbie Toney will be painting.

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Bo Jones

Jill Sellers, owner of Hand Hewn Homestead creates a variety of wooden crafts as well as metal and leather crafts. She will be selling her work at the Roller Mill.

Debbie Toney

Debbie Toney has been an artist for ten years and has learned her skills through classes and workshops. She uses oil, acrylics, and gouaches in her artwork. Although her artwork is not on display for sale in North Carolina, she will be on the tour where she will have paintings of landscapes, flowers, barns, and farm scenes available for purchase. She will also be setting up her easel and painting scenes from the farm on site. Her artwork is also on sale at debbietoneyart.com.

Millbridge Elementary School

155 Ed Deal Road, China Grove, NC

Featuring a discovery garden for students

Beginning with the school year of 2009, the school was awarded a grant of $60,000. The grant was written by Dr. Lingle-Linder with the help of Michelle Patterson (Patterson Farm) and Darrell Blackwelder (former director of Rowan County Cooperative Extension). The Discovery Garden provides outdoor learning spaces for students in grades K-5. The garden provides hands-on learning experiences in the areas of science and agriculture for our students. Currently, the Discovery Garden is used as a curriculum resource for our STREAM classroom for all K-5 students. In 2022, the Millbridge Elementary PTA has graciously funded new raised beds for the garden and a weather station.

Adriana Mullus will be showing her paintings.
Cherrathee Hager will be demonstrating her many craft and painting skills.
Brenda Gariepy will be demonstrating working at the Pottery Wheel.
There will be a children’s Art Show

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Adriana Mullus

Cherrathee Hagler

Cherrathee creates smiles with her art. She is a working artist and does commissioned artwork for individuals and businesses. She has received several awards for her art. She loves commercial window painting, murals, pet portraits, animals, landscapes, and more. She teaches art lessons and classes and hosts paint parties. She is a lifelong resident of Salisbury and a member of Carolina Artists.

Brenda Gariepy

China Grove Roller Mill

308 N. Main Street, China Grove, NC 2823

Agricultural Museum of old Roller Mill Equipment and farming displays

The China Grove Roller Mill is operated as an agricultural museum. In addition to the original mill equipment, there are farming artifacts dating back to the 1800s on display. There are also other interesting displays of early life in the China Grove community, such as an early farm kitchen, the post office, blacksmith, and medical displays.

The China Grove Roller Mills, Inc. was organized in 1883 as a combination grist mill and sawmill. It was originally located in a building at the present site of Hanna Park on Main Street.

In 1903 the three-story brick building that now stands proudly on North Main Street was constructed. There is also a basement under the building that houses the motors that power the machines. The milling process went from the basement and to all three floors through machines for making wheat into flour.

The China Grove Roller Mill was placed on the National Register of Historic Places by the United States Department of the Interior on December 29, 1983.

View original milling equipment and learn of farming in rural Rowan County. Featuring displays of early life in the China Grove community.

www.rowanmuseum.org

Jill Sellers will painting.
There will also be a soap making demonstration.

Lutheran Chapel Church will sell hot dogs and home-baked desserts along with soft drinks.

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Jill Sellers

Jill Sellers, owner of Hand Hewn Homestead creates a variety of wooden crafts as well as metal and leather crafts. She will be selling her work at the Roller Mill.

Ranchside Veterinary Clinic

2365 Brown Road, China Grove, NC 28023

Veterinary Clinic

Corrie Connolly was born into a farming family in Rowan County and worked with livestock throughout college and veterinary school. After practicing in a primarily small animal veterinary practice in Salisbury for 17 years, she decided to open a mixed animal practice in rural Rowan county to be able to serve the agriculture community in a larger capacity.

Ranchside Veterinary Clinic started, on a very small scale, in the basement of the Connolly family home in 2018. In March of 2020, Ranchside moved to its current location and provides both in-house and ambulatory care to dogs, cats, horses, livestock, and small-scale poultry flocks.

The small farm that is home to Ranchside was a prominent horse farm in the 1980s and 1990s. The main clinic building was previously the primary horse barn but has undergone major renovations to function as a veterinary hospital with spaces to treat and hospitalize both large and small animals.

www.ranchsidevets.com
www.facebook.com/ranchsidevets

Chuck Payne will show his honing skills and the knives he makes.
Lee Menius will showing his leather and wood working skills.
Rachel Mowrey will have goat’s milk soaps and lotions for sale .

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Chuck Payne

Chuck Payne and his son, Ethan, attended a blacksmithing demonstration at Bilmore Estate when Ethan was 7 years old. He was instantly obsessed with blacksmithing and immediately began asking for an anvil and forge.

“A few years passed before we got one. Then along came Forged in Fire, and he was all about the “blade smithing.” We have been blacksmithing for about 2.5 years and blade smithing for only 6-7 months. We do have all professional equipment so our blades perform better than they look.”

Lee and Rosty Menius

Wild Turkey Workshop members Lee and Rosty Menius will be showing their metal, leather, and wood skills, including charcuterie trays, wood signs and letters, and knife sheaths.

Rachel Mowrey

Owner Rachel Mowery of Rockwell owns a small goat farm that is the heart of Rustic Edge Soaps, a small skin care product company born out of love. When her first child was born with an allergy to cow milk, she discovered the benefits of goat milk for his digestion. Rachel purchased her first Nubian dairy goat. Goat milk soon resolved her son’s problems. Once her children no longer needed a strictly goat milk diet, she began making goat milk soaps. Rustic Edge Soaps offers natural soaps, lotions, lip balm, shampoo bars, scrubs, beard oils, and more. www.rusticedgesoaps.com.

John Weddington Greenhouse

1975 Miller Road, China Grove, NC

Wholesale Greenhouse Operation

John Weddington Greenhouse was established in 1984 by its namesake. In 2003, John’s son, Kurt, joined the business full-time after college. Kurt currently manages the day-to-day operations, while John enjoys semi-retirement. They deliver wholesale bedding and potted plants to independent garden centers from Greensboro to Charlotte and supply several local landscapers. They grow annual flowers, herbs, and a vast array of vegetable transplants.

Tour the greenhouses, see production practices

Valarie Christy will display her tie dyed work and other crafts.
Phyllis Steimel and Leslie Davis will be Plain Air Painting.
Many area Plain Air Painters will be painting as well.

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Valarie Christy

Valerie Christy creates designs in Tie Dye using 100% cotton material and reactive dyes. She is completely self-taught. Valerie will be displaying and selling her various clothing items and tapestry work at Weddington Greenhouses on the Arts and Ag Farm Tour. She is a full-time employee of Weddington’s.

Phyllis Steimel

Leslie Davis

Douglas Vineyards LLC

7696 Freeze Road, Kannapolis, NC

Wine Producer

We opened Douglas Vineyards April 11, 2015. We are a small batch winery producing Fruit, Muscadine, and Dry Vinifera wines. We grow muscadines on-site and source additional materials throughout North Carolina and the US. We pride ourselves on outstanding customer service.

DouglasVineyardsWines.com
www.facebook.com/DouglasVineyardsWines

Cherie Gallo will be demonstrating and selling her jewelry and bird houses.
Sue Davis will be demonstrating building kaleidoscopes and talking about kiln fired glass.
Keyth Kahrs will be painting and showing his very unique paintings.
Ray Richardson will be Plain Air Painting around the vineyard.

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Cherie Gallo

Cherie Gallo is from Mt Ulla, NC where she has been an active participant in Rowan County Extension Master Gardeners and a supporter of the local 4H since 2018. She is a self-taught jewelry designer who uses semi-precious gemstones in her pieces. Not only does she design both men’s and women’s jewelry, but she also creates birdhouses. She will be selling and demonstrating her work on the Rowan Arts and Ag Tour. Cherie’s work is available in Mooresville at Juelerye Gallery and online through her ETSY store.

Sue Davis, fused glass/yard art

Sue is driven by her desire to learn new skills. She calls herself a “process person” who sees or hears about a technique or medium and gives it a try, with a little research and a lot of tenacity. Once she is able to take a creative idea through the process from beginning to end, she either loves it or puts it aside. For Sue everything is a learning experience, so a process tried becomes part of her skill base.

Art glass comes in beautiful colors that can be cut, arranged, and fired into beautiful pieces. In 2005 Sue began working in fused glass with functional pieces. Today, she creates multilayer painted hangings as well. For the most part she is self-taught

You can find her work displayed at Pottery 101 and Waterworks in Salisbury, The Arts Space in Danbury, and the Cabarrus Arts Council Gallery Shop in Concord. Her studio and home are in Salisbury.

Keyth Kahrs, painting

Keyth Kahrs moved to Salisbury in November 2013 from Paducah, KY, where he owned and operated Leaping Trout Studio in the Lower Town Historic Arts District. In Salisbury, his studio is in Rail Walk Gallery on Lee Street.

His landscapes, pet portraits, and wildlife studies are bold and bright, expressing his passion for the outdoors. He has a background in graphic design, and his strong use of light and dark with use of brilliant color palette and a keen sense of composition reflect this graphics experience. In the almost three years residing here, Keyth has received four awards in juried exhibits throughout the Piedmont region. He continues to explore subject matter found in North Carolina, taken from his travels throughout the state.

Ray Richardson

“Plein Air painting means you paint surrounded by nature. The changes in light and shadows speak to the artist as he creates. Come watch me paint.”

Patterson Farm, Inc.

3060 Millbridge Road, China Grove, NC 28023

Fruit and Vegetable Farm, Repack, Retail Market & Agritourism

Patterson Farm, Inc. is a fourth-generation family farm in China Grove, NC. In 1919, James A. Patterson started as a cotton farmer and switched to fruits and vegetables in 1946. Since then, the farm has continued to diversify. Today, the farm grows 200 acres of tomatoes, 150 acres of bell peppers, 85 acres of strawberries, 50 acres of cucumbers, and about 15,000 poinsettias. Patterson Farm, Inc is owned by brothers Randall and Doug Patterson. Randall’s wife, Nora, and son, Taylor, also work on the farm. Doug’s wife, Michelle, and daughter, Victoria, work on the farm as well. Patterson Farm Inc. also has a Repack division that packs products for grocery stores and restaurants. Patterson Farm Market & Tours, Inc. is the farms retail location that also offers pick your own products, seasonal activities, school tours, and homemade ice cream.

Guests will get a behind-the-scenes look at our packing house and get an overview of our farm production.

www.pattersonfarminc.com
www.visitpattersonfarm.com
www.facebook.com/PattersonFarmInc

Joannah Michael will be demonstrating and selling her metal work.
Connie Christman will be demonstrating pottery skills and have wheels for everyone to try their hand at making a bowl.
Jenny Booe will be demonstrating her many paintings and craft skills.

Guided Tours at the following times:

10:30 a.m.

12:00 p.m.

1:30 p.m.

3:00 p.m.

They will be handing out sample kettle corn with tractors on display for viewing.

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Connie Deese Christman

An art teacher at China Grove Middle School, Connie offers functional pottery, as well as basketry and painting. She has a BFA in ceramics from UNC-Greenville, with graduate work at UNC-Greensboro. The surplus products often make it to the “ART TEACHER TENT” as items for sale. She has served as the “Village Basket Weaver” for the Bethlehem Market at North Main Baptist Church for several years and loves to weave baskets with her students at China Grove Middle School.

“I love to promote local farms and businesses and have pottery available for sale at Montgomery General Store in Gold Hill, as well as West Rowan Farm, Home, and Garden in Bear Poplar. Creating pottery makes me feel connected to “the ancestors” and The Creator. It brings me both joy and peace, and it is something that I love to share with others.”

JoAnnah Michael

When she 24, living in San Diego, California she watched the movie Flashdance based on the life of Pittsburg construction welder-turned-dancer Maureen Marder.. My metal work dream began to take I owe learning to MIG weld to MIXXER, an inclusive makerspace here in downtown Winston Salem, North Carolina. MIXXER offered a one-day class, Intro to Welding for Women, in October 2019 which launched shape at that moment. But it was not until I was 60 years old when the 1983 dream became a reality.

Jenny Booe

Jenny M. Booe is a self-motivated art professional with over 25 years of experience in multimedia, marketing, print, and website design. Her art background spans her entire lifetime. She began her professional career in graphic design with a degree in Commercial Graphics. She spent most of her career focusing on graphic design but knew that she wanted to return to the fine art that most have described to her as a “true gift.” Over the years, Jenny has stayed involved in fine art and decided to return to multimedia and teaching. Currently, she is head artist and owner of The Dizzy Armadillo, a mobile art studio based in Rowan County.

She is a professional artist, muralist, and face and body painter who specializes in paint parties and special events. She focuses on working events, such as face painting and performing chalk art for birthday parties, camps, etc. Her passion is working with the developmentally challenged, elderly, children, and just anyone who wants to learn the therapeutic benefits that art can provide. She continues to explore her own fine art and enjoys all mediums. Besides portraiture and sculpting, she is now learning glass blowing to add to her multimedia background.

L L Goodnight & Sons & Goodnight’s Greenhouse

605 Saw Road, China Grove, NC 28023

Ag Sales

LL Goodnight and Sons feed store was started in 1947 by Lloyd Lee Goodnight, where he started out grinding feed for farmers. LL Goodnight & Sons are celebrating 75 years in business. Today it is owned by Lee Goodnight (Lloyd’s son) and Hilda (Lee’s wife), Henry Goodnight (Lee’s son), and Ben Watts (Lee’s grandson). Customers love to support family-owned and local stores like this one. They provide anything a farmer needs from canning jars to horse liniment. In 1977, they built a greenhouse to add to their business. Today, they still enjoy helping their customers with all of their garden, seed, and feed needs in the community.

www.llgoodnightandsons.com
www.facebook.com/llgoodnightson

Marcia Hartmann will be showing her unique jewelry work.
Sherry Kye will be showing her wood toys created on a scroll saw.
Susan Quigley will be painting nearby.

Kreyol Flavors will be on-site serving chicken sandwiches hamburgers pork sandwiches.

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Marcia Hartman

Marcia began beading in 2017, a year after she retired from 32 years in the insurance field. She loves working with seed beads, semi-precious gemstones, and other components created by other great artists such as painted cabochons. Bead embroidery has become her passion, and she enjoys creating designs that allow her ideas to come to life. Getting to see what comes from her imagination and working with colors and shapes make her happy and stimulate her design ideas. Sharing her pieces with friends and family and appearing in various craft venues in the area have allowed her to continue to experiment and grow her techniques and ideas.

Sherry Kye

Sherry Kye, the owner of KyeKraft specializes in scroll/woodworking. This includes toys, phone stands, magnets, ornaments, and baby teethers. She is a self-taught designer with the assistance of her husband. Much of the wood she uses is repurposed from furniture or other items.

Susan Quigley

Goodman Farm Supply

338 N Main St., China Grove NC 28023
704-857-5938

Goodman’s Farm Supply opened in 1963 by Elmer Goodman and his wife Evelyn and Walter Goodman and his wife Peggy. Currently, the store is run by Walter and his son Alan. The building that the store is in was built in 1881. It still has the original front door which opens in. The store also has the original picketts on the upstairs railings. The building first was used in 1881 as the offices and the store for the Patterson Manufacturing Mill. It was then an FCX Feed and Seed Store for 40 years. The store provides feed, seeds, and fertilizer for everyone. They sell tools, simple hardware, lawn and garden supplies, and supplies for birding enthusiasts. When I asked Alan what the store meant to him, he said it was a “community gathering place”.

Steve Martin will be showing off his Lathe and working with visitors to learn to use it and what it can do.
Mary Crow will be plain air painting around the property.

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Stephen Martin

Stephen Martin from Rockwell knows how to make a young child smile when he asks if they would like to turn some wood on his pole lathe. He is a fixture at most of the events in Gold Hill and at the Old Stone House and Rowan County Museum events.

Mary Crow

Mary has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting. Her favorite media are Oil Paints and Pastels. During her career in Art she has continued her education by attending workshops and art classes. She will have her art work for sale at Rowan County Arts and Ag Farm Tour and will be painting in plein aire at her farm location. Sharing herself with us, she says she has been a resident of North Carolina for 38 years, now in Huntersville, she loves capturing the nature around her.

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