Farmer Leah Cook inspects her strawberry plants and hunts for ripening berries. Leah grows berries and a wide variety of vegetables and cut flowers, using sustainable practices that promote biodiversity and protect the environment. You can find Wild Hare Farm at the Carrboro Farmers’ Market.

Flowers grown in the hoophouse glow brightly when viewed through the plastic from outside. The sides of the hoophouse have been raised for ventilation. Leah is an experienced and successful cut flower grower and serves as the Southeast Regional Director for the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers. She also teaches a course on cut flower production for Central Carolina Community College’s Sustainable Farming Program in Pittsboro.

This hoophouse contains Delphiniums, Freesias, and Ranunculus. Note the plastic support netting over the top of the crops which helps support the long flower stems as they grow.

These Ranunculus blooms almost look too perfect to be real!

Leah checks on her tomato crop which had been protected with a row cover the previous night when the temperatures dipped around freezing outside.