Rock House Farm

I grew up on a farm.  Not a gentleman's farm by any stretch, but a real live working farm with cows, horses, chickens, a pack of dogs, and the occasional hawk or even raccoon.  This farm is tucked into the fork of two rivers. The land rolls upward from these rivers and on the crest of that hill sits a magnificent, old, rock house, in fact the oldest in the county. Several barns and sheds sprawl out around the place and huge old beech trees cast shadows across the lawn. This is Rock House Farm. 

My parents moved back to Hickory after my dad finished business school.  After suffering a house fire that burnt down the log cabin they were living in, they found a charming old dairy farm with an old, unoccupied, rock house on the property. Most people would have looked at the place and passed, especially a young couple with a toddler and baby in arms. However, most people has never described my parents.  A good thirty minutes outside of town, they fell in love with it. At the time they did not have the money to buy it, but as the story goes, my dad stopped by to visit with his father, and mentioned it.  After my dad left, my grandfather swiftly made a few phone calls and bought it. My dad would pay him back through the years. 

It is this farm that my family named our companies after.  Ironic I think that my grandfather had a hand in securing it for us at least initially.  However, the years of grueling work and sweat equity that my parents have poured into it far outweigh the original price.  They have worked and still work steadily, methodically and earnestly day in and day out to keep and upkeep the land and buildings not to mention the menagerie of animals.  There is never a dull moment. 

I joke that I learned to ride horses before I could walk.  I could definitely shovel a stall by the age of ten.  All my siblings could.  We grew up a bit wild, but self sufficient, and none of us scared of a little hard work.  The farm taught us all that life happens, and no one is going to take care of it for you so you better roll up your selves and get to it.  It taught us determination.  It taught us humility and grace. It taught us about what it means to be a family.  

Growing up on the farm was a crazy, wonderful kind of childhood.  We come back to it now with our own children and retell some of our stories. We come back to it now almost as a touchstone for who we are and who we want to be.  

So many have asked about the name of our company.  This is our Rock House Farm Family of Brands.  This is the place that inspired the name, and the home that continues to inspire us.