Thanks to community, hurricane-ravaged farm bounces back

In September the StarNews followed Kyle Stenersen around his Scotts Hill farm as he tried to keep going after the storm. His fields still flooded, he had to kayak out into the woods just to feed his free-range hogs.

But now three seasons later, Stenersen said he has almost completely bounced back, thanks to community support and a blitz of replanting his vegetable fields.

Humble Roots is an organic, free-range and non-gmo farm that provides food to farmer’s markets and farm-to-table restaurants.

“I’m so so thankful for the community support we’ve received — everyone who gave money or purchased something from us — we would not be in the position we are today had it not been for the community helping us,” said Stenersen, who has operated the farm since 2013.

During the storm he lost his entire vegetable crop to wind and heavy rains. Rains also killed 150 turkeys and 50 meat chickens. He lost fencing, barns and structures.

The turkeys were his biggest financial loss, he said. Each year Stenersen raises turkeys by order only for Thanksgiving and he said he uses the turkey profits to pay off small business loans.

Friends of his after the hurricane immediately set up a Go Fund Me page to help Stenersen recover some of his financial losses. Farming insurance is, he said, tends to benefit monoculture farms. His diverse range of vegetables, berries, eggs, pork, beef and poultry meat would require complicated insurance .

“No insurance policy would come anywhere close to covering what have and the value we put on our food,” he said.

Despite his losses, Stenersen is incredibly positive about where the farm is today. He and his wife Katelyn worked to increase sales at farmer’s markets, wholesale chef orders and overall sales. They built back the lost structures and had great winter and spring crops.

The pain for many farmers in the community is still fresh and Stenersen said no one will forget about Florence, but for now he has moved on.

“There are natural disasters in every culture and they bounce back — not without significant economic loss — but we’re humans,” he said. “We’re resilient. We get back up and start again.”

Reporter Ashley Morris can be reached at 910-343-2096 or Ashley.Morris@StarNewsOnline.com.