Artful Farming: The Hyper-Local Source for Ingredients at Herons

One Oak Farm grows the fruits, vegetables and herbs that fuel the imaginations of the chefs at the restaurant at The Umstead Hotel & Spa
by Addie Ladner | photography by Liz Condo

“I’m always looking for different techniques to apply to a single vegetable,” says chef Steven Greene of Herons, the restaurant at The Umstead Hotel and Spa, North Carolina’s only Forbes Five-Star hotel. Take the cucumber: he’ll make it taste like caviar by salting it, squeezing it through cheesecloth and compressing it into tiny, tangy bits. Or he’ll thinly slice the cucumber into linguini-style noodles; he may also blend its pulp and freeze it into sorbet-style scoops. He’ll chop a batch of cucumber and soak it in different flavors — say, a citrus-forward yuzu juice or a soy-based white shoyu — to use as dish enhancements.

These iterations make their way onto the menu at Herons, where the offerings are seasonal and farm-to-table, but neither simple nor rustic: here, ingredients are often disguised or unrecognizable and served in unique vessels (you might be served what looks like an oversized mandarin orange, for example, but in reality, it’s foie gras). The dishes invite a pause to absorb the form and presentation before that first bite enlivens the senses.

The biggest source of inspiration for these dishes, says Greene, is what’s in season at restaurant’s 3-acre culinary farm. Called One Oak Farm, the farm is under a mile away from Herons on the SAS campus. It was started by Scott Crawford, a champion of the farm-to-table movement who was executive chef at Herons in the early 2010s.

“We want to be able to tell a story, we want the best stuff and we want to be connected to our ingredients,” says Herons’ chef de cuisine, Spencer Thomson. Shortening the distance to the farm — and strengthening the relationship with the farmer — has made room for even more creativity within Herons’ offerings. During peak harvest season, upwards of 70% of the ingredients for their dishes come this farm.

One Oak Farm has expanded over the years and is now divided into two areas. A roughly 1-acre area off Apple Tree Lane is the workhouse of the farm, producing massive amounts of frequently used fruits and vegetables including sweet potatoes, squash, melon and John Haulk corn, an heirloom varietal from South Carolina that the team grows to be dried and ground for grits and other culinary applications.

The other area includes a sprawling edible garden featuring raised beds, berry patches and two greenhouses. This is where they grow niche ingredients like white pineberries, golden raspberries and African blue basil, an uncommon heirloom basil with purple coloring and a strong spicy flavor. They also grow hundreds of edible flowers, including borage, a petite, pale-blue flowering herb with a sweet taste, and marigold, a brilliant yellow-orange flower with a citrusy bite.

“Everything we harvest gets delivered the day of. We are less than a mile from the farm, door to door, so everything’s incredibly fresh,” says farm director Adam Smith, who started in January after working as the director of agriculture at SingleThread, a Michelin-starred farm-to-table restaurant in Sonoma County, California.

The culinary team tended to the farm in its early days, but today One Oak Farm has its own dedicated staff of three full-time employees, including Smith, as well as two part-timers. “As the demands of the farm grew we needed a designated team,” says Thomson, who serves as the primary liaison between the farm. Ingredients are harvested three days a week, with the other workdays predominantly used for tending crops.

The culinary and farm teams work closely and strategically to grow the ingredients that will appear on plates. Inside the farm office are several dry-erase boards with detailed maps, color-coded to-do lists and production calendars. “We have action plans for each month but also daily lists, weekly lists and lists of things to do now for next season,” Smith says. “In farming, it’s important to have a microscopic view — but also that 30,000-foot view.”

Daily work starts at 6 a.m., and Smith will often be at One Oak Farm six or seven days a week. “Those cucumbers aren’t going to water themselves!” he laughs (though implementing more irrigation for the seeds is on one of his to-do lists). Because the culinary team often uses all components of the plant — like the vine and flowers of the cucumber — the whole plant requires careful tending. “That’s one of the special things about working with chefs like Steven and Spencer — we get to learn more about culinary applications. They are so creative,” says Smith.

In May, the team is gearing up for peak spring produce and planning for the warmer months ahead. Summer squash is certain to be on the menu, for example, but based on the chefs’ requests, Smith is researching varieties that will produce more blossoms. “There’s a ton of work required to both maintain the plants and focus on harvest to give attention to where attention is needed,” says Smith.

Sometimes, the farmers will drive the menu, finding a varietal that surprises and delights the chefs. Last year, for example, former head farmer Daniel Holloman introduced Mochi tomatoes, a plump, red cherry-sized tomato with a squishy consistency and sweet taste reminiscent of the Japanese dessert of the same name. Greene and Thomson wanted guests to experience this unique tomato in its purest form, so they served it raw, with a tiny basil leaf on top to mimic a stem.

“We’ve had four different farmers and each has had their own ideas,” says Thomson. “They’ve each left a legacy and mark.” This summer, Smith is excited to experiment with growing an ice plant, a flowering succulent with a crisp, briny flavor that’s native to the Pacific coastline. “It’s crunchy with a saline taste and unique texture — it’s a great crop,” he says.

Thomson visits the farm on Wednesdays for a walk-through to see what’s available and what’s forthcoming. “We tour the fields, look at what’s going in and out,” says Thomson. “Right now we’re gearing up for about five different kinds of basil and tons of tomatoes, which is always exciting.”

In the coming years, Greene, Thomson and Smith hope to add a fruit orchard and more hoop houses, which will allow them to grow their own stone fruits like plums and peaches, as well as fresh lettuces and herbs year-round. Says Greene: “It’s just the biggest gift to have this farm.”