Mike's farm is one of the most magical Christmas places I've had the pleasure of experiencing in North Carolina. The food is amazing, the atmosphere is very welcoming, the hayride is worth the cold. The gift shops have so many different options and even some of the great food you can buy. For beginners, let's start with the history of this great place.
The history of Mike's Farm
Jess L Lowe, a native of Ozark, Arkansas, came to Camp Lejeune as a young man serving in the Marine Corps. While there, he met a local girl named Lucille Bryan. At the close of World War II, they were married and decided to settle in Lucille's home community of Back Swamp, North Carolina. In 1945, the couple purchased a small farm next to her home place.
On the small tobacco farm, Jess and Lucille raised four children. On the farm, one would find corn, tobacco, and a garden full of vegetables to feed the family. There were also a variety of farm animals such as cows, chickens, pigs, and of course, the family pet bulldog named “Bull".
Tobacco was their main crop, and when it came time to “put in” tobacco, neighbors helped each other. While everyone was working in the fields, Lucille was in the house preparing the barn day dinner for all the barn hands. Generally, dinner consisted of fried chicken, ham, butter beans, potatoes, collards, homemade biscuits, and tea. Most of the food came right from the farm.
As the years went by and the kids grew, everyone ventured out into public jobs and stopped working on the farm. However, in the mid-1980s, Mike and his wife Theresa began working the farm again as a side job, growing this time, not tobacco, but Christmas trees. Eventually, they both left their public jobs and diversified the farm into other areas. A small gift shop was added and, over the years, has expanded with a full-service bakery. Customers can enjoy a cup of coffee or hot apple cider while watching the bakery workers make homemade cakes, pies, cookies, and fudge.
The farm, which is now called "Mike's Farm," offers educational school programs for children as well as an animal petting area. A Christmas light show attracts folks near and far, along with group campfire cookouts and hayrides.
It has always been, and still remains to be, the intent of Mike's Farm to create a place with a warm, wholesome family atmosphere for all of their customers. With this is in mind, a restaurant was also added to the farm, just like the home place that Jess and Lucille created for their family years ago in the farm community of Back Swamp.
The barns at Mike's Farm where they serve the food have these amazing wraps around porches that have the most beautiful ferns and the best rocking chairs to sit and wait for your name to be called.
Once inside the barn, it is exactly what you would think. Wooden floors, wooden walls, very farm like. It is family seating so the larger groups get to sit with the whole family. They also have small tables for 2 if it is only a couple. This really is a great place to enjoy family time or just a date night. I've always gone for date night.
The food is the most perfect down home meal. Fried chicken, corn, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, and more. The best part is it is all you can eat. If you need more, just ask and they will bring out more. It is worth every penny. Desserts are simple and homemade. I always get the cheesecake because you get to choose the topping.
After dinner is the hayride. I always pay for the dinner and hayride for our date nights. You get great food and some really romantic time on the hayride (along with a whole wagon full of other people). The line is never real long when you pay for the dinner too. It puts you in the VIP lane and is really worth it.
After being able to get a spot at Mike's Farm the last 3 years, it is a place I can honestly say is great to go back to year after year. This is the one thing we have done and really enjoyed. To get a spot you have to check right when it opens up for the Christmas season or you can keep checking back. We always get our spots by checking back (every day if need be). Our time at Mike's Farm is always the best. You should give it a try.