Hogan’s Magnolia View Farm joins Farm Tour
By Shannon David
Carrboro Commons Writer
Hogan’s Magnolia View Farm, a family-owned farm since 1757, joined the 13th Annual Piedmont Spring Farm Tour because of the tour’s emphasis on community-based, local production and the promotion of sustainable agriculture.
Staff photo by Shannon David
The tour will be held on Saturday, April 19, and Sunday, April 20, from 1 to 6 p.m. The price is $30 per car to visit all 35 farms on the tour, all of which are located in Orange, Alamance and Chatham Counties, or $10 per car per farm. Each car will receive a “Support Local Farms” button with the purchase of a ticket.
The goal of the tour, co-sponsored by the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association (CFSA) and Weaver Street Market, is to reconnect consumers with their food, promote sustainable agriculture and encourage consumers to buy local products.
According to the CFSA’s Web site, sustainable agriculture is “a food and fiber production and distribution system that is environmentally sound, economically viable and socially just.”
The tour also provides a way for Carrboro to celebrate Earth Day on Tuesday, April 22, just two days after the tour’s end.
According to the U.S. government’s Earth Day Web site, Earth Day is a “time to celebrate gains we have made and create new visions to accelerate environmental progress.”
The 13th Annual Piedmont Spring Farm Tour allows Carrboro to celebrate Earth Day by promoting the success of local farms that have made environmental gains in agriculture.
Hogan’s Magnolia View Farm, located just north of Carrboro on Old NC 86, is committed to protecting the environment by promoting sustainable agriculture.
Since 1757, the Hogan family has raised a variety of animals and has sold an assortment of products to the local community. For over 65 years, the farm, under the name Lake Hogan Farm, served as a commercial dairy farm.
Currently, the farm raises grass-fed cattle on natural, free-range pastures without the use of hormones or antibiotics.
Rob Hogan, a ninth generation farmer and the current owner of Hogan’s Magnolia View Farm, and his wife, Ann Leonard, are committed to promoting access to local agricultural products.
Hogan said, “I have two missions. One is to bring healthier food to the local community, and the second is to find a way to generate enough money to give to my sons to stay on the farm.”
Hogan currently runs the farm with his wife, Ann, and said he hopes to someday continue his family’s tradition and pass down the farm to his three sons: Daniel, James and Henry.
“I love the farm so much,” said Hogan, “and I don’t want it to stop on my watch after 251 years.”
Hogan’s Magnolia View Farm is the home of another tradition close to the Carrboro-Chapel Hill community, Rameses.
Since 1924, the Hogan’s farm has been home of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s mascot. Sources differ, but according to the Hogans, the current ram is the 17th Rameses to be raised on the farm.
