The first time I visited Wrenn’s Farm in eastern North Carolina, the greenhouses were falling, the former farm stand was in disarray and the farm looked like what it was: abandoned.
The farm had grown many things in its lifetime. Tobacco covered the fields before Austin’s grandparents turned to vegetable production. Their only child and Austin’s father, Mitchell Wrenn, started growing strawberries in the 1980’s. He started with a pick-your-own field, then expanded to grow for grocery stores and added strawberry plugs for other farmers to buy.
Growing up, Austin knew he wanted to come back to the farm. However, while he was in college, his father developed early onset dementia. Unable to keep farming, the farm shut down. After graduating from North Carolina State, he went to work for a nearby strawberry company…