The Liberty Leader Newspaper

Whitaker Farms—A Closer Look
Whitaker Farms has been proudly serving the Triad of North Carolina since 1975. Whitaker Farms has two full-service garden centers located in Randolph County, offering a wide selection of fresh daily produce, trees, shrubs, flowering plants, mulch, stone, and garden giftware. They also offer delivery, landscape design & custom container potting services. Whitaker Farms was started by Richard and Faylene in 1975 on rented land with a 140 tractor and a $40 tobacco setter. Today they farm over 500 acres, including flue cured and burly tobacco, field tomatoes, strawberries, and pumpkins. Whitaker Farms also consist of flower houses, green house tomatoes, farm tours, and a tree planting business. Not long after marriage, they had two sons, Shane and Travis. Richard and Faylene have worked incredibly hard in order to expand the farming operation so that if their sons chose, they could one day return to family farming. Today they enjoy traveling, spending time with their family, riding ATV’s, and best of all….farming! Shane, Richard and Faylene’s oldest son, graduated from Eastern Randolph High School in 1993 and attended Guilford Technical Community College and A&T University. In 1997, he joined the family farm full-time claiming “there was nothing else he could imagine himself doing". He married Asheboro native Kelly King in 1998. Kelly attended N.C. State University for Civil Engineering. She now works for Randolph County as a Soil & Water Engineer. The two now live on one of the Whitaker’s tobacco farms in Climax in a two-hundred year old house they remodeled. She also works on the farm in her spare time…especially in the flower greenhouses. Shane and Kelly enjoy horseback riding, water skiing, snow skiing, riding ATV’s, and just about anything else they can do together. Shane and Kelly are proud parents of Chase Whitaker. Travis graduated from Eastern Randolph in 1995 and from Elon College in 1999.While at Elon, Travis played both football and basketball and traveled all over the country. In 1998, following in his father’s footsteps, Travis also married his high school sweetheart, Shannon Craven of Franklinville. Travis and Shannon live at the Franklinville location of Whitaker Farms in a beautiful log house. After teaching for two years, Travis too decided to join his family at the farm full time. Shannon, who graduated from the University of N.C. at Greensboro with a degree in Marketing currently works for Misys HealthCare Systems as an Inside sales/support representative. Shannon enjoys pitching in on the farm when she can. In their free time Travis and Shannon enjoy riding ATV’s, water skiing, wake boarding, snow skiing, volleyball, and basketball. They have 2 daughters, Lilly, age 4, and newest addition Kenly. Whitaker Farms now has two locations to serve you. Our main farm, where our produce is grown is located in Climax, NC. The main farm has pick-your-own strawberries, produce, Garden Center, mulch, stone, seasonal festivals and farm tours. Our second location is on US Highway 64 in Franklinville, NC. This location has a beautiful new Garden Center, fresh daily produce, mulch and stone. So what all does this farm offer , well strawberries - Available end of April through June , greenhouse tomatoes - Available April through July and November through December , field tomatoes & peppers - Available July through October . Also they offer School Tours which can be lined up by calling (336) 685-4888 to make reservations for your School’s tour today! Whitaker Farms has been a family owned and operated business for over 30 years. We have a strong belief in the importance of educating our community of the importance of agricultural commodities in our economy. Therefore, they would like to invite the public to tour our diverse operation which includes tobacco, strawberries, tomatoes, flowers, pumpkins, and other vegetables. Our tours are designed to be educational, exciting and fun! They offer a variety of tours based on the season of harvest. Tours may consist of: Wagon Ride, Livestock Barn Tour, Educational tour of the greenhouses and tomato packing shed, Strawberry picking, Feeding of Catfish, Something for each child to take home (strawberries, pumpkin, flower, etc.) and Whitaker Farms Coloring Book. We invite you to bring lunches to the farm. We have picnic tables available for your convenience. Lets not forget Birthday Parties!!! Tours can be tailored to create a memorable and exciting birthday party for children. Please contact Faylene at (336) 215-2274 or Karen at (336) 215-7845 for more information.