Hey there, I’m Carmen!
In true queer fashion, I spent the best parts of my childhood playing in the dirt, getting to know each plant and critter by name, and weaving together stories of how these small beauties interact. I went on to study environmental science at UNC Chapel Hill before beginning my career in wildlife conservation. After years of moving around the world and working on large-scale conservation projects, I realized that my personal relationship to the land around me had begun to take a back seat.
Beekeeping was the spark that reignited my passion for connecting with the Earth and her patterns on a more personal level. This deep desire for connection is what eventually brought me back to my home state of North Carolina, where I settled in Asheville, graciously inhabiting and learning from this ancestral Anikituwagi (Cherokee) land. This is where Feral Farms was born.
Feral Farms Beekeeping exists in the beautiful intersection between the worlds of agriculture and ecology. Honeybees are an introduced agricultural species that are integral to our food systems. Here in North Carolina, they share an ecosystem with more than 500 species of native bees on which our local flora depend for survival. There is so much happening around us that we, as humans, can go our whole lives overlooking. Tuning in to these small details and connecting to the ecosystem as a part of it has transformed the way I live. Sharing this outlook with others is the inspiration behind what Feral Farms does.
