Eat Like You Live Here: Red Hawk Farm

When I stepped into any one of the thirteen greenhouses at Red Hawk Farm during our visit early May, the air felt alive—not just with the hum of healthy plants growing, but with something more subtle and powerful: intention. And, quite literally, a tangible, audible hum: the hum of beneficial insects.

I was there to talk with Brett, Red Hawk’s farmer-owner, about their operations, including how they manage pests on their certified organic farm—without relying on synthetic pesticides. What he shared with me changed the way I look at a tomato or a bag of lettuce. It reminded me that when we say we’re supporting local food, we’re really supporting local people. Skilled, thoughtful, innovative people doing incredibly labor-intensive, human-powered work.

Scouting: Prevention > Reaction

Knowing that Red Hawk excels in their dedication to chemical free farming, I asked Brett about how they manage pests organically on their small farm in Hurdle Mills, NC.

“So, we do a lot of scouting—which means walking through the greenhouse in a very intentional way to identify potential pest problems early.”

Scouting, in this context, doesn’t mean a quick glance at the plants. It’s a routine, detailed walk-through—“in a somewhat scientific way,” he told me—meant to catch pest issues immediately, before they become a problem.

That level of relationship—between farmer and crop—is a world apart from industrial agriculture. On massive commercial farms, pest management is largely outsourced to machines and scheduled spray cycles, regardless of what’s actually happening on the ground—and when. There’s little room for nuance, for observing the subtle shifts that signal a potential outbreak.

Red Hawk’s smaller footprint, plus a year-round, skilled team, makes it possible to farm with that kind of care. It’s slower and more labor-intensive, but it’s also more human. It’s farming not as a factory, but as a living, breathing conversation with the land.

Good Bugs > Bad Bugs

Instead of spraying, Red Hawk uses life to manage life.

“We rely heavily on beneficial insects,” Brett said. “We have a program for beneficial insects that involves, I think, at least 15 different types at this point.”

This means that instead of reaching for a spray, the Red Hawk team introduces and monitors insects that naturally keep pest populations in check—tiny allies like parasitic wasps, predatory mites, and green lacewings. Each insect species is carefully matched to a specific crop, pest, or season. “We use different ones for different crops and different pests and different kinds of year,” he said. “And they all require different methods of releasing them. And then you have to monitor and scout to make sure that they're being effective.”

It was clear to me that this is not wishful plug-and-play. It’s trial and error, season after season. And it requires savvy human oversight—not just falling back on a machine to do the work for you.

“It’s a lot of work and a lot of technical R and D to figure it out and implement correctly,” Brett told me. “And we’re getting there at this point.”

The result? A thriving ecosystem. “The beneficial insects are great because we create kind of our own ecosystem in the greenhouse. The good insect takes care of the bad insect.”

This kind of hands-on, observation-based farming simply isn’t possible on every scale or in every setting. Many farms—especially large conventional operations—rely on a different toolbox to grow the abundant food we all depend on. But what Red Hawk is doing offers a glimpse of what’s possible when a farm is small enough, skilled enough, and resourced enough to farm with nature instead of against it.“It’s the safest for the food. It’s the safest for us who are working here.”

“Ultimately, it works, which is the important bit,” Brett said. “You aren’t getting into an arms race of spraying more and more intense chemicals… and then needing to have new chemicals because you’re getting resistance. The beneficials can create sort of an ongoing dynamic that’s reliable and safe.”

Human-Powered from Farm to Table

This is the hidden labor—and the true cost—behind every bite of a Red Hawk cucumber, tomato, herb, or lettuce. It's not just about not using pesticides. It’s about creating life-based systems that support plant health from the soil up. Systems that require human eyes, human instinct, and human effort—as well as human consumers, like you, who care about how their food is produced.

So when you choose to eat like you live here, this is what you’re choosing: food grown by farmers who are building ecosystems, not just yields. Food that’s alive, vital, and deeply cared for.

Subscribe to the O’Nat Box to get regular access to Red Hawk’s goods—plus other all-organic fruits and veggies from our other local farms that share this commitment to health, ecology, and integrity.

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