On Your Own/Tom Jackson and
Jan Mann
Business: Jackson Farms, 13902 Dunn Road, Godwin; (910) 567-2978
Since then, Jackson Farms has stayed in the family.
Tom Jackson grew up there, left and went to college in 1961, and taught
English and modern American literature at Purdue, the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Oregon and East Carolina
University. He was teaching at Wayne Community College in Goldsboro when
he moved back to the farm with his second wife, a potter named Jan Mann,
in 1980.
At the time, Jackson Farms was a working farm. Jackson's parents grew
corn, wheat and tobacco on the 300 acres.
Tom and Jan moved into a tenant house on Jackson Farms, where his
parents were still living, and built a pottery house nearby, as well as a
small solar house from scraps and recycled materials.
"Every single door and window is a family antique or something I built
myself," Jackson says, "with the exception of four dining chairs."
A turn in the road: In 1985, Jackson took a year off from farm
repairs
and his teaching job to collaborate on a Smithsonian Institution research
paper, taking pictures of Southern folk potters and contributing some
chapters. After that project, he didn't want to go back to the one-hour
commute to his teaching job, so he quit and decided to see where life
would take him. He worked on various projects, such as designing museum
exhibits, while his wife sold pottery.
Asparagus? A couple of years later, a visiting friend asked him to get
some asparagus from his next-door neighbor's farm. The neighbor told
Jackson: "Get what you want and pay me later." After calling a grocery
store to find out the price of asparagus, Jackson discovered that his
neighbor was selling it for much less than the retailer was charging. His
friend said they were the best asparagus he'd ever eaten and asked for
more.
"Next thing I knew, we were in the produce business," Jackson says.
Within two weeks, he was driving all over Sampson County pitching okra and
other vegetables and guaranteeing delivery within 24 hours of picking
them.
Increasing the appeal: The Jackson Farms guest house glowed with
out-of-town friends, and Tom and Jan started thinking about fashioning a
new guest house out of the old tenant house across the pond for their
visiting friends. The idea of paying guests followed.
From friends to guests: With insurance money from the original guest
house, which had been destroyed in a fire, they added a tin roof and a
claw-footed bathtub, and fixed up the fireplace. Jan Mann made some
porcelain dinnerware, and local furniture builders filled the rooms with
tables and chairs built by North Carolina craftsmen.
Monday through Thursday, guests can stay at what is now
a
bed-and-breakfast for $75 a night. Nightly weekend prices are slightly
higher, but guests can enjoy an entire weekend for only $175. A
stay includes continental breakfast fixings. For an additional $20 to 25 a
plate, one of the locals will cater a home-cooked Southern meal. She
serves the dinner family-style -- she won't bring a slice of pie; she'll
bring a pie. And one of the neighbors has the "very best honey in the
universe," according to Jackson. It's a special swamp honey made from gall
berries near the 10 acres that surround the guest house.
There's a butterfly garden; geese and ducks swim in the pond; and foxes
trot the grounds.
Business philosophy: "I try to treat my customers the way I liked
to be
treated," Jackson says. "I always go back to the businesses that make me
happy."
On Your Own is written by Molly McGinn.
Staff Photo by Jim Bounds
Owners: Tom Jackson and Jan Mann
What they do: They grow special organic vegetables, herbs and
edible
flowers for upscale restaurants and grocery stores in the Triangle area.
They recently opened the Jackson Farms guest house to the public.
When it all began: In the late 18th century, somewhere in Scotland,
Tom
Jackson's great-great-great-grandfather and his best friend married
sisters in a double ceremony. For their wedding trip, the newlyweds
boarded a ship to America. Before they reached American shores, a
hurricane caused the women to vow that if they ever reached dry land, they
would never sail again. When the boat reached the Carolina coast, they
took up land and stayed.
Guest House
Tom and Jan Jackson