Hey there, I’m Carmen!
I was born and raised in the foothills of North Carolina, where the best parts of my childhood were spent playing in the dirt. From as early as I can remember, I’ve felt a deep connection to all living things, from the tiniest insects to the tallest trees. I studied environmental science at UNC Chapel Hill before starting my early career in wildlife conservation. After years of moving around the world and working on large-scale conservation projects, I ultimately felt my personal relationship to the land around me beginning to take a back seat.
Beekeeping was the spark that reignited my passion for connecting with the Earth and her patterns on a more intimate level. Bees tell the intricate story of the landscape, the weather, and the environment around them, and a successful beekeeper listens and reacts to those stories in real time.
I started out working for an urban beekeeping company in Los Angeles, managing over 100 hives on rooftops across the city. I fell in love with the bees and their unique ability to inspire a childlike curiosity in people, opening the door for deeper conversation and connection. A desire to slow down and expand this type of 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.
Today, Feral Farms exists in the beautiful intersection between the worlds of agriculture and ecology. My beekeeping philosophy has always been rooted in reciprocity and compassion - for the entire ecosystem and the community that depends on it for survival. My identity as a queer woman and my belief that all living beings deserve to be treated with respect shape every facet of the work that I do.
