(bright music) - [Announcer] This is a production of PBS Charlotte.

(gentle music) - Just to head on Carolina Impact, as our region grows, Carolina farmland is disappearing.

We'll meet folks fighting to save it.

Plus, a Rock Hill woman helps people rethink where their food comes from by teaching them how to grow it.

And from the Carolinas to the Grammy stage, meet the local man whose extraordinary talent has earned him music's highest honor.

Not once, but multiple times.

Carolina Impact starts right now, my friends.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music) Good evening.

Thanks so much for joining us.

I'm Amy Burkett.

New development continues to reshape our region while farmland disappears.

A new study from UNC Charlotte's Urban Institute puts hard numbers behind that trend and reveals a significant loss of small family farms.

Carolina Impact's Heather Burgiss and videographer Doug Stacker join us from Rowan County.

Heather, those wide open fields behind you sure look peaceful.

- That's right, Amy.

It's quiet on the farm here in Mount Ulla, the kind of quiet that's becoming harder to find in North Carolina.

For the Hoffner family, four generations have taken care of this land and they're facing the same questions of how to keep this way of life preserved as the world is growing in.

And their story is part of a much bigger one.

(gentle music) Here at Hoffner Organic Farms, the only grass-fed certified organic dairy left in the state, the cows aren't just a herd.

Chris Hoffner knows them by name.

- Come here, Mayberrys.

Where's Rachel?

- [Heather] He walks the fields calling to them, checks the barns, and tends to the milking equipment that keeps the operation moving.

Caring for these cows, the work here is constant and deeply personal.

- What I love about farming, like I said, it's hard to say.

It's kind of like it's just in us genetically as people, and especially being a Hoffner, Hoffner in German as farmer.

So it's just kind of hardwired in our system.

You still need to get that dirt on your hands and there's something to that.

It's just part of it.

- [Heather] His grandfather bought the original 110 acres in 1956 for about 19,000.

The family still has a check from part of that purchase.

Through the years, they've added tracts of land and looked for ways to protect their farm.

- Everything that we have here is in a conservation easement.

We work with Three Rivers Land Trust, meaning that this land will never be developed ever and ever, ever.

It will be the same a hundred years from now as it is right now.

- [Heather] That decision ensures what happens inside the farm's property lines is protected.

Outside them, the future can change quickly and without much warning.

- There's a track of land that we've been trying to purchase for a long time.

It is next to us.

We've been really trying to purchase it.

We're working with the conservation fund and some other stuff to try to figure out how to acquire that land.

And then we found out that it was under contract with a house development.

It really hits hard and it is literally our property line with the farm and our property line with my house.

- And so if you sink all that money into land cost- - [Heather] It's a situation Eva Caison encounters through her work with the Carolina Farms Fund.

- Farmers are incredibly observant.

They're always observing what's happening on their properties and also seeing what's happening next door.

And when there's adjoining parcels that are in farmland right now, but they're out of that farmer's ownership, they're aware that things could change.

(gentle music) - [Heather] A new UNC Charlotte Urban Institute study puts numbers to that change.

Between 2017 and 2022, the 14 county Charlotte region lost 760 farms.

Here in Rowan County, 124 farms disappeared.

Losing 760 farms equals about 7.8% of farms across the region.

- I think it's very important that community members in this region be aware of the statistics in that report because it impacts our daily lives, where our food comes from, how our land is utilized, and what it feels like to move through our communities as working lands transition into developed space.

- Agriculture in this country is progressively going down.

- [Heather] For Chris and his family, watching area farms and the land vanish is living history.

- It doesn't surprise me at all.

Before grandpa passed, he would talk about all the farms that used to be here and everybody was small.

They could make a living off of milking 30 cows, farming 100 acres.

And now it's just, they're just, everybody's disappeared.

There's only I think seven dairies left in Rowan County.

There's less than 100 now in North Carolina.

So it's just disappearing.

- [Heather] And that reality could accelerate.

The report cites research projecting North Carolina could lose 1.2 million acres of farmland to development by 2040, more than every state except Texas.

Between 2001 and 2016, more than 732,000 acres of North Carolina farmland disappeared, converted to housing, roads, and other development.

- We take a look at farmland that's at risk of development surrounding metropolitan areas.

We acquire that farmland, protect it forever with a conservation easement, and then we sell that land to a farmer, a next generation farmer.

(gentle music) - And back on the farm, that next chapter is still being written with Chris's children.

There's no pressure, but the interest is there.

- I would rather our legacy be one of the only farms left in North Carolina.

I would be, I think, fourth generation farmer, and so it's easier for everybody else to, we hear all of everybody else vanishing.

It's just making us all the more likely to vanish.

Since everybody else is going away, that just, I don't know, it just makes us feel like we're going to go away if it doesn't work out.

- So just trying to figure out ways to keep it alive.

Owen's sister, Ansley, is active in future farmers of America and plans to major in agriculture at NC State.

She thinks about how her family's farm can continue to survive and make a difference.

- We need to supply more food for our country and our population.

And so I feel like it's really important as our job as farmers to continue to work and to build up our farm to be able to supply the rest of the country and the population.

- [Heather] For Chris, preserving the farm is less about holding onto the past than leaving something for whoever comes next.

- I love the opportunity to pass it on to somebody else, and I love the opportunity that it is available for my kids, grandkids, or even other kids that ain't even my kids, you know, to do something, to do what they loved.

(gentle music) Grandpa worked it, dad worked it, I'm working it, they'll work it.

You know, that is one way to look at it, but it's bigger than that.

It's bigger than just me.

It's bigger than just my family.

It's the whole community.

(gentle music) - And this story isn't just about the Hoffner family.

It's about farmers across North Carolina who are looking for a way to preserve their way of life before it vanishes.

For Carolina Impact, I'm Heather Burgiss.

- Thank you, Heather.

In an upcoming report, Heather will take a look at farmers who are growing food for the most vulnerable in their communities and for local school children in Gaston County.

Well, as farmland disappears across our region, one Rock Hill woman takes a different approach to her land, working with nature to help it thrive.

Carolina Impact's Dara Khalid and videographer Russ Hunsinger introduce us to a woman cultivating more than crops.

(intense music) (upbeat music) - [Dara] We've all got to eat, right?

- We're going to talk about a guild, which is a collection of plants that support our main focus, which is going to be the blueberry bush today.

- [Dara] Why not grow it yourself?

- These are romas.

- [Dara] Here at Greenwood Acres in Rock Hill, South Carolina, owner Keisha Hensley teaches people a different way to grow what they eat, one where nature does most of the work.

- A permaculture farm, it uses principles of sustainability, energy efficiency, and regenerative farming.

You just basically use nature to support each other in order to grow as systems and they sustain themselves.

- [Dara] Some plants feed the soil, others attract pollinators, and some luring insects that eat the critters, Keisha doesn't want around.

- You attract bugs in that kills those pests, so that keeps you from having to use any kind of pesticides, any kind of herbicides on any of your plants.

So it's kind of like a team protecting the peach tree.

(upbeat music) - [Dara] She even gives the pests their own food to munch on.

- The leaf-footed bugs, they are attracted to the sorghum.

They're all over them.

And so if I have them feasting on the sorghum, then they're not going to be feasting on my tomatoes.

- [Dara] Sorghum is a type of grass grown mainly for its edible seeds, and Keisha uses it to create a trap crop where you sacrifice one plant to protect another.

This is just one of the lessons Keisha passes along.

- With all of the recalls of our food and all of the dangers out there, I thought it would be great to learn about how to, you know, grow my own food and what that would look like.

- [Dara] Francina Tillman calls herself a novice gardener.

Kirsten Barrington-Hughes has more experience, but says there's always more she can learn.

- I learned already so much from Keisha today.

When you're learning from other people that have proven success, it's just so much better.

(water splashing) - [Dara] Keisha's message, it doesn't take dozens of acres to start.

- You do not need to have a lot of space in order to be able to sustain yourself, your neighbors, your community.

(upbeat music) - [Dara] Her three acres work like one big cycle.

Food scraps from the commercial kitchen turn into compost.

Compost feeds the soil, and Keisha uses a no-till method to disturb that soil as little as possible.

- [Keisha] When you till, it messes up the microbiology and there are all those good worms, all the good microbes and everything like that, so it's better to build the soil up as opposed to digging into it.

- [Dara] Instead of tilling, she uses materials like cardboard and wood chips on top of the ground to suppress weeds and build the soil below.

(sheep bleating) - Hello, guy.

- [Dara] Even the farm next door plays a role.

- We have some of our sheep here in the background that are grazing her land and fertilizing, then they'll move back over to ours.

- [Dara] Baker farm owner, Sarah Lowrance, is also part of the reason Greenwood Acres exists.

Keisha met Sarah while selling chow-chow at an ag and art event.

Later, Sarah sold Keisha and her husband Ray their property.

(gentle music) The couple designed and built a multi-generational home with space for their daughter, Keisha's aging father, and a commercial kitchen for the business that helped launch this entire journey.

- Chow-chow is mixed vegetables cooked in a sweet and tangy brine.

It's a condiment that has deep southern history.

- [Dara] Keisha's company, Mother's Homemade, grew from farmers' markets to local stores and restaurants.

But for her, making chow-chow is also about preserving something she fears we're losing.

- People aren't cooking like they were before.

People aren't canning and preserving food like they did before.

So just like languages that people don't use them, they die.

Also, foods will die.

- [Dara] She calls it a dying food culture.

Around the farm, she grows less common crops like American groundnuts, perennial collards and kale, and even cucumbers that look like lemons.

(gentle music) While Keisha was building something designed to last for generations- - There we go.

- [Dara] She learned her own future could look very different than expected.

- I got diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and that was literally in the middle of selling a piece of property to buy this property, to stockpile chow-chow, build out this place that all happened at that time.

- [Dara] Multiple sclerosis or MS is a chronic disease that affects the central nervous system.

For Keisha, the diagnosis came when she and her family were already taking one of the biggest leaps of their lives.

- It was one of these like, "Well, I'm not going to die.

I can work with it, so all right, let's just, let's do what we need to do."

- [Dara] Nearly three years later, she refuses to let the diagnosis define what she can build.

- My attitude is, "Well, if I got to walk with a cane, I'm going to put a skull head on it and I'm going to bedazzle it and put jewels on it (laughs) and just make the best of it."

- [Dara] Her husband has seen her determination.

- Extremely proud.

She works incredibly hard every day in all of the plants, all of the produce, you know, all of the science that goes behind it.

It's just amazing.

(gentle music) - [Dara] Whether it's a diagnosis, a business idea, or simply growing your first plant.

- I hope they take away inspiration and a can-do attitude.

(laughs) - [Dara] Keisha wants people to leave Greenwood Acres believing their dreams can blossom too.

For Carolina Impact, I'm Dara Khaalid.

- Thanks so much, Dara.

As Keisha's farm continues to grow, she plans to host classes that kids can attend with their parents, a true family experience teaching how to grow food in a more sustainable way.

Well, from putting down roots to laying down tracks, a passion for trains has some local hobbyists, climbing aboard and enjoying the ride.

For some, it's a way to unwind.

For others, it's a passion that has grown into miles of track, lifelong friendships, and a hobby that keeps them full steam ahead.

Producer John Branscum has the story.

(upbeat music) - [John] Have you ever heard the term piddling?

(upbeat music) It pretty much means tinkering, puttering, working on a little bit of this and a little bit of that.

For Neal Anderson, it's a pretty good way to spend retirement.

Some days it's out here in the garage and other days, well.

- [Neal] It covers 1,500 square feet of my basement.

There's always improvements.

It's never done.

- [John] Neal's love for all things trains goes back decades.

- From 10 years old, I mean, that's 60 years ago, and I've been messing with trains.

- [John] But to borrow a phrase from those late night infomercials, but wait, there's more.

- Well, to go around in circles in the room and get tired out watching a train constantly, changing over to the big ones where you can go someplace and ride acres and acres and acres of land and go all over the place is just amazing.

It just blows me away.

- [John] Yep, you heard that correctly.

These are model trains you can ride.

Welcome to the Southern Piedmont Live Steamers Club and their home track on about eight acres of Stanly County farmland just outside of Oakboro.

- [Neal] We got about 3,400 feet of track on the ground here.

- [John] With two connected loops, sightings, and plenty of room to roam, for club members like Trip Smith, the appeal is pretty simple.

- [Trip] It's relaxing.

I could sit here and ride trains all day long.

- [John] And these days, you pretty much can.

- I am retired.

I've been retired since 2011, so I can pretty much spend as much time out here as I like.

- [John] Like Neal, Trip's railroading routes run deep.

- Back when I was a little kid, my mom took me to amusement park and we rode a train around, and from then on, I've been hooked.

- [John] All these years later, with a train of his very own and time to enjoy it, Trip gets to share that feeling with some special passengers.

- [Trip] I've had my granddaughters out here and they seem to absolutely love it.

- [John] For members of the club, that ride doesn't always stay in Oakboro.

Across the country, hundreds of clubs and private tracks keep this hobby moving.

- We just got back from Canton, Georgia.

It's a mountain railroad and it spirals around a mountain and they've got tunnels and trestles and it's just a lot of fun.

Riding on them and going to different clubs like we do, you get a different experience everywhere you go.

- [John] By now you figured out this takes a bit of time.

- I've got about 450 hours in building this engine.

It's quite a challenge, but I think it's well worth it.

(bright music) - [John] If you don't want to build your own, Mike Robson might just be able to hook you up.

He's the owner of Mike's Rail Cars, but if you ask him for his official title.

- What will my title be?

Grunt.

- [John] In his home workshop, Mike and his helper, Bubba, build ready to run electric engines he calls SuperRoos.

- It's an entry level machine.

It's affordable, I guess.

People buy them, so it must be.

- [John] A brand new SuperRoo with all the bells and whistles will set you back about $4,700.

Mike's built over 140 of them for customers across the country.

- Yeah, I have one as far away as the San Juans up in Washington.

So down in Florida, up the coast, you know, all over.

Yeah, they are all over.

This one's going to go to Texas.

- [John] The little engines are so popular, he started Roo Fest, an annual gathering that just celebrated its fifth anniversary.

- And we had 30 engines show up.

It was quite fun and I look at all that stuff and I go, "Geez, I made all this stuff."

And everybody's happy.

I mean, that's the really thing is that people really, really like their engine.

(laughs) I just come out here and do it, you know?

And the money's not bad, and I'm not doing it for the money necessarily.

I'm doing it because I need something to do.

And so that's what I do.

I come out here and I do something because if I don't, then I'm just sitting in there being a vegetable.

I mean, I can do that, believe me.

I can be a vegetable, but, you know, I have to do something, at least something every day, a little bit of something.

- [John] After a long day in the shop building SuperRoos, this 85-year-old still finds his peace in the same place out here on the rails.

- It's like therapy, you know?

I'm just looking at the forest and all that kind of stuff, not thinking about what I should be doing, you know, and just having fun.

I mean, you can see how comfortable I am.

Sometimes I fall asleep, they say.

- [John] It may start with a little piddling, a bit of tinkering, and plenty of puttering, but for the Southern Piedmont Live Streamers Club, it all adds up to friendship, purpose, and one more reason to keep moving.

For Carolina Impact, I'm John Branscum.

- Thanks so much, John.

This hobby can cover a lot of miles.

Neal Anderson has traveled to nine states to enjoy more than 25 different rides on railroads.

Well, we showed you the rhythm of the rails.

Now, let's meet a man who knows a thing or two about rhythm.

This local musician's talent has earned him some of music's most coveted awards.

In the world of entertainment, there's a vast array of awards honoring excellence.

In Broadway theater, it's the Tony Awards.

In film, it's the Academy Awards, television, the Emmys, and in music, it's the Grammys.

Carolina Impact's Jason Terzis joins us with the story of how he stumbled across the seven-time Grammy Award winner.

- Well, working in the media, we are on the receiving end of tons of press releases and story pitches.

Earlier in the summer, I received one about a local roofing company joining forces with an insurance company to provide veterans with a free new roof.

Sounds great, and a story we will be bringing you in the coming weeks.

However, it was this particular veteran living in this home that really caught my attention.

♪ There's a rainbow ♪ ♪ A rainbow shining ♪ It's a voice and a face you'd never imagine being paired.

(indistinct) But as we know, life works in funny ways sometimes.

♪ To heaven above ♪ And that deep rich base voice indeed comes from this baby-faced young man who's not so young anymore.

- I grew up in a little town called Greer, South Carolina.

- [Jason] Ken Turner grew up in a time and place where church music wasn't just tradition, it was a way of life, gospel harmonies and quartet singing, shaping his musical taste.

- As I went along, I'd sing and sing.

Everything I'd do, I'd be singing, singing.

- [Jason] Those early years laying the foundation for what would become one of the most recognizable bass voices in Southern Gospel history.

- Had a little quartet.

I was singing Lee, and all of a sudden my voice started changing.

And one year, my voice dropped an octave.

At 17 years old, I started singing bass.

(singing indistinctly) - [Jason] After serving three years as a specialist in the US Army where he sang with various gospel and blues quartets.

- We had a barbershop quartet and it was good, wasn't it good?

- [Jason] Ken joined the Dixie Echoes, putting him on the national stage.

Audiences quickly began taking note of his deep booming voice.

(Ken sings indistinctly) - It's a thing like way down.

(sings indistinctly) Drop an octave.

Way down, way down, way down.

(singing indistinctly) - [Jason] Never formally trained, Ken learned how to develop his natural talent.

While many singers aim for range, Ken became known for depth, notes so low they could be felt as much as heard.

(Ken singing indistinctly) ♪ Ain't going to need this ♪ (Ken singing indistinctly) ♪ Ain't going to need this ♪ (Ken singing indistinctly) (Dixie Echoes singing indistinctly) - But the Lord just gave me that sing out like this, like I talk out like this.

A lot of people keep it in the throat, but when you learn how to talk out like this, it don't hurt your voice at all.

- [Jason] His dream was to someday sing with the Blackwood Brothers, pioneers in the Southern Gospel Christian music industry.

- The Blackwood Brothers, wow.

I'd watch them, I mean, listen to them on the radio and they were just phenomenal and I said, "I want to sing with them."

- I want you to make Ken Turner welcome here.

Would you do that, Mr.

Ken Turner, our bass?

- [Jason] Ken fulfilled that dream in 1971.

- When the bass singer left, they didn't even call anybody to tryout.

They called me.

♪ But my hanging days ♪ (sings indistinctly) - [Jason] For nearly two decades, Ken sang, recorded, and toured with the Blackwood Brothers, winning seven Grammy Awards with the band.

Six of those he's given away to family and friends, keeping just one for himself.

- That was my dream.

I did 64 albums with him.

- [Jason] Along the way, he met all sorts of celebrities, including Elvis.

- I was standing behind the stage and I heard somebody say, "Hey, Ken."

I turned around and it was Elvis.

He says, "Come on in, talk to me."

We talked about Army Days.

- [Jason] And performed on the Barbara Mandrell Show.

- Had my little camera.

"I want to have my picture made by Barbara Mandrell."

They said, "Oh, she don't have time to mess with you."

She heard him say that.

"I guess I do.

Give me that camera."

- [Jason] And at the same time, he was also known as the band's funny guy.

- Hey, fellas, that sure was pretty.

(attendees laughing) And I was always the showboater.

♪ There's a rainbow of love ♪ (indistinct) - [Jason] On the song Rainbow of Love- - It's a low down singing song.

- [Jason] Ken showed just how low he could go.

(Ken sings indistinctly) ♪ In stormy weather ♪ - In my blue coat, did you watch that?

I hit that.

That's the low C, the low C. That's what I see on the piano.

And it's pretty clear, wasn't it?

(laughs) ♪ Came down from above ♪ - [Jason] Ken's musical journey continued through the '90s and early 2000s with the Blackwood Gospel Quartet and the Crystal River Boys, while at the same time mentoring the next generation of singers.

- I teach them how not to be going down, and through the throat, but now hey, bring it up in here.

- [Jason] And he's often showcased his talents, mimicking various instruments.

(bright music) (bright music) Performing well into his 70s, Ken was inducted into the South Carolina Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame in 2009.

(Ken sings indistinctly) ♪ Go marching in ♪ And thanks to YouTube, a whole new generation is being introduced to his vocal talents.

- Oh, that was unexpected.

- That was amazing.

That was cool.

- And so cool.

- [Interviewer] What do you think when you watch, when you pull up some of those videos?

- Well, I enjoy it.

Every once in a while, I'll go back and pull up the different ones.

(Ken singing indistinctly) - [Jason] Ken is slowing down these days.

He's 91 now, so it kind of goes with the territory.

He uses a walker, but still manages to get around his house.

- I'm old timey now.

(laughs) (gentle music) - [Jason] And while he may no longer be able to hit all those low, low notes the way he did for so many years after clearing his throat a little, Ken can still generate some of those epic sounds.

- My favorite songs are the old hymns.

♪ Oh, how much he cares for me ♪ - I love the story and I love the fact that I understand Ken isn't the only great singer in the family.

- Yeah, he's kind of passed this on down.

Well, Ken's daughter, Kenna Turner West, is a Nashville based gospel and country singer and songwriter.

She's garnered over a hundred song of the year nominations in various genres and is one of the most accomplished songwriters in Christian music today.

So it runs in the family.

Christian music, gospel music.

It's something that's being passed down generation to generation.

- I love it.

I love how you find these stories.

Keep them coming.

- It's fun.

- Well, do you know someone with an amazing story like this to share?

Don't keep it to yourself.

Email us the ideas to stories@wtvi.org.

Well, that's all the time we have this evening.

Thanks so much for joining us.

We always appreciate your time, and I look forward to seeing you back here again next time on Carolina Impact.

Goodnight, my friends.

(bright music) (bright music) (bright music) (bright music) (bright music) (bright music) - [Announcer] A production of PBS Charlotte.

(bright music)