Youth Development and Farming Go Hand-In-Hand for Loris Woman

Farming is an exercise in faith.

From the time a farmer plants a seed, there are no guarantees as to the outcome of the crop.

“You never know if anything is going to make it or not,” said Miracle Lewis of Home Sweet Farm in Loris, adding that many people want what they want when they want it – and they don’t understand that things don’t work that way, especially when it comes to farming.

“It is perfect timing and it’s just a game of chance. You can go by the books all you want, but it’s really out of your hands at some point.”

Lewis, 25, along with fiancée Jimmy Rabon are co-owners of the farm, and Lewis is also a Horry County extension agent for 4-H youth development at Clemson Extension.

After graduating from Loris High School, Lewis started at Coastal Carolina University as a biology major – but she realized that she would need to go far afield to pursue either veterinary or pharmacy school. A deep sense of family compelled her to remain in the county.

“My grandparents were aging, and being an only child and grandchild is a big responsibility. I wanted to take care of them because my dad didn’t have any other help,” she said.

She decided to switch her major to health promotion, which is a well-rounded nutrition education-based degree, and something with which she could do many different things.

This decision was a turning point of sorts, because many of her friends were moving away from the town they grew up in – and Lewis wasn’t about to leave the farm in the hands of somebody else.

“My dad [Harold Lewis] was going to rent it to somebody else that was going to farm it, and I just couldn’t think of that. I couldn’t take somebody else running the farm that my grandpa worked on every day of his life – even as a child,” she said.

Lewis said that while her father isn’t anti-farming, per se, he got enough of it growing up and became a welder, currently with the South Carolina Department of Transportation.

She said her late grandfather Bill Lewis didn’t see much of a future in farming and encouraged his only son to get into another line of work.

“He would really be surprised now at how much the local food movement has grown.”

While finishing up her degree at Coastal Carolina, Lewis needed to secure an unpaid internship. She found Clemson Extension on an online list of possible options. She had some friends that went to Clemson University, and at first she thought the internship would involve the chance to visit them there.

“That wasn’t at all what it was,” she said.

She interviewed with Blake Lanford, then regional lead agent for Clemson Extension who was over the Horry County office. He has since been promoted to regional administrator for the Coastal Region.

Growing up, she was a University of South Carolina fan, but she said she remembered that her grandfather thought a lot of Clemson University and the work it did for local farmers. He told her that one day she would appreciate that too.

She got the internship immediately. But that did not include a paycheck.

One day, Lanford asked Lewis what she knew about 4-H, and she answered that she had never heard of it. He told her that he was leaving town for a conference and to do some research about it while he was away because there was an open 4-H position in the Extension office that needed to be filled.

“When he came back, I told him everything I had learned, and I loved everything about 4-H,” she said.

According to its Web site [www.4-h.org], 4-H is a program delivered by cooperative extension in more than 100 public universities across the country, with an eye to providing mentorship, guidance, leadership and hands-on projects running the gamut from agriculture and science to citizenship and health.

“4-H stands for head, heart, hands and health,” said Lewis. “It’s a program for the betterment of youth. It makes them better students and community members – but the background of the entire program is agriculture because it is funded through an ag university – and 4-H got its start through agriculture, teaching kids how to grow corn.”

Lewis said her role is as program manager – starting clubs and overseeing these clubs once they get started. She approves members and volunteers, meets with teachers and principals to get programs into classrooms, plans summer camps and seeks out sponsorships.

“I go to County Council and City Council meetings – and then it’s just a constant recruitment and planning process,” she said.

Lewis has been full-time with Clemson Extension for nearly two years.

Lanford recalled that interview with Lewis, and noted that she took an immediate interest in 4-H.

“She wanted to make 4-H a career – and from that point forward it was just about us aligning resources that would prepare her to do that,” he said.

He also noticed right off the bat that was extremely driven.

“She has got a lot of energy, but she is able to leverage that energy in support of productivity.”

When Lewis was working part-time with Clemson Extension, Lanford mentioned to her that if she really wanted to pursue 4-H as a career, they were going to have to find something that enabled her to stay afloat in addition to the extension work.

“She said, ‘I want to start farming,’ and it’s not like she said, ‘I want to farm – can you teach me how to be a farmer.’ She just matter-of-factly said, ‘I am going to start farming.’ We said, ‘OK, let us help – and we actively engaged her in our market program,” he said.

Lanford told The Sun News that Lewis’ youthful enthusiasm makes her a good fit for the 4-H program.

“The thing that makes Miracle so productive is that she parlays that youthful enthusiasm into a work ethic that is typically common for folks who have been in the workforce for a lot longer than she has. That’s pretty uncommon.”

When Lewis was a child, she was far more interested in playing with the goats on the farm than she was in growing crops.

“I would go out there and play around while his workers were picking things,” she said. “I would pick a bean or a squash here or there, but I never picked enough to amount to anything. I would get jealous when he paid his workers, but he would hand me a little bit of money too.”

She considered becoming a veterinarian, and went so far as to intern in a vet’s office during her senior year in high school – but she and her grandfather had grown very close. She said she was sure he thought she would look after things.

“When he was in the hospital and we knew it wouldn’t be much longer before he passed away, he told me to take care of my grandma, the goats and the collards. He had about three acres of collards planted.”

Ultimately, Lewis and Rabon sold the entire crop.

The couple has been engaged for a few months. Lewis thinks the word “fiancée” is strange.

“I just don’t like saying it. It sounds weird. It’s not a Southern word,” she said.

Rabon and Lewis dated on-and-off in high school, and they found out that they grew up five miles from each other.

While Lewis was doing her internship at Clemson Extension, the pair scoured the organization’s home and garden information site, which had detailed information on how to grow anything. There were hundreds of topics for them to choose from, and they decided to plant a half-acre of peach trees and a half-acre of grape vines.

“That doesn’t sound like a lot, but for us being as broke as we were and me straight out of college – it was a lot.”

While they grew as farmers, Lewis said she and Rabon learned a lot, especially about what crops made money and what crops didn’t and how to make informed decisions.

“That was our first little stab at farming, and we thought we were big-time farmers.”

Currently, Home Sweet Farm boasts roughly 15 varieties of produce, some of which are being grown on as much as five acres. They have 75 acres available for farming, with another 10 rented out – and grew 16 acres of produce this year.

Lewis cites squash as the standout crop.

“We are really good at growing squash,” she said. “Our squash is some of the best I have ever seen, but I would like to be well known for growing strawberries because we planted a good amount of strawberries last year, and they did well.”

So well, in fact, that they sold out every single gallon.

Home Sweet Farm is visible at the local farmers’ markets. Lewis said that one of Rabon’s cousins takes care of Surfside Beach, Little River, Carolina Forest and North Myrtle Beach – but Lewis handles Conway every Saturday from May to October – selling Home Sweet Farm produce, networking, promoting the farm – and making friends.

And she offers a pick-your-own [PYO], or u-pick option at her farm.

“We have a lot of people that come and visit our farm and do some of the u-pick stuff when we offer it,” she said. “We don’t actually have a store, but you could buy things straight out of our coolers or straight off the field.”

Usually this is strawberries or peas when in season.

“We did u-pick strawberries this spring, and I was so overwhelmed at the number of people that came out. They swarmed that field, and I had to post on Facebook that we were closing it. They cleaned the field in a matter of hours. It was crazy.”

Home Sweet Farm also offers raw honey, straight from the hive.

“That’s Jimmy’s cup of tea. I put on a suit and go out with him from time to time, but he really does the bees. That’s his thing, but I like the honey. I put it in my coffee every morning.”

Youthful energy notwithstanding, how does Lewis manage her duties with Clemson Extension and her schedule at Home Sweet Farm?

“It’s tough, and it gets overwhelming at times,” she said. “I wake up early and go to bed late, but as long as you eat the right food, take care of your body and drink plenty of water – you can keep going.”

Master gardener and 4-H volunteer Sara Reddick struck up a friendship with Lewis at the Conway Farmers Market when they were set up next to each other.

“I prefer her things because I know how she farms – and I go to the farm occasionally to get produce. When my grandsons are in town, I take them out there because she has such cool animals,” she said.

The first thing Reddick noticed about Lewis was her smile.

“It’s instantaneous and just so radiant – and she was very friendly to the customers. I have never known a woman who farmed, and that’s a plus for me because of the maternal kind of feel you get from her – like it’s OK to be at her farm.”

Reddick noted that Lewis has a way of engaging people about farming.

“It’s a reciprocal kind of thing that I get from her – then I go out there with my grandchildren, and they enjoy seeing the animals and just learning about the plants and things. I like that vibe she has, because she is very passionate about growing things, and that’s a quality that our kids need. She is a good mentor that kids can learn from, and I feel like I can go to her farm like I am going to somebody’s house.”

This story was originally published August 27, 2016 at 5:05 AM with the headline "Youth Development and Farming Go Hand-In-Hand for Loris Woman."