What is in a name?


Cartermere is a family-owned and operated farm located just outside of the town of Celina in North Central Texas. The farm sits on 300 acres of land anchored by a 38-acre lake, for which the farm takes its name. "Carter" is the surname of our family, while "mere" is Old English for "lake". In Old English tradition the family name and prominent land feature are combined to form "Cartermere" (Carter's Lake). We also like the modern use of the English word "mere" which denotes simplicity and humility.

Mission Statement
Cartermere Farms is committed to producing the highest quality, organic food we possibly can. In doing so, we are dedicated to treating our customers with the transparency and honesty we would expect as consumers, and to treating nature with the respect it deserves as a borrowed resource –  progressing rather than pillaging.

How it all began 

PictureCarter Coops Backyard Chicken Coop
 Many years ago I was in my back yard feeling sorry for myself because my career in technology had become monotonous and uninspired. My wife, in her encouragement, asked what would make me happy. "I would like to build things and grow things," I told her. She began praying for me... I'm sure I needed it.

That same year my children and I borrowed a styrofoam incubator from a cousin and hatched 17 little banty chicks. It soon became clear we were going to need some accommodations for our new birds, so I built a small chicken coop for our back yard. After numerous promptings from friends and family to begin making the coops for sale, I decided to design a high-end backyard chicken coop – Carter Coops was born. 

Against my better judgement, my wife Sandy posted an ad on Craig's List for the newly designed coops and sales slowly started.  Near the completion of one of the coops, I received a call from a lady in Dallas looking for a coop for her backyard. She requested to come out and see one of the coops prior to purchasing, and she brought her husband with her. Introductions: Greg and Sandy Bussey. Turned out Greg and Sandy were chefs, and Greg was looking for local organic produce.

While I knew of a few small farms around, the inquiry piqued my interest. On a handshake, I agreed to begin a 3/4 acre garden in an old arena on our family land to see just what was possible. Over the next six months I studied, planted, watered, harvested and delivered all I could after work. The experiment brought enough success to capture the attention of Tristan Simon, a top Dallas restaurateur and CEO of Consilient Restaurants. The relationship with Consilient inspired me to take the plunge and leave a 20-year corporate career to try my hand at full time organic farming. 
                                                 
Cartermere Farms, LLC. officially began in December 2013. At that time my brother Hunter Carter came on board and we diligently began an aggressive expansion of the operations, expanding to five acres in cultivation, and constructing 1-acre of high tunnels. We installed close to a 1/2 mile of underground irrigation, built a 250-bird chicken coop, a 600 sqft. automated seedling room, produce washroom, and constructed and started 18 beehives.

Since that time our sister Jennifer Carter has become actively involved, leveraging her Master's Degree in Animal Science to help the farm aggressively expand our grass-fed lamb operations. I am indebted to Greg and Sandy Bussey for initially reaching out to us and seeing the potential of a future farm. I am thankful to Triston Simon who pushed the idea past conceptual and into reality. Most importantly, I am thankful for my family who have support me through absolutely  unreasonable hours and stresses to see this vision of mine become real.

Looking back on the series of events and relationships that led to the creation of Cartermere Farms, it is beyond fortuitous and could only have been orchestrated by the Divine... a wife's prayers answered. Seventeen chicks needing a home, the introduction to a group of chefs and one of Dallas' top restaurateurs, the support of my parents in launching the farm, the collaboration and  the countless relationships we are building. I have been blessed immensely.
             ~ Nelson Carter