Located in a 12-acre holler in western North Carolina, just 10 minutes from Marshall and Mars Hill, and only 30 minutes to downtown Asheville and Hot Springs, Willow Roots Homestead is an ever-evolving ecological oasis surrounded by the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains and the vibrant WNC culture.
While once serving as grazing pastures, the terrain and landscape of Willow Roots Homestead has been subjected to several years of clear cutting, wildfires, soil degradation and erosion, as well as the overwhelming growth of several invasive species, all of which has left this land practically unusable.
Our goal with Willow Roots Homestead is to restore the native habitat, provide it with some structure and encouragement, and create a place that doesn’t just sustain us, but that also restores and inspires us. A place where we can learn, where imagination and creativity can thrive, and where we can grow.
About Our Farm
Our Story
From the Low Country to the Foothills
Hey Y’all - our names are Stephen and Cheree Langford. We are the overly-ambitious and avid gardener/diy-er owners of Willow Roots Homestead. This is our story.
Let’s rewind to the pre-COVID days, in Savannah, Georgia. We were both working in urban agriculture. Stephen was managing high-end, organic and ecologically friendly gardens all over Savannah, ranging from the ornate and residential to the commercial and production. And no lawn mowing.
Cheree was the garden manager and early-childhood educator at the local YMCA Cultural Center. Here, it wasn’t just about teaching gardening to kids, but about as a community center in a neighborhood considered a food desert, she had the chance to reach and connect with kids in the garden who might otherwise not ever get that chance - to show them how life in a garden can thrive, and what that can provide.
We both loved what we did, and we loved being able to share our passion with one another. But when we had the opportunity to work together in our own garden, or in one of our moms’ gardens, or when we’d secretly go to work together (Yep, that weird) - we were the dream team.
After we got engaged, while we were supposed to be planning a wedding, we also decided to buy this vintage ‘77 Airstream Argosy that we found on eBay, and fully remodel it to be our first home after that wedding that was fast approaching.
As it turned out, we did indeed get ourselves in over our heads. With no one in the area to even ask advice on, we had to learn it all ourselves. And it’s not like we could learn it by watching how it worked. Nothing worked. Everything had to be replaced, including the entire electrical system. We poured our literal blood, sweat and tears into her, and while our rainy, covid-wedding didn’t necessarily go according to plan, our newly finished 160 sq ft tiny house on wheels was perfect with our two dogs.
With both of us landing the opportunity to work remotely as a freelance writer and photographer team, we spent almost a full year on the road. By the end, we had visited 25 national parks, countless national forests, and while we had been looking for somewhere we felt we would be happy, we knew there was only one area where we wanted to finally put down some roots of our own – the mountains we felt most connected to – Appalachia.
