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Franny Tacy jumps out of a vehicle with a hug and a handshake, her long blonde hair tucked neatly beneath a ball cap. Fit and trim, at 49, this farmer became the first woman in North Carolina to grow and harvest hemp in 2017.
Now, she’s an in-demand speaker, going from Danville, Virginia, to Denver, Colorado – with conferences on cannabis and industrial hemp. She speaks on CBD, the hemp extract claimed to help anti-inflammatory issues, anxiety and other ailments.
“Franny’s super dynamic,” says her husband, Jeff Tacy, 47. “And she’s going to bring a crowd, no matter what.”
This woman holds a Master’s degree in education and boasts a dozen years working in the pharmaceutical industry. “I speak for small-scale farmers,” she says. “And, like my mom said, I’m honest to a fault.”
Each year, the Tacys grow hundreds of hemp plants on Franny’s Farm (828 708-5587), a 33-acre spread with goats, sheep, chickens, vegetables, a pond and overnight lodging – including the rustic yet luxurious “Barn House” – at Leicester, North Carolina.
Hemp looks like marijuana. But it’s not the same, says Franny. “We breed a plant that’s high in CBD and low in THC.”
That means, with low THC, it won’t get you high. “As long as the THC is less than .3, it’s hemp,” says Franny. “When it goes above that, it’s marijuana.”
The couple buys thousands of hemp plants from partner-affiliate farms for use in their four dispensaries across the Carolinas.
And they constantly seek new products, like the hemp-infused Franny’s Farmhouse Ale, brewed by Bhramari in nearby Asheville.
The hemp content of that concoction could have health benefits, but the funloving Franny isn’t exactly saying: “We’re not selling like a snake-oil medicine show off the back of a wagon. We’re not claiming anything. We’re just claiming that you’re going to taste and smell and experience this female goddess in a beer. So, I’m recommending it for goddess lovers.”
In 2012, the Tacys bought what Jeff calls “dilapidated farmland” and began building structures. “We’re an agri-tourism farm,” Jeff says. “Me and Franny are just boot-strappin’, hard-workin’, gettin’-it-done.”
And, come fall, the couple loves to welcome visitors, especially to their overnight lodging units.
“Fall is magical on the farm,” says Franny. “Everybody works together to string beans and put things up. You begin cooking.”
TRAVEL PLANNER
Farm & Stay: Franny’s Farm, Leicester, NC. frannysfarm.com. Includes small cabins, campsites and comfy “Barn House.”
Do: Hemp tours, goat yoga, canoeing on pond, hiking.
Eats: Farm-to-table fare at Bhramari Brewing Company, Asheville, NC. 828-214-7981 (one of Franny’s favorites).
The story above is from our September/October 2019 issue.
