By Christina Ferrari - On a Friday night at The Kraken, there’s a buzz outside the Chapel Hill dive bar decorated with too many octopuses to count. A roadside sign advertises “FRI 8: BLUEGRASS CAROLINA CUTUPS”. Both babies and dogs are part of the gaggle outside, getting increasingly fidgety as the night drags on.
At 9pm, people start to make their ways inside as a lighthearted bluegrass tune drifts out. Four men in stiff white cowboy hats and straight blue jeans croon from a slightly raised wooden stage. Farmer Dave Henderson is on the acoustic guitar, tapping his foot as he sings backup. He’s equally ingrained in the deep agricultural roots of North Carolina as he is in the homegrown bluegrass traditions of the state.
A child of the 80s, Dave is the skateboarding, guitar-strumming, croc-rocking founder of Red’s Quality Acre, a one-acre mixed vegetable farm. With a straw hat pulled over his head, it’s almost easy to miss the eponymous ginger mullet. His wife Caitlin Law makes the plural of ‘Red’s’, and helped start the operation in 2015. It was Dave’s dream since he was 20.
Breaking through the oak, pine, and sweetgum trees along the gravel road to Red’s is like stumbling upon a sweet secret. In June, the sun pours into the clearing and reflects off the top of each plastic high tunnel. They’re filled to the brim with cherry tomatoes, heads of butterhead lettuce, crisp cucumbers and shining peppers. It’s quiet, save for the bark of a dog and the hum of a John Deere.
To build infrastructure for this rural oasis, Dave turned to the Orange County Agricultural Economic Development Grant program. The program, which provided farmers across the county with nearly $1.1M in 2025, offers assistance in purchasing equipment or making large-scale investments on the farm. Red’s has turned to the grant twice to build high tunnels.
“It’s hard to deny the fact that there is so much happening on this really small piece of land,” Dave said. “I feel like that’s something that could be replicated if there was a strategy to do it.”
Red’s sells their produce through a CSA program, but just about 50% of their crops ends up at nearby grocery stores and restaurants. They focus on a high level of production on a small acre and a half, selling cut greens, lettuces, radishes and other crops that have a quick turnover. After 10 years of growth, Dave attributes his success to a strong line of mentors from childhood to adulthood.
“I was lucky in the places I worked at and the people I worked for,” Dave said. “I was down to take on responsibility and ask people questions.”
Dave discovered a love for working with his hands early on. His parents, who worked together in Durham remodeling homes as a side hustle, fostered a DIY mentality and entrepreneurial spirit. Instead of going to college, Dave found a job working for Tim and Helga MacAller of Four Leaf Farm on the land he now owns without any prior farming experience. The couple knew him as an eager farmhand fresh out of high school. After a season at Four Leaf, Dave moved with Caitlin to work on an urban farm in Chicago.
“When he started with us,” Tim said, “he really didn’t know much. After Chicago, he came back with his own wealth of knowledge.” Dave’s farming practices and team values are a hybrid of Four Leaf and City Farm. Helga, from Denmark, would bake a loaf of Danish bread and set out cheese for farm staff at lunch. Dave’s version is sandwich bread and meat from Costco, which Red’s crew lovingly calls “Dave’s Deli”. Soup Thursdays, where a different crew member brings a shared soup each week, are also encouraged.
On a four person staff, Dave emphasizes trust. “When I trust the staff, I trust the business. In the earlier days, my whole life was full of chaotic anxiety. Stress is an option, and I can have flexibility if I trust my staff and the decisions I’m making.”
As couples sway on the dance floor, the night is coming to an end at the Kraken. Dave takes the mic for a beat to sing. “Place a kiss upon my broow,” he warbles, the band leaning forward in harmony. “Will you love me then as now? Will you miss me when I’m gone?” The crowd of friends and family whoop as the song comes to an end. “That’s Dave,” bandleader Rocky says, “all the way from Durham”.