Audra Ellis, co-owner of Ellis Farms in Lincolnton, North Carolina, discusses how she and her husband, Rick, originally started with six chickens and two pygmy goats, expanded into crop production, and now focus only on chicken and pork production. Mrs. Ellis explains how the Ellis family is the last family in Lincoln County to make molasses the old fashioned way and has been making it for about eighty years. She talks about how she learned how to treat bumblefoot, (an infection egg chickens commonly get), through videos on YouTube because veterinarians cannot treat chickens. Mrs. Ellis mentions how she and her friend took a short summer course at Western Piedmont Community College which taught them how to take care of various animals including chickens and goats. She explains that along with YouTube videos, she also learned how to take care of the animals through books and asking other farmers in the area. Mrs. Ellis also discusses how she got involved with the farmers market and how many people are ignorant of why the products at the market are more expensive than the ones in Target or Walmart, as well as how farmers have to struggle against the stereotype that they are uneducated .
