From left: Stephanie Carter, John Carter, Allison Carter, & David Carter

Who We Are

Ithíka Acres was born out of a passion for animals and always trying something new. Since the early 2000’s goats have always been a part of our family, and an important one at that. Before we started the creamery we knew we wanted to utilize these goats in a new way that would allow us to produce something people were searching for in today’s market. What we found was a need for an alternative to common dairy products. Through experience with farming and our newfound knowledge of the benefits of goat products, Ithíka Acres Creamery was born. We want to create a truly amazing product that benefits more than just your taste buds while creating a farm life where our goats can thrive.

Our 101-acre farm is located in Raeford, North Carolina where our family has lived since 2005. Outside of the farm, you can find us at local farmers markets around North Carolina selling our cheeses. This is one of our favorite parts of the business because we get to interact with customers and give them a small piece of Ithaca Acres. We love educating people on the benefits of our products and how making the switch could benefit your family. 
We are always creating new flavors and pairings so we hope you like trying new things as much as we do.

Through the ups and downs of this wonderful business, we are still learning every day and we know that there will always be something new and we LOVE that. Since our first product was made in 2018, we plan to always improve and give back to our community. Our favorite part of this business is being able to watch what we’ve made being enjoyed by the community. We hope you join us in our journey and follow along with all things Ithíka Acres. Welcome to the family!

Ethical Farming

Here at Ithíka Acres, we try to reuse, recycle and repurpose as much as possible. One way we do that is by giving the whey that we produce to local hog farmers and they use it to feed their hogs. This gives us the opportunity to not only repurpose resources but to also support local farms and help those in our community. We are very passionate about supporting small local farms as well as creating a sustainable environment. We also use all of our manure for fertilizer here on the farm, which helps to grow some of our amazing blueberries and we grow all of our own coastal Bermuda hay that feeds our goats. On top of waste management and composting and are constantly looking for ways to create as little waste as possible.

Goat Cheese Products North Carolina

John Carter

Goat Yoga Moore County NC

Goat Yoga event on July 27, 2019

Education

We love having opportunities to educate the public – old, new and in between about the integral part that agriculture plays in all of our lives. One way we do this is by opening our farm regularly to groups such as 4-H, military, and homeschoolers for teaching demonstrations, and having agritourism plans for the future. We are also always looking for opportunities to educate the public about the importance of local farms and careers in farming. Today, according to the U.S. Labor Department, the average farmer is 58 years old. We want to teach the younger generation about what a wonderful career and lifestyle farming can be. In the future, we hope to implement an internship program in which young, aspiring farmers can learn about what we do on a daily basis and what it takes to run a farm. By enriching future farmers with the knowledge we hold, our goal is to watch young farmers fall in love with the industry just as we did.

We are also aware of the effects that animals can have on humans and the bonds that humans and animals can develop. Due to that fact, we also encourage anyone interested to come to the farm to simply spend time with the animals.