8262 Highway 87 South Snow Camp, NC 27349
Cane Creek Farm has been rooted in Saxapahaw NC since the summer of 2015. Known for our pasture-raised pork and heritage Ossabaw pigs, our farm is home to a variety of animals and experiences that celebrate traditional farming and community living. Originally located on Ossabaw Way, we continue to offer that unique farm and rural American experience guests have come to love.
The second chapter of Cane Creek Farm begins just down the road. In August 2020, owner and operator Eliza MacLean relocated the farm’s animals and equipment to a beautiful century farm property along Highway 87, just five minutes from the heart of Saxapahaw.
We warmly welcome family and friends to our 65 acres of creeks, pastures, and woods. Here, we’ve have created a special home for our unique breeds of pigs, sheep, chickens, donkeys, geese, guineafowl, cats, dogs, and of course the occasional airbnb guest. Our camping platforms, purple school bus, and barn venue are all available to book through Airbnb. Visitors can enjoy farm animals, local wildlife, peaceful creeks, open meadows, and beautiful beech trees all with easy access to the Village of Saxapahaw.
Today we continue to preserve the legacy of the Ossabaw breed while embracing the spirit of the traditional family farm — a place where community can grow, connect, and thrive. Our beliefs guide the way we care for our land, animals, and guests.
Over the past 5 years, the farm has become a gathering place for kids camps, birthday parties, square dances, fundraisers, corn mazes, and so much more. Check out our Latest News to stay up to date on upcoming events and what’s happening around the farm.
ELIZA MACLEAN
Deeply affected as a vet technician in her early teens, Eliza MacLean has always known her life would find her ever engaged with animals. A senior project in high school lead her to farming, as she worked side by side with an Amish family of 8 and was inspired by their love and commitment to each other and the land. It took many years for MacLean to return to farming, but she never lost her desire to live that holistic family lifestyle. MacLean has a long history with animals, from seal and sea lion rehabilitation at the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito to songbird/raptor and small mammal rehabilitation at a wildlife center in North Carolina. After graduating with a degree in Environmental Toxicology from Duke, she studied fish and their relationship to detrimental environmental impact. MacLean also cultivated a hobby farm at home for years before becoming a career farmer, with a herd of registered goats, heirloom chickens, and miniature donkeys.
After the birth of her twins in 2000, MacLean volunteered part-time with the ALBC (Livestock Conservancy) in Pittsboro, NC. There she met Chuck Talbott, then the Swine Specialist at NC A & T University, who quickly became a friend and mentor. She decided to go back to work part-time, and Talbott hired her to manage his hog herds at the university. MacLean immediately fell in love with the pigs, and soon starting working full time in partnership with Niman Ranch, Heifer International, NC A & T State University, and the Golden Leaf Foundation which focused on transitioning long time tobacco farmers across the state into family pig farms. After launching the program with Golden Leaf, Niman Ranch hired MacLean to be their representative, evaluating farms and meat quality for their new North Carolina hog production.
In 2003, author and NY Times writer Peter Kaminsky contacted Talbott about finding someone to begin a herd of a rare breed of hog known as the Ossabaw Island Hog – a descendent of the Iberian hogs left by Spanish settlers off the coast of Georgia in the 1500’s. Talbott immediately suggested MacLean – she had the desire to begin her own farm, deeply rooted in her experiences as a youth, and an abundance of knowledge and enthusiasm about veterinary medicine, hog farming, and the conservation of rare breeds. Her herd of Ossabaw Island Hogs, Ossabaw Crosses, and Farmer’s Hybrid hogs grew – at one point topped 250, and now hovers right around 100. All free range on pasture land and grown without antibiotics or animal byproducts.
Eliza has regularly served on panels at Pastured Pork and Poultry conferences. She is seen as a mentor and “go-to” person among other small-scale pasture farmers across the state. Eliza is known locally for providing a superior fresh pork product to local and surrounding communities.