Caretakers

What comes here, stays here. Diane Price and her husband, Rob Griffith, own a no-kill farm, meaning all their animals -- including goats, chickens, llamas, a few dogs, cats, and a Vietnamese potbellied pig -- will be part of their 16-acre North Carolina farm for the rest of their natural lives. The family gathers eggs from the chickens, which roam the property at will, wool from the llamas, and laughs out of the pig. Diane and Rob are trying their hand at raising bees and growing grapes, as well.

"This place is very peaceful and spiritual," says Diane. "If somebody can't come to this place and be happy, it for sure isn't the fault of the place." She looks out over the rolling mountaintops, trees, and a swim pond catching the last rays of the sun. "It's more like we're just caretakers of a special place rather than owners. We have the ability to share this place, and we do." Neighbors, local kids, and townsfolk come frequently to visit and stay late.

"Being here has certainly made me more environmentally aware," she says. "You can try to make a place like this pretty, but you can't improve upon nature. Sometimes when you try too hard, you mess things up."

The family hosts a lot of school kids and 4-H clubs, as well. The children enjoy the constant kissing of the llamas, the chickens with their scratching in the dirt, and the crowing roosters. "One little girl heard her first rooster crow while sitting here one day, and I think it might have changed her life," says Diane. "It brought a sense of wonder and peace to her world."

Rob echoes Diane's environmental message. "We recycle a lot, too. We've put in a micro hydroelectric generator by tapping the natural flowing creek from up on the mountain and running water via gravity through a plastic pipe into a turbine." That little turbine, housed in a small log building at the bottom of the hill, powers about half of their home, the barns, incubators, and greenhouse. Diane wrote the grant to find sustainable energy, a pilot project through North Carolina A&T University.

With her recycling efforts, Diane likes to be creative. "When I go to the landfill with a load of trash, I'll trade it for more useful things than I brought!" she says.