Up Punga Farm Market sprouts from love of gardening and community

Published 8:00 am Saturday, June 28, 2025

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By Lindsey Allen, For Washington Daily News

As the summer sun shines on eastern North Carolina, the Latham family finds themselves with an abundance of homegrown produce – and two children with a big idea.

Up Punga, a family-run farm stand, is where Braydin, 10, and Corbin, 9, sell their garden’s excess harvest. 

The siblings have been selling their family’s produce on the roadside in Pantego for several years. This summer, however, Braydin had a bigger idea that her father, Dustin helped bring to life. 

The stand began as a foldable table, but “it kept growing higher and higher until we reached this little stand,” Braydin said. 

Fueled by two family gardens, the children work all summer long planting, pruning and picking to bring this dream of theirs into reality. “We don’t do anything with a tractor; they actually go out and pick the corn and produce. No chemicals, no spray,” said their mother, Kristin. “They have to do all the stuff.”

A passion for gardening stems from Braydin and Corbin’s grandparents who spent years canning their produce every year. Their tradition of abundance is what ultimately led to Up Punga.

With Dustin working alternating weeks at the ferry, Kristin often runs home on her lunch break to help the children restock for the afternoon shoppers. 

On a day to day basis you can find a variety of peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, squash, onions and okra -depending on what the season supplies- as well as wildflower arrangements from their garden and handmade pens and other goodies from Braydin and her grandmother. 

“She’s done a lot of the outreach with the local farmers,” Kristin said, including the owners of Allen Acres, Middle Creek Farms and Flatland Ag Inc., in order to supply the stand with the produce that is not grown on-site, like onions and cabbage. 

Braydin keeps a notebook where she tracks every dollar earned and spent in relation to the stand. In an area where “time moves a little slower and things are a little more simple,” the foundation of the stand is built on community and the trust within. 

“From what we know,” Kristin said, the community has respected the system. “We taught them that if someone needs it, it is better to be a blessing.”

They have seen an outpour of support from locals, visitors as far as Ayden, and businesses such as MJs Country Store. “We couldn’t do any of this without the multitude of blessings that the Lord provides,” Braydin said.

The stand is located on the intersection of Highway 99 and Highway 45 in Pantego and is a short distance from MJ’s Country Store and Grill (6888 NC-99, Pantego). Up Punga is a self-service stand that is always open. They take cash or Venmo. They can be found on Facebook by searching Up Punga Farm Market.