Sunrise Over Person: Building, Making, and Growing Our Community

Clear Vision Doesn't Exist Without at Least a Little Light: A Journey with Dirt Farmer Industries

The Early Hours of Inspiration

My fiancée is reminded of this every morning between 3–5 AM when I wake up for my most productive part of the day: twilight to sunrise. She knows I can't help my restlessness—my dreams are too big to fit in my head. They are usually scribbled on countless St. Jude notepads scattered throughout the house and shop.

It's that restlessness and ambition for “better” that drives Dirt Farmer Industries (DFI) more than any substance ever could. It’s beginning to illuminate a path forward for our business and, possibly, our community. This vision is still hard to articulate, but like my 3 AM stumbling in the dark, the further I let my mind wander, the more I see.

From Side Hustle to Community Builder

When I started DFI, it was just another pandemic-era Etsy side hustle. I aimed to provide supplemental income to an already well-compensated but soul-crushing corporate career. I was a proud geek, enamored with 3D printing, fandom, and the community it provided (and I still am).

Over the years, whether through necessity or survival instinct, I've honed both my craft and my core values as a maker. I strive for integrity and have an almost paranoid need to "do things the right way." As time passes, my vision evolves. Emerging from a long hermit phase in a wood shed converted into a 3D print studio, I’ve found a growing sense of community in our hometown. This community is rooted in making—whether it’s physical goods or helping those around us.

I'm starting to realize that my vision is outgrowing the original purpose of my business, and that's okay. DFI is allowed to exist in a liminal, awkward teenage phase: a little moody, but wholeheartedly grateful for what brought us here while keeping our eyes open to the dawn. As the light grows, I am beginning to see our business less as serving one niche or another, and more as finding ligature.

The Current State of Dirt Farmer Industries

Right now, Dirt Farmer Industries is mostly just me—call it “one and a half people” at work. My fiancée provides the other half: moral support, occasional eye-rolls, and reminders that I should probably eat something. She helps me try to focus my ADHD-riddled mind on one project at a time.

But the work continues. I’ve been collaborating with PCC’s Small Business Center, NCVA Media, and the Roxboro Chamber of Commerce to bring my vision into focus. DFI is pursuing grants to expand our capabilities and capacity. In the process, I'm exploring the idea of a network of makers, tradespeople, and students that can keep skills, innovation, and pride rooted here at home.

Building Connections and Community

The more time I spend at PCC—learning in the gunsmithing program, working with students and instructors, and connecting with local businesses—the clearer my vision becomes. Every conversation, every new connection, makes it clear: this isn’t just about a side hustle or a business plan. It isn’t just about me or even DFI.

It’s an emerging blueprint of a Person County that builds, repairs, and creates with integrity. A place where skilled trades, small shops, modern fabrication, and eager learners form a network that keeps innovation, pride, and craft rooted at home, benefiting the whole community.

The Tools and Talent We Have

We have the tools.

We have the talent.

What we don't yet seem to have is all the connective tissue—ways to align makers and businesses so that good ideas and good work are fostered locally instead of drifting off to the nearest city.

I can’t do this alone. And I don’t want to. I need makers, teachers, tradespeople, and tinkerers who see the opportunity to return craftsmanship, reliability, and ingenuity to Person County. People who understand that work is messy, that solutions come from hands-on problem-solving, and that pride comes from work done well.

The Path Forward

These ideas are still in their infancy. Every shop, every project, every small fix begins with a sketch and a little stubbornness. The work is slow, often frustrating, and attention is hard-earned. But that’s how real things of value and meaning are built. Making isn’t just about ideas on paper.

It’s about parts crafted with intention, projects completed with care, problems solved thoughtfully, and work that serves the people it’s made for. That’s the culture I want to see take root here: one shop, one student, one clever and off-the-wall solution at a time.

A New Dawn for Person County

The morning light is just beginning to reach over Person County, and it’s time to get to work. Let’s turn that first faint glow into something tangible, something real—together.

If this resonates, hit us up.

-Sepp

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Dirt Farmer Industries