Meet One of Our Readers’ Favorite Chefs

Chef Kristin Bulpitt, one of our readers’ favorite chefs, sources veggies for Copeland Springs Farm & Kitchen from the nearby garden.

By Matthew Lardie | Photography by John Michael Simpson

Sometimes you just need to get your hands dirty, and for Maine native Kristin Bulpitt, that compulsion led her to a whole new career as a farmer and chef.

“At one point in my life, I worked in a terribly stressful corporate job. It was everything I swore I would never do,” Kristin says. “And yet there I was, because it’s hard to walk away from a paycheck.”

In 2008, Kristin found herself turning to gardening for stress relief. “It was always a place I went to to get my hands in the dirt and be completely immersed in the world I loved, and miraculously, I was able to pull beautiful vegetables out of all of that,” she says. Six years later, Kristin moved to Pittsboro and started to farm on her own land. She founded Copeland Springs Farm & Kitchen at The Plant on Lorax Lane in 2018 as a way to grow her love of gardening and healthy eating while serving her community.

“I realized that I wanted to help people be healthy through access to nutritious food,” she explains. “Not everyone has the ability, the skills, the time or the desire to cook or prepare nutritious food. So farming and opening a kitchen became a way to provide access to healthy food however people might want it.”

The kitchen part of the farm serves up a meatless menu of items like greens and grain bowls, freshly baked breads, salads and quiches, all using ingredients grown on the 1.5-acre site. “I’ve been vegetarian since eighth grade so I really know no other way to prepare food,” Kristin says. “One of the most satisfying things to hear from our customers, and we hear it a lot, is ‘I’m not a vegetarian, but I could be if all the food was this good.’”

The kitchen is open Thursday and Friday from 4 to 7 p.m., Saturday from noon to 7 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 6 p.m., and produce box subscriptions are available, to be picked up at the farm. When it comes to the future, Kristin is keeping things flexible due to the pandemic, but, she says, “I have a lot of plans for expansion in a few different directions.” She’s not ready to divulge her secrets just yet, but rest assured, she isn’t going anywhere. “I don’t plan on leaving,” she laughs. “It’s a great spot to be.”