By Maggie Beamguard
Insider Editor
Dewey Garner, of Jackson Springs, once peddled vegetables from a cart to support his wife, Mamie, and their nine children. Decades later, his great-grandson, Cain, revived the name “Dewey,” this time for a furry, new companion who became the mascot of a fresh venture.
Dewey’s Veggie Vibe, located at 4381 NC-73 in West End, opens for its second season this April. Dewey, the labradoodle, will be waiting and wagging to welcome hungry customers.
Cain Garner grew up in Broadway surrounded by tobacco fields, learning to grow things from his grandparents, Travis and Betty Phillips.
“My Nana and Papa – I learned everything from them,” he said. “How to grow it, how to pick it, how to shuck it, how to shell it. Everything you can learn, they taught me.”
Working in the garden brought him a feeling of peace from a young age. “It made me feel at home,” he said. “It was very therapeutic for me.”
Outdoor work suits Garner, who worked at a bank for one of his first jobs. “I hated that,” he said. “That was not for me at all.”
After multiple inside jobs, he spent years roofing and building before life brought him back to the soil. Now he lives and farms behind a house next door to Pit Shop BBQ. Known to area longtimers as Jordan’s Catering, his dad, Doug Garner has worked there since he was 18. So coming back to this stretch of road is like “being at home,” said Garner.
Seedlings of Sobriety
On Dec. 6, 2024, Garner got sober. Three days later, he adopted a brown labradoodle puppy. He first considered naming him Gus, but the moniker just didn’t stick. Looking at his dog’s sweet face, he thought, “I believe I’m going to name him Dewey.”
In those early days of sobriety, the earth called to Garner. “I needed something to give me some peace again, to give me some therapy.” There he found his vibe.
“I was gonna just start a little garden. And then five plants turned into 15 and 15 turned into 30,” he said. “I ended up planting 100 times what I thought I was gonna plant.”
The three-fourths of an acre behind the house soon filled with tomatoes, beans and okra. Before long, Garner had vegetables coming out of his ears. And from that abundance came a kernel of an idea.
“I came inside one day wondering what I was going to do with all these vegetables,” he said. Sitting on his couch, he opened Facebook, created a business page named after his dog and set up a tent by the road.
Garner figured he might sell about $50 worth of vegetables one day a week from the front yard. He sold out on his first day. He expanded to every other day. The response from the community was immediate.
“The community has truly supported me,” he said. “I love all my customers. A lot of them have become family. We’ve met some really, really good people.”
The tent eventually moved closer to the house. The roadside stand became a garage market with four tables that are, in Garner’s words, “slam full.”
The Veggie Man
Overseeing it all is the business’s namesake, Dewey. His face appears front and center in the logo, peeking out from a row of colorful produce.
Only later did it dawn on Garner that the original Dewey Garner had been the veggie man too.
“Months down the road after I got him, Dewey owns his own veggie business,” Garner chuckles. “He has helped me through everything and means the most to me. He’s my little buddy and my best friend.”
This venture allows them to spend the days together. Dewey loves being in the garden. “Blueberry season is his favorite time of year. He eats more blueberries than I can. He will take them off the bottom of the bush. The dude loves to be outside.”
But Dewey’s favorite part — and Garner’s, it seems — is interacting with customers.
The four-legged Dewey greets every customer who pulls up for berries or peaches. He stands in an Adirondack chair and demands a petting tax. Those who don’t oblige will hear about it from him.
Dewey now has a little brother who will soon make a public debut.
Nobody Leaves Empty Handed
Ask any of Garner’s customers, he says, and they’ll tell you: something extra always finds its way into your bag. “No one leaves empty handed,” he said. “I love to give things away. It may be an extra tomato or an extra pound of beans – you’re gonna leave with something extra.”
Garner values giving back to the community, and he donates produce to the Mo-Co Freedge at the Sandhills/Moore Coalition for Human Care.
“Being kind and treating people with respect is so important,” he said. “One smile can change everything.”
Generosity comes naturally from Garner who speaks with a lilting Carolina drawl about his vocation.
“Watching something come from nothing — starting as a little seed and God turning into something that we can put into our bodies to nourish them — that’s amazing.”
Garner credits that same higher power with his own growth. “Jesus helped make all this happen and made me able to be who I am right now,” he said. “I owe it all to God.”
He enjoys both the science of growing food and the quiet rhythm of working outdoors.
“I just enjoy watching the plants and seeing what they yield and trying to yield as much as I can,” he said. “That’s fun. It can keep you challenged and your mind focused.”
Coming This Season
Dewey’s Veggie Vibe has grown into a full-fledged little market. “You can stop and go home with everything you need for a meal other than dairy or meat products without going to the grocery store,” Garner said.
April opens with succulent strawberries, potatoes, chard, salad greens, onions and hot house tomatoes. May brings beans, peaches, bell peppers, spring onions, blackberries, blueberries, okra, squash, zucchini, and cucumbers.
By June, a full Southern summer spread is on the table with vine-ripened tomatoes, peaches and everything else folks love. The tomatoes will remain among the offerings until the first hard frost.
What he can’t grow himself, he sources locally from trusted sources: strawberries and pumpkins come from Carter Farms, peaches come from Kalawi Farm as well as Johnson Family Produce. When his own tomatoes run out, he turns to Whitaker Farm. His specialities — peaches, black berries, blueberries, heirloom tomatoes, Cherokee Purple and German Johnson varieties — are points of genuine pride.
“In my opinion, they don’t get no better. They’re ugly but they’re pure. They don’t have as much acidity. They’re just a good, wholesome fruit. It’s a good tomato.”
New this year will be homemade bread baked by Garner’s mother, Michelle Cameron, who has been baking her whole life. Local honey and jams are also in the works.
He is also considering an honor-system porch stand on additional days beyond his regular hours. It is a concept he tested briefly last year that “rolled like crazy,” he said.
The official opening for this season is set for Wednesday, April 8, unless strawberries come earlier. Hours for the garden market are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Wednesdays and Fridays and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays through Thanksgiving week. Pull right up, Garner says, there is no wait. Just don’t leave before you pet the dog.
Follow Dewey’s Veggie Vibe on Facebook for updates.
Contact Maggie Beamguard at maggie@thepilot.com.
