A Farm Tour Journal

Laura Young
ECB Publishing, Inc.

Last week, a cool front swept down through South Georgia and across North Florida, dropping the temps and tamping the dust just in time for my adventures into the furrows, fields and farm stands of the 2022 Farm Tour. Blue skies beckoned me out to see and sample what local growers have been working hard to produce. I love this chance to meet the incredible people who are part of the miracle that brings nutritious food from the ground to my kitchen.
Saturday, October 15
9:50 a.m. I pull into a neighborhood in northwest Thomasville to visit a new Farm Tour stop, Artzi Organic Veggies & Pita Queen. Isreal and Yoche Artzi, who own this business, have tilled up an empty lot next to their home to grow turmeric, sweet onions, salad greens and other veggies using intensive, organic methods. They've been cooking up all kinds of Middle Eastern favorites as well, like hummus, babaganoush, labneh, pita bread and date pastries. Since I spent three years of my early childhood in Beruit, Lebanon, these flavors touch a deep place in my soul and set my mouth to watering. I sample slices of fresh persimmon and order up a felafel, hot from the fryer and loaded into a fresh pita with all the fixings. Breakfast doesn't get any better than this! Those of you who work in Tallahassee can enjoy what they've cooked up from their garden at lunchtime at Lake Ella on Wednesdays and the Community Co-op Market on Fridays.
11:47 a.m. Cutting across to Cairo, Ga., I've stopped in at Ouzt's cattle ranch, where Johnston's Meat Market of Monticello has “The Finishing Yard” for their reserve beef. Samples of hamburger, ribeye and smoked sausage from the grill remind me why this beef tastes so, so good. It's been raised just down the road under the watchful eyes of Hal Bennett and Caylor Ouzt and then processed at Johnston's in Monticello – a true example of local farm to family freshness. After a hayride to see the cows, Hal takes us to a barn and demonstrates how the cows are branded and tagged to keep his own herd clearly marked for separation from Ouzt's own cattle. Like every stop I'll make over the weekend, this ranch is busy, with folks coming and going, listening and learning, tasting and touring.
1:14 p.m. Next I drop down to Havana, Fla., to see Tony and Betsey Brown, who have opened the gates at Longview Farms, where they raise pastured chickens, grass-fed beef and longleaf pines as well as bake sourdough bread for market. Tony graduated from Aucilla Christian Academy in 1977, and I knew him as the founder of Cornerstone Learning Community, where I taught for nearly 20 years. It's hugs all around, and then I climb up to enjoy the hayride that I've done many times previously during farm field trips with my former students. It's great to see that they've weathered the pandemic's market fluctuations and that the pine woods have responded so well to more than 10 years of prescribed burning and selective thinning. Fall wildflowers in abundance wave in a gentle breeze among the timber and wire grass.
2:38 p.m. Looping south and east toward Waukeenah, I stop in at Rocky Soil Family Farm. I first met owners Kiona and Chris Wagner last year when they were just getting their farm running. Things are looking good! Bee hives are buzzing, row after row of fascinating veggie varieties are growing, and people linger under a blue tent waiting for the next batch of bread to come out of the ovens in the kitchen building that was still under construction this time last year. Kiona gives the chickens some more water and talks to visitors about the personalities of some of the hens, who are taking a bit of a break from laying eggs lately. I'm thankful I've had the chance to meet these interesting, industrious folks who are making their dreams come true.
2:52 p.m. Just a couple of miles down the same highway lies one of Jefferson County's hidden gems, the Monticello Vineyard & Winery. I make just a quick stop here today because I came by not too long ago to take pictures for the magazine and visit with the vintner, Cynthia Connelly. I'm hoping to restock my wine rack with favorites, since my book club downed the last of my supply a few weeks ago. Although most of the muscadine grapes appear to have been harvested, some glistening globes still cling to the vines under a stunning fall sky. People line up at a tasting tent, selecting which wines they wanted to sample, and the lawn around the outbuilding is transformed with tall tables where visitors can stand with their tasting trays and decide what they'd like to buy. Cynthia is selling bottles as fast as they come out of their cases, and I'm lucky to snag some of her Pinot Grigio before I move on to the next stop.
3:08 p.m. There's just enough time to swing by Granny Kat's Apiary Supply & Bee Learning Center, which is super close as the crow flies and just a few minutes around the bend by car. They too have had a busy day, and there are still kids with magnifying glasses sitting fascinated at the Observation Hive and peering down into microscopes to see bee anatomy up close. The shop has everything a bee enthusiast could dream of, and I make a mental note to come back with someone I know who loves all things bee-ish. I'm thankful they have regular hours every week!
Sunday, October 16
10:35 a.m. Today I'm sticking closer to home, with the Boyd family farms at the top of my list. I still can't quite believe that a herd of the world-famous Iberico pigs is being raised not five miles from my house out the Ashville Highway, at Glendower Farms. Here they are giving a short walking tour among the various pastures and pigpens. We get to see everything from two-week old piglets nuzzled up to their momma sows, to rambunctious yearlings eager for a handout, to hefty boars off to themselves keeping cool in just the kind of muddy wallow this type of animal needs and loves. Back by the Boyd homestead, I put check marks on a sheet to order the prized pork that I'd like to take home. They've sold out of many items, but within a few minutes I'm lugging my culinary treasure back to the car, wondering where I'll find room in my freezer to keep it.
11:58 a.m. I keep heading northeast until I'm driving down the oak-lined entrance to Blackwater, between Greenville and Quitman, where Boyd Farms Fresh and Schmoe Farm have brought in musicians and vendors to create a mini-festival for the Farm Tour. Wafts of bluegrass tunes float among the tents offering Georgia beer, fresh greens, barbecue and more. There's a roundup of visitors to take the next hayride, and you can count me in! We load up, settle into our grassy seats and head out into the rolling pasture. The tractor powers down by a row of mobile chicken pens, and Christian Schmoe tells us all about how the pens get moved every day to give each flock fresh territory for pecking into the grass and finding bugs to eat. We can see the lush path they've taken, fertilizing the pasture naturally as they go, and where they are headed. The tractor revs up again, and we're off to the other end of the same pasture, where the cows are hanging out. Allen Boyd shares how a crisis in the beef market during the pandemic brought about an important change in the cattle part of the family's various farming enterprises. Now, instead of shipping cows out west for “finishing” and processing for market, the operation is managed from start to finish much closer to home, and they are able to provide fresh, never frozen, beef directly to their customers. This tour stop offers so much that I could linger here under the spreading live oaks all afternoon! I've promised to do one more stop, though, so before long I'm heading back toward town.
1:25 p.m. I grew up in Central Florida, with citrus-growing activity on both sides of my family. When I moved up to Monticello 30 years ago, I really missed the chance to go regularly out into the groves, riding on grandpa's old Jeep through rows of trees and listening to my step-dad tell about his work innovating irrigation and tree-spacing at the UF research station. Whenever I'd head down for a holiday, the family always planned a trip to the groves to fill up colorful mesh bags with grapefruit, tangerines and oranges for us to bring back northward. So, it's really exciting to me that citrus growing has started happening farther north in our state and that even Monticello now has a successful citrus business, Florida-Georgia Citrus. Heading out the Boston Highway, not 15 minutes from home, their deep green groves come into view. Today, their packing shed is set up with vendors offering honey products, crafts, specialty teas, jellies and, of course, fresh squeezed juice. Outside, folks are taking mini classes about growing citrus at home and the health benefits of this delicious crop. I'm game for one more hayride if it will get me out riding among the trees, and off we go. We bounce along, listening to owner Kim Jones tell about the ripening fruit and how he grows it from knee-high saplings to mature producing trees. It's all very familiar and new at the same time, perhaps the best kind of wonderful there is life.
2:30 p.m. I'm sipping a satsuma slushy as I pull out of the parking lot, weary in a good way from such a busy and satisfying weekend. I've made it to ten tour stops! While that sounds like a lot, there are more that 40 of them on the whole tour, as far away as Marianna all the way over in Lee. Next year, I'm sure there are some I'll just have to visit again and others I'll venture out to see for the first time. The straw in my slushy starts to pull air at the bottom of my cup. It's the sound of a good thing gone, and the yearning for more.