In case you didn’t know, Southern Valley has an intern for the summer! We are excited to introduce you to Erin Burnett of the unincorporated Pebble City – but we’ll just call it Sale City for those of you not from this area.
Even though she grew up 30 miles from here, Erin never knew Southern Valley was so near her childhood home until, as a recipient of a Southeast Produce Council scholarship, she was able to attend a produce show in Orlando. While there, she got a VIP tour and was introduced to many of the larger suppliers in the Southeast. Because she grew up just down the road Read More
In this version of Around the Farm, we literally took a trip around the farm – not just my typical run through a couple of the fields. Jill, Courtney, and I spent the last week doing food safety refresher trainings in the fields. Wait, let me reword that, Jill and Courtney spent last week doing food safety refresher trainings and I tagged along and asked pesky questions on a few of those training excursions.
So, let me break these refresher trainings down for you. Jill, who is our food safety girl, and Courtney, who handles a variety of administrative tasks in the office, trek out to the crews in the Read More
Sometimes sights around the farm include luscious fields with green vegetables growing. Other times, the sights include people and community.
As I was running this past time, a three man crew was cruising through the cabbage fields with a tractor and trailer doing a little clean up. Awkward Spanglish greetings were exchanged and we each went on our separate ways – they to more clean up, me to more huffing and puffing.
Later, as I was finishing up a less than successful run (Read: I was walking), I was met with a recently-returned-to-his-hometown-doctor driving through the field. I grew up going to high school with this guy. He grew up as Read More
We’re just curious, but did you know….
Did you know we are a fruit and vegetable farm situated right here within your county lines and yet we grow food that is sent all over the United States and Canada?
Did you know we started as a four-man company that purchased one hundred acres, but have now grown into a farming operation that grows, packs, and ships produce in three locations – Georgia, Tennessee, and Yucatan – and employs hundreds of people over the course of a year?
Did you know that from right here in your hometown, we are able to supply fresh produce to some of the most commonly shopped at Read More
I swear it has rained 21 out of the past 18 days since the last post and pictures. Seriously though, it really did rain for a week solid here. The rain was of course the absolute only reason I haven’t been out and about running – and taking pictures – lately. As much as I would like to believe that reasoning, the complete lack of breath I experience while running probably has little to do with me being in awe of the fields and way more to do with me being slightly out of shape.
In actual farm related news, the rain has finally come and gone and the sun Read More
Because my Friday evenings are more exciting than yours, I decided to spend one going for a run around the farm. Several weeks had passed without an up-close-and-personal view of the fields at Southern Valley, and since the weather and my inexplicable lack of motivation had kept me from getting in my routine run, I decided to kill two birds with one stone. Now normal folks may just drive around with their windows rolled down to see what’s growing; but me—well I felt the need to run through the middle of it all. And since I’m usually looking for any and every excuse to stop and catch my breath, Read More
Wanda Hamilton-Tyler, or as she is often referred to around Southern Valley – Ma, Mama, or Aunt Wanda – is no stranger to all aspects of farm life. Born and raised right outside of Norman Park, Georgia, just minutes from where she still lives at the age of 72, she is the fifth of six children. Wanda grew up on a farm, like most everyone else in this part of the county, where everyone in the family helped out with the labor. Her family grew row crops and vegetables, which is how she ended up in the field picking cotton with a sack as early as age six.
After graduating Read More
Organic. Sustainable. Local. Natural.
These words fill up my Facebook newsfeed on a daily basis. Perhaps they fill up yours as well. Articles, opinions, scientific claims, research, advertisements, bashing, fear mongering – all aimed at steering the general public one direction or another when it comes to the food they buy, and ultimately the food they consume.
Still being the newbie here, I wasn’t fully aware of the ins and outs of our production practices at the farm in Georgia. After a lengthy conversation with a few individuals in the company who are instrumental in the day to day production, food safety, and environmental stewardship of the farm, I was reassured to find things Read More
There has recently been a minor uproar in the news regarding the labor standards in Mexico and as many would concur, perhaps rightly so. Some of the stories I read reported deplorable living conditions and a blatant disrespect of labor laws, not to mention a disregard for standard human decency. In response to these stories, one blogger went so far as to point out that she would no longer be buying anything at the grocery store that had Mexico listed as its Country of Origin. She advocated that others do the same.
I get it. I really do. Many of the stories I read of Mexican labor standards were repulsive Read More
If you haven’t heard about it yet, spaghetti squash is all the rage these days. For the carb lovers out there, this vegetable is touted to be your answer to prayer. I, myself, am not a pasta-kind-of-a-girl, but if I were, I’d be hitting up the spaghetti squash aisle at my local grocer. Since I am not so much the pasta lover, I cannot personally verify all of the claims that spaghetti squash can fulfill all of your carb longings and meet all of your comfort food needs. I just can’t do that. Despite my lack of love for noodles and pasta, what I have been striving for is Read More