Our love for the land and people of Yucatan, Mexico began in January 2003 after a purchase of some 1,200 acres of farm land in the middle of the Yucatan jungle. And since then, the state of Yucatan has been a home to us and its people a part of our family.
If you’ve been around for a while, you’ve probably read or heard about what it’s like at our farm in Yucatan. We’ve written blog after blog about Valle Del Sur – the years of sacrifice it took to make it what it is today, the way the mud feels slick as snot under your boots, and the never-ending Read More
This past July, I was asked to tag along on a dove hunting trip to the farm in Yucatan. I practically jumped at the opportunity, my passport begging to be stamped with a big ‘MX,’ another notch to add on my adventure belt.
We landed at the Merida International Airport around lunch on a Thursday, loaded up and hit the road. The drive from the Merida airport to the farm is about two and a half hours, and the first 30 minutes is pretty much just getting out of the city. We passed modern businesses, beautiful homes, and quite a few McDonalds. After that there was Read More
You can’t talk about Colquitt County, the roots of Southern Valley, without talking about high school football. And if there’s anything you can say about Colquitt County football, it’s that it’s earned quite the reputation over the years. A reputation surrounding a strong work ethic, a wide pool of talent, and a passion for the game that’s incomparable to others.
The Colquitt County football program has the kind of work ethic that doesn’t just come around when the mornings get cooler and the leaves change color. It’s work ethic that stems from two-a-days, spring and summer practices, and a coaching staff that invests countless hours year-round. Colquitt County’s talent pool Read More
It’s mud, slick as snot and sticking to your boots.
It’s work days from sunrise to sunset.
It’s riding fields and supervising farm labor.
It’s farm life. And it’s not unfamiliar to Austin Hamilton.
But this is farm life in another culture.
It’s carrying out everyday tasks in a different language.
It’s living in an on-farm apartment with his wife and child.
It’s eating food that is foreign and unfamiliar.
This is farm life in Yucatan.
As we hold our Thanksgiving celebration next week, our Southern Valley family will gather around the table in order to fellowship and give thanks for our many blessings. There will be lots of food, plenty of laughter, and cheerful discussions of our accomplishments as well as our renewed approach to the way ahead. This past year has truly been one of growth and development for our Southern Valley family.
We started the year off with the completion of the upstairs office that enabled us to stretch our legs and grow in a variety of ways. The room enabled us to add the PACK Logistics staff to our Southern Valley Team Read More
It only takes a few moments in the fields around Norman Park to realize English is not the only language spoken in these parts. More often than not, the words being thrown around off the backs of trailers and over the rows of cucumbers are in Spanish.
But if you listen closely while in those same fields, you’ll hear another language being spoken. A language that isn’t associated with a specific ethnic group. There’s a lot less “hola” and “buenos dias” and a lot more “product” and “yield”. It’s crop projections and weather predictions. It’s the language of “farming”.
Trace the path of the plants back a few steps and go Read More
We’re a progressive and innovative farming operation with traditional farm roots and family values. Family operated and female owned. 30 years and growing!
Each and every seed is brought to life the same way at the beginning of our Spring season, but we never truly know what the season will hold for those individual seeds. They are nurtured and nestled and nudged along until time for them to be transplanted into the soil anywhere from 7 to 60 days old depending on the product. From there, it’s all up to Mother Nature and a Sovereign God.
Much like first-time parents with a newborn baby, there are so many hopes and dreams and plans we have for these seeds. Like those same parents, we don’t always control the outcome despite our best efforts to Read More
Our team came back from the Southern Exposure Produce Show exhausted, but also energized from a great time with co-workers and customers. If you weren’t at the show or didn’t get the chance to stop by our booth, here’s a little taste of what was going on at Booth 402:
As we’ve talked and reflected on the show over the course of the past week, we’ve reminisced about how much the show has grown over the last fifteen years, as well how pleased we were with the how the show went off as a whole. As happy as we were with the relationships Read More
It should have just been a pipe dream. Actually, it was just a pipe dream. One of those things where you say it as a joke and everyone laughs because they think you’re crazy.
That’s quite literally how the idea for a farm in Yucatan was conceived. As a joke.
While riding an RTV down a stretch of back road in Yucatan, Director of Operations, Jon Schwalls, shares how he and Southern Valley President, Kent Hamilton, dreamed and joked about farming in Yucatan. With his voice raised over the roar of the Kubota engine and the wind slapping our faces, he tells the story.
At the time, Jon and Kent had been Read More