The war room. The bullpen. The place where the magic happens.
Each of these terms has been used to describe the sales office at Southern Valley over the years, and I’m certain many more which aren’t suitable to repeat in print. Within the offices at Southern Valley, the sales office is in a league of its own. While everyone else more or less has their own space, they have what you might call an open floor plan (Read: everybody all up in everybody else’s business) with two rows of 4 desks facing each other. I spent my first year at Southern Valley sitting in that sales office and can honestly Read More
I’m really not an HGTV kind of a girl. Too many options and possibilities in the design and housing world and too little money and know-how in my world. However, I’ve recently gotten sucked into the world of Chip and Joanna Gaines and their hit TV show, Fixer Upper. He’s funny and good looking. She’s beautiful and talented. Her wish is his command; his every word gives her the giggles. They are the perfect combination of beauty, brawn, brains, and banter necessary to entertain the average American viewer. Many nights I find myself in awe of how willingly he works to bring her designs to life. Never mind that he Read More
As we enter the week of Thanksgiving, we pause and realize just how much we have to be grateful for. Here are a few things for which we are grateful this year.
1. Family
As a family-owned and operated business, there is no way our farming operation would be in existence without our family. From cousins and uncles to children and grandmothers, we’ve got some of each working here at Southern Valley. We are so grateful for our immediate family and our extended family who work with us – and support us behind the scenes – as well as our work family formed through our employees and co-workers. We love that Read More
This past Friday marked the end of my seven-week internship with Southern Valley. I am so thankful to have been a part of this wonderful company, even for a short period of time. Not only did I enjoy working with people who have passion for what they do and know how to work hard while still having fun, I learned a lot! I now know the difference between “RPC,” “DC,” and “GTIN,” and can tell you whether a cucumber is a “super” or a “large.” I learned about what it takes to be vertically integrated, including training harvesting crews, washing, grading, and packing produce, maintaining coolers, and working with Read More
At Southern Valley, the folks are extremely friendly and love to talk… but you should never, ever, let your birthdate slip. A birthday at Southern Valley means that you’re subject to the age-old tradition of a dunk in the non-operational squash tank. A spurt of summer birthdays has led to the recent splash of several Southern Valley employees.
July’s “victims” include Jon, Chemo, and Tavares. Some employees simply “grin and bear” their turn, while as you can see in the video below, others truly enjoy it. Of course, no one is forced to participate, but here at Southern Valley most people look forward to this Read More
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
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
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