Just the two of us
Scott and Becky bought this place in 2022. Thirty four acres in the pristine Appalachian countryside and a view worth millions.
We're not a big operation and we're not trying to be one. Everything that leaves here was seeded, grown, cut, washed and packed by one of the two of us.
How we got here
We started with a simple idea. Grow food close to the people eating it, in a way that works in the mountains, where flat ground and long growing seasons are both in short supply. Aquaponics answered both problems.
For three years we supplied school districts through USDA Farm to School. Bristol, Washington County, Tazewell. Thousands of heads of lettuce into cafeterias where a lot of kids had never eaten a salad that didn't come off a truck from out west. We built and installed a system at Holston High and kept it running through Hurricane Helene.
Then the federal cuts came in 2025 and the contracts dissolved. We tried grocery next, nine stores, and found out fast that the packaging and delivery labor at grocery margins isn't something two people can carry.
So we came back to what actually works. The farmers market on Saturday, one school we've served since day one, and now the winter farm box.
The place
Mountain water
Two aquaponic systems, roughly 1,900 growing sites, running on water from the Holston River Valley.
Three high tunnels
One 60x20 and two 50x20, heated by a wood-fired boiler when the weather turns. Plus a 2,000 square foot geothermal greenhouse still being finished.
Pollinator ground
About twelve acres of rolling hillside enrolled in a habitat program and coming in slowly. Bees are going into Slovenian-style hives.
Fish Power
Around 300 blue Nile tilapia doing the fertilizing; quality and taste are second to none.
What we're after
- Grow it close to who eats it. Most produce in this region rides a truck across the country. Ours goes about eight miles.
- Say what's true. If the greens had a rough week, we'll tell you. You see us every other Saturday and we'd rather keep it that way.
- Small on purpose. Twenty five farm box spots, not two hundred. We'd rather do a little well than a lot badly.
- Feed the neighborhood first. Schools, markets, and families in Washington County. That's the whole list.