Progress report for FS24-372
Project Information
With the growing interest in herb plants and seeds in the United States and beyond, it would stand to reason that with the proper training and experience, a new farmer or an existing farmer could venture into herb plants and seeds as a cash crop in the state of Georgia. Not much land is needed to produce a variety of popular herbs and the market is available via social media, on retail media networks like Amazon and through collaboratives like the Common Market in Atlanta, GA. Gone on the days when one has to depend on foot traffic to make a dollar.
The Village Community Garden farm project will launch the Village Farmacy and Herb Collector project as a demonstration and training site for herb production and will engage its existing community members and surrounding rural counties and beyond from seed to market. The project also seeks to provide research on herbs that are not readily available in the stores or in Georgia. For example, with the assistance of University of Georgia, Dr. Greg Fonsah planted forty-one banana plants at the farm project to demonstrate that bananas can grow in Georgia. The Village Farmacy and Herb Collector is also interested in growing and cultivating unusual seeds like saffron which is normally grown in the Middle East. However, a couple of people in Vermont along with the University of Vermont seem to be growing the herb successfully.
The Village Farmacy and Herb Collector project will expand our current farming practice to include an entrepreneurial and agriculture business focus ventures focused on herb and seed production as a cash crop. We expect to expand our educational outreach to include business practices needed to make a living with farming. We will experiment with growing herbs three ways - in aeroponic towers, perennial peanuts as ground cover and on raised beds with plastic.
The expected outcome is that minority and under-served farmers can encourage each other through collaborations with innovative techniques, economic growth, healthy living, food security and improved quality of life. Southern Sky Center endeavors to assist minority and under-served farmers to create a livelihood from their land. Encouraging more farmers of color and under-served communities to enter the field of agriculture is the overarching goal of the project. The vulnerable populations of Worth County, Dougherty County and beyond, youth, and new generation farmers and farm enthusiast, food producers and the society at large will be significantly impacted by this project.
For the last ten years, Southern Sky continues to work and expand our reach to new farmers and farm enthusiasts. Therefore, the farm project has gained considerable recognition through the years and we are already training and working with several farmers interested in replicating the Village Community Garden farm project. As it stands, vegetable growers may consider growing herbs and, they usually think of fresh-market herbs. Fresh market herbs can be grown on large acreages for sales to wholesalers and chain stores or on very small acreages for direct sales to restaurants, farmer’s markets, and specialty grocery stores. Finding the resources for getting started in fresh-market herb production are now readily available with the popularity of herbs and naturopath
UPDATE: From the moment I announced the focus on medicinal and culinary herbs, the interest was immediate. We do have several existing farmers who are interested in including medicinal herbs and have asked for my assistance with that. A few new farmers also expressed interest in medicinal and culinary herbs. The existing and veteran farmers expressed an interest in growing for me, but there is a huge transition from being a vegetable grower to an herb grower especially when they primarily grow in the ground. I did change the name of the herb company to "Farmacy Herb Makers Nursery" . I launched the nursery on June 15th 2024 with an event and herbalist speaker from Dublin, GA, Reva Green, Owner and Operator of The Great Green Store. The turnout was amazing ( 75 attendees) and a I had successful sale of the herbs. I conducted a second event with an Herbalist and plant-based Chef, Julie Ward of Spirit Alchemy. It was also standing room only (100 attendees). The purpose for the events was to gauge the interest and understand what people are most interested in. Both events were attended by an equal number of men and women. I determined that the people are most interested in learning more about herbs and herbal medicines. Many that shared their experience discussed wanting to introduced more natural remedies and less western medicine practices. Since I am working on completing my herbalism certification, I began teaching herbalism the third Thursday of every month. The workshops are always well attended - generally 15 to 25 at any given time. Along with the workshops I shopped my herbs at several festivals, the Florida - Georgia Farm Tour and the Sylvester Peanut Festival. Both events were financially successful. On April 8th, I have been invited by the Daughter's of the Revolution in Sylvester GA to conduct a presentation on Herbalism.
One of the most important cultural considerations for herbs is site selection which has already been selected. The site has good drainage, adequate water supply, and we will utilize black plastic which has been prepping the land for the last two years. Black plastic had the best results for reducing weeds. Also, twenty-five aeroponic will grow herbs. Ten towers grow the equivalent of 2 acres of food. The aeroponic towers are housed in the hoop house which will also be used for seedling before transplanting. Our partner at 1Dog Ventures LLC will assist the project with herb fertilization as they have an expertise through their citrus production.
The Village Farmacy and Herb Collector project will market the seeds and the herb plants. There will be a high demand for bedding plants in the spring and the fall. We expect to use our existing hoop house for now because it will produce a variety of herbs including annuals and perennials. The herb plants can be sold in many ways including mail order, specialty shops, nurseries, and spring fairs and festivals.
The key to being successful with herbs is the marketing. There is such a diversity of herbs and herb products, therefore there are many opportunities for all size herb operations. There’s also the opportunity to produce value-added products from the herbs. Because the herbal industry is new to most new and existing farmers, the Village Farmacy and Herb Collector project will utilize the farm and the demonstration site to educate the public.
When harvesting the herbs, planning ahead to identify when to harvest and what needs to be harvested from the plant is pivotal since not all herb parts are harvested the same way. There is so much to learn about herbs as medicine. However, now more than ever, resource information is now available to laymen. Post harvest handling is also significant to understand in order to not damage the roots and herbs.
Throughout the project, the plan is to adhere to seven industry specific Key Performance indicators for herb farming which is imperative to measuring success. The initial measures performed will be quantitative and will include annual herb yield and sales volume. By tracking annual yield will help with productivity and profitability for the farm operation. It will also allow for any modification and areas of improvement when necessary. Once the product is present to market, quantitative research will measure customer satisfaction through surveys and after sales ratings, sales growth rate, sales volume, herb quality rating and return on investment (ROI).
UPDATE:
I went a different direction and grew in pots rather than growing in the ground. It worked well because I was able to travel with the herbs which proved to be a good marketing campaign for the Nursery. I also did not grow in the aeroponic towers as planned. I stuck with the pots because as a new grower I wanted to learn and limit experimentation. However, I did use the organic fertilizer introduced to the farm for our citrus production. The spot that I had prepped for the last 2 years, was not used. I used a smaller patch of land to start with and my partner built a netted structure that would protect the herbs from the extreme heat once they got outside.
This year, I will use the original larger site that had been prepping because it is a much larger space, but I will also continue with the pots. For this spring season, I purchased raised bed boxes for theherbs and do a UPick scenario. I noticed last year, that although many purchased medicinal plants, I wonder how many will grow that plant to maturity and create medicine from it. I did begin drying my herbs and making it available to the public. In October 2024, I opened a shop in the Kelly Street Market where I sell my dried herbs and my tea blends from dried herbs. That opportunity is quite lucrative and I am able to move herbal products to the general public.
By the end of December I did begin utilizing the much bigger space of land for the herbs, and provide shaded net to protect the herbs. However, the snow we received at the top of the year collapsed half of the structure due to the weight of the snow. We have replaced the structure now and we are ready to bring our plants home from a greenhouse at Fort Valley State University. The winter weather did not allow for planting young seedling. I requested support from Fort Valley State and they let me plant my seeds in their climate controlled greenhouse which resulted in 85 to 95 present yield. They will be coming home next week to the new shelter.
Cooperators
- (Educator and Researcher)
- - Producer
Research
As a new grower, it was all trial and error. The first year, I purchased plants largely from the Orlando area and I did plant some seeds. I also used a grower. However, I was not prepared for the plants when they were ready. They were stressed because they stayed in the greenhouse too long once I picked them up from the grower. That said, I lost quite a few plants that year. Of the seeds I planted, I did not transplant as early as I should have which contributed to me losing some seedlings. Overall, I still did really well with the plants which some I needed to nurse back to health. I provide the plants with a mix of humic acid fertilizer, worm-casting and a liquid fertilizer tea blend.
From what I learned last year, I decided I wanted to plant my own seeds - also because the grower was not available to me. Thus far, I have planted over 5000 seeds for the spring. I'm in the process of transplanting most of the seedling and I plan to use some of the plants for the raised bed boxes. Having a climate controlled greenhouse is ideal for higher yield and beautiful plants.
This year I also experimented with propagating last years Moringa trees and Neem trees. I also divided the yarrow plants and created more plants from last years plants
From the grower I used last year, my yield was at 95 % germination. However, because I did not prep a space properly after germination, I did lose quite a plants --approximately 65% yield that I was able to salvaged. I did have to nurse some plants back to health with a mixture of fertilizer, teas and worm-casting.
I think I would consider this trial and error process conventional for now.
Educational & Outreach Activities
Participation Summary:
To successfully execute an expansive outreach and education project, Southern Sky has identified six (6) key strategies (see below) that will guide the management of the project. Southern Sky will continue to be a resource, provide workshops and hands-on activities, to include apprenticeships and career opportunities designed to support under-served producers and under-served communities and students interested in incorporating agricultural and conservation practices for self-reliance, producing healthy and nutritious food.
Strategy 1: This strategy will be led by the organization’s leadership and the recruited advisory committee to promote opportunities between under-served producers and under-served communities, and community leaders to collaborate on topics such as innovative farming techniques, economic growth, healthy living, and food security. With support from Fort Valley state University, University of Georgia, local veteran and experience farmers, the project will provide:
- Hands-on field practice opportunities on the farm
- Workshops, annual symposiums and forums to maintain an arsenal of producers for continued learning and to inspire the next generation to enter the field of agriculture
- Florida-Georgia Farm Tour - Added 4/1
- Sylvester Peanut Festival --Added 4/1
- Kelly Street Market storefront --Added 4/1
- Assistance with accessing resources to support the sustainability of the farming community.
Note: Additional partners in this endeavor are Fort Valley State University (FVSU), University of Georgia (UGA), Phoebe Medical Center, Worth County School System, Georgia Grown, City of Sylvester, and Worth County Health Department, local nurseries, veteran producers and businesses.
Strategy 2: Assistance for new producers will include, how to access funding and apply for grants, agreements and loans from SARE, USDA agencies like NRCS and others, building demonstration sites for outreach and engagement, recommended conservation practices to include teaching various regenerative agricultural techniques. PENDING
Strategy 3: A website that connects under-served producers and under-served communities, partners, agricultural professionals will share ideas, information and resources. Agritourism will also be a focus of the site for agribusinesses that which to engage the community at large for greater economic benefit. PENDING
Strategy 4: Provide documented reports of activities and assessments that demonstrates audience satisfaction with the project deliverables. Develop a dissemination plan to share outcomes and finding for those who wish to enhance or expand their farm project. ONGOING
Strategy 5: Prepare and submit a semi-annual report to partners ONGOING
Strategy 6: Prepare and submit a final report for review of year end success. PENDING
Since its inception, Southern Sky/The Village Community Garden farm project has become an excellent gathering place for our partners and stakeholders to work, learn together and engage in productive activities, as well as learning about land cultivation and agricultural practices. Through the years we have taken great pride in continuously learning from the resources afforded to us by our partners, stakeholders and community of farmers. We plan to continue the practice of involving our stakeholders in developing project objectives and assisting the project with implementing results. We welcome any opportunity to showcase the Village Farmacy and Herb Collector farm project and to become a resource for the next generation of farmers, ranchers and farm enthusiasts interested in having their farm venture appeal to the wider public, or simply to sustain their families for years to come.
In an effort to ensure access to workshops and information sessions for under-served farmers who cannot attend in person workshops, sessions will be videoed and posted on a newly created website. The videos will be archived for future reference. As a consequence, the project will engage a skilled webmaster to design a website and facilitate accessibility of a video library
The website platform will be dedicated to connecting partner farmers with agricultural professionals, beginning and minority farmers to share ideas, educate, inform and become a resource for each other. The website will also become a space for under-served producers to highlight their own agricultural enterprise should they want to promote agritourism. An accompanying App will be developed that provides the location of the farms interested in welcoming the public. Since the advent of social media farmers in the most rural areas can have public access if they desire.