Behind the Stand: Open Farm Day at Whippoorwill Farms SC
The drive from Savannah to Jasper County, South Carolina is filled with tall, narrow gray trees decorated with lazy moss throughout swampy areas and patches of green. The homes are sparse and quiet with only a few gas stations to remind you that you’re not completely in the middle of nowhere. It’s undeniably peaceful and maybe a bit unsettling as someone who lives in a — albeit small — city. After about 40 minutes, I turn onto a gravelly drive to a home surrounded by animals, a greenhouse, and a lush garden down the path. A farm stand guards the entrance that I assume is typically staffed and stocked but it remains dormant today as guests are encouraged beyond the gates for a sneak peek at the workings behind Whippoorwill Farms SC.
Every Saturday, Savannah’s Forsyth Park swells with park go-ers, picnickers, frolicking dogs, travelers, locals, artists, and the farmers market. It’s small market but has everything you need from multiple veggie stands, local meat and eggs, cheeses, kimchi and pickles, fresh pressed juices, and bread galore. I yearn for my Saturday mornings walking through the market to stock for the week ahead (typically without a plan). I see what is freshest, what looks the most interesting and I go from there. And it’s there that I discovered Whippoorwill Farms’ bi-weekly open farm day on Sundays. With nothing to do the next day, I thought, why not!
I hadn't seen an open farm day offered in Savannah but I’m familiar with them from growing up in Vermont and even by helping to plan the statewide Open Farm Week when I was in college. Connecting the community to the farm, understanding the work and financial risk that goes into the little bundle of radishes or pack of chicken breast that you buy is an eye opening experience. When I walk down the sidewalk through Forsyth Park lined with farm stands, I don’t see products; I see stories. These stories are found here, behind the gates when you take the time to listen. And if you do, you will leave with a new connection and a new appreciation of where your food comes from.
I wasn’t sure what to expect when I drove up but as the ETA grew slimmer, nervous excitement filled me. The trees around the property outlined the small farm that is home to chickens, pigs, a few cows, and horses. Oh, and a small, stocky dog that waddled over to welcome me. She being my first interaction since parking — and looking around seeing no one — I took the moment to say hello and scratch her belly which she eagerly rolled over to show me. I stood and looked around, hoping that someone might materialize in the time that I was distracted by the dog, but no one came. A flickering of nerves crossed over me that maybe I had missed the last tour but I optimistically walked around until I finally found someone that pointed me to a man that worked there who gave me my tour. Success!
We began at the large chicken pen where the chickens of all different sizes and colors from vibrant orange to black roamed and rooted through the pasture. This, he explained, was true pasture raising. There was no large barn where the chickens were stuffed into, only three coops where the chickens would spend the night. These were the egg laying chickens — although there are meat chickens that live in a separate area, apparently different chickens are better than others for egg laying or meat — and they live mostly on the insects and vegetation that they find themselves. Their daily findings are supplemented with organic feed as well to ensure their full nutrition needs are met. It’s January so it’s not as lush and green in the pasture, there’s less to eat, and the chickens are leaner right now. The chickens just moved to this area which the team do often. They move animals around to different areas around the farm and the chickens recently spent time in the woods where they were warmer, more protected, and had plenty of insects to enjoy. We talked a lot about what they do at Whippoorwill Farms versus commercial farming so that I could understand the difference. For instance, these chickens have a healthy, enjoyable life of about two years rather than commercially-raised chickens that live a terrible, inhumane life of only about two weeks. Happy little chickens not only make the consumer feel better but yields better meat and eggs. No one had to convince me of that.
Not very far away were the pigs which were in their own rotation on the wood chipped and dirt area with a few trees that allowed for plenty of scratching. The pigs, my guide explained, will eat anything — alive or dead — that they come across. Snouts all pointed down, pushing dirt around to find a nibble here or there was how most of these pigs spent their day. Large piles of wood chips acted as their sleeping quarters which they proudly make themselves. Or at least I was proud of them, it was impressive! Pigs are resilient and don’t need very much to feel fulfilled. These pigs live about four free-roaming years rather than two months in commercial-farming facilities.
A lonely pig in a separate pen looked on and he, it was explained to me, was a bad pig. I paused thinking I misheard — did he say a bad pig? While pigs are resilient they’re also smart. The low electric fence deters the vast majority of the pigs but every once in awhile a naughty pig will discover that if he can endure a few moments of shock then he’s free and, shockingly enough to me, he will teach the others how to escape, too. This bad pig has almost endured his punishment alone long enough — and is big enough that he won’t as easily escape — to be returned back to the group. But, others are not so lucky and need to be slaughtered or sold to avoid getting the whole gang to learn the escape tactics. A few years prior, a group of once good piglets learned to escape together and all were sold to avoid spreading their knowledge. Quite the drama if you ask me.
We crunched down the path and I couldn't help but soak in the emerging sun, the fresh air, the quiet, and the beauty of this place. I feel grateful that there are people that want to raise animals this way and that go as far as to open their doors to teach people how we can raise animals humanely. The farm was struggling from a few bugs on their crop but it also looked vibrant and healthy to me, lined in long, green spouting lines down the garden. How do they fight these bugs? Well, they don’t. No pesticides or chemicals are sprayed onto the vegetables. The animals in the fenced pastures close by deter the deer from eating the greens because, remember, pigs will eat anything even if it’s alive! Which, I learned, is why pigs cannot roam with the chickens at risk that the pigs might eat them.
Scooting around on a cart I finally met Marissa, the brains and the muscle behind Whippoorwill Farms SC. She and her husband started the farm with the mission of leaving the land better than they found it and working with the land rather than fighting against it. It’s clear that they’re doing just that. The soil is naturally regenerated by the compost from the animals and the commitment to never using chemicals ensures the land is not damaged. When it’s time to slaughter — something that they are not allowed to do themselves if selling to the public — they use local USDA approved facilities or, when they can, a favorite place in Pennsylvania that always handles their animals with extreme care and respect. A lifecycle that I was honored to learn about and be around. I soon drove home and quietly reflected on my experience. Once home later that evening, I chopped my farmers market veggies that I bought the day prior — Swiss chard, onion, garlic, zucchini, carrot — and sautéed it all for dinner. It’s complicated and unsettling that a dinner full of vegetables untouched by chemicals and healthy, respected chicken is a rare treat but it is. And I’m thoroughly enjoying it.
