At a time when produce can travel thousands of miles before reaching consumers, it can be challenging to know who is producing the food that reaches tables in Northeast Georgia.
However, the rise in demand for locally grown goods through programs such as farmers markets or community-supported agriculture has signaled a desire among many to know more about where their food comes from.
“I really think it’s important for people to know their farmers, because in some ways it’s like where your food is coming from,” said Sarah Hovater, who serves as the executive director of the Marigold Collective, a Winterville-based nonprofit focused on connecting local farmers with the broader community. “I think some of it’s about the relationship with the farm, but some of it’s just about the whole process and the inputs that go into growing and producing, and just sort of having that knowledge for your own health and wellness.”
At Friendly Mushroom Farm, a farm just north of Danielsville, Georgia, Gabriel Bueno and his wife, Maria Meyer, work to provide fresh, local produce to those seeking a more direct connection to their food.
The farm itself is nestled in a small clearing in the woods, where rows of organized plants grow around a half-acre fenced-off plot of land. Beside that sits a small shed converted into a greenhouse where microgreens are carefully managed under the purple glow of ultraviolet light.
Community-supported agriculture benefits everyone because it keeps money within the community.
“If you go to the grocery store, you’re buying food from a huge producer,” Bueno said. “But, if you’re buying from the growth from the farmers market, the money comes to me, I’m going to spend on, local business as well.”
This has been Friendly Mushroom Farm’s first full-time year of operating, which Bueno acknowledges has not been without its fair share of surprises.
Still, in the end, he feels more grounded than ever.
“Yeah, being connected to the land … I feel like it’s in human nature, like it’s good for you,” Bueno said. “You know, I feel good when I’m touching the soil out there.”
Parker McCollum is a journalism major in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia.
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