Whippoorwill Farm
April 25, 2021 02:12 pm
Normally, when we travel from Florida to North Carolina, even with our RV in tow, we make it a long one day trip of about 11 hours. This time, we decided to slow down, and enjoy the journey, by breaking up our trip with an overnight stop. Rather than go for a traditional RV park, we did a search for a Harvest Host, and found Whippoorwill Farms, in Ridgeland, SC.
This Harvest Host does have some water and electric hook ups for a small fee. If you RV, you know that’s always a nice thing to have.
Whippoorwill Farms is not your “typical” farm. It is definitely not “Old Macdonald’s Farm”. It is a Regenerative Farm. What is that you ask? Well, we were wondering that too. According to the owner, Marissa, it is more than just raising livestock. It’s a mission. She shared with us that through the use of heritage breed livestock and permaculture practices, they are working to restore their 40 acres back into a working ecosystem after years of neglect and overuse from the timber industry.
They have chickens, pigs, goats, cows, ducks, and rabbits. Marissa gave us a tour, along with the other RV guests that were there that night. She showed us around the property and shared with us how they work at using organic practices to restore a working ecosystem. It was absolutely amazing to watch their livestock naturally work at opening up the forest canopy that has been overgrowing for the last 20 years. What does that look like? It looks like the pigs chewing away at the roots and digging them up. It was funny to see one of the mama pigs chomping away and a few of her piglets suckling on her. In another section, the chickens were pulling up the small roots and chewing them up. The animals help to expose the soil, and compost down, years of leaf build up that go back into the soil. The livestock are rotated through the forests, and then Marissa and her workers are able to plant new cover crop and grasses, which allows the land to regenerate. Marissa explained that the animals live a life of constant access to fresh forage, while also helping in the process of establishing thriving forest floors and forests. We even got to see her German Shepard “Johnny” rounding up the livestock which was really cool.
The farm also provides organically grown and raised food for the community. They do not use herbicides, pesticides, or antibiotics. There is a very large, flourishing garden of vegetables that are delicious! We tried some of the Snap Peas right out of the garden! Oh my…so crunchy and fresh! We also purchased their fresh farm eggs! Check out the pretty natural colors in the photo.
Marissa, her husband and daughter live on, and work the farm. You can feel and hear Marissa’s passion as she shares her mission. This is truly a labor of love and takes a lot of work. If you’re in the area and want to experience Marissa’s farm, stop by. You’ll be amazed. Whippoorwill Farms is located at 870 Tillman Road in Ridgeland, SC 29936. Their website is www.WhippoorwillFarmsSC.com
If you would like to learn more about Harvest Host, click here, and take advantage of a 15% discount on their membership.
