BLESSED CREEK FARM
About Blessed Creek Farm
We bring 17 years of combined gardening and farm experience to our new land and home in Surgoinsville, TN. Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), market garden sales, and pastured poultry will be our offerings to the local food scene. We will manage our farm using natural, chemical-free methods and possibly seek organic certification at some point. Please join us on this adventure and consider buying a 'share' of our garden harvest through our CSA program. This farming and homesteading adventure is the culmination of our shared years of dreaming and planning. I, Eric Gibian spent some wonderful years farming and operating CSA out of Washburn, TN before family obligations took me back to south Florida. There I met Bridgett who learned to garden while living in Switzerland. Together we founded a non-profit community garden program in south Florida, providing produce to a local food bank along with CSA shares and educational opportunities to volunteer gardeners who also shared in the harvest. I've been a teacher, coach, and small business owner. Bridgett has administrative and sales experience. Oh, and she can fly an airplane too. We are so looking forward to getting our hands dirty to serve the local community with the freshest healthiest naturally grown food possible. Please reach out to join our email list and follow us on social media. At some point we will schedule a farm tour to meet and discuss further details. Since the bulk of our experience is in gardening we will initially offer the veggie CSA. The plan is to utilize our pasture land for intensive rotational grazing of cows and chickens. The general strategy is to divide the pasture into many smaller 'paddocks' and graze cows, then a few days later to move chickens through the fields allowing them to add fertility while eating bugs, seeds, and other forage left behind. We plan to do a small dairy herd-share program possibly in year 2. The chickens will be for meat sale to the public with first priority given to CSA members. I do have experience with a flock of 50 egg laying hens but meat birds require a different process, so we'll take that slow.
CONTACT
PRODUCTS OFFERED
Dairy & Eggs
eggs
Herbs
fresh herbs
Meat, Fish & Fowl
chicken
Vegetables
arugula, beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, collards, cucumber, eggplant, green beans, kohlrabi, lettuce, mustard greens, okra, onions, peas, potatoes, radish, rhubarb, salad greens, spinach, summer squash, sweet corn, sweet peppers, swiss chard, tomatoes
CSA
We offer a 12-week season of full-share pickup every week or a half-share that alternates weeks of pickup. We are growing over 30 varieties of common and not-so-common garden vegetables, herbs, and fruits. Pickup locations: Wednesday: New Harvest Park (Knoxville), Three Rivers Market (Knoxville), On-farm (Surgoinsville) Saturday: Jonesborough Farmers Market (Jonesborough), On-farm (Surgoinsville) Shares are sold on a ‘first-come’ basis, with 50% payment due to secure your spot. Payment methods - cash (in person), check, money order, wire transfer, and cashiers check are all accepted. We will work on alternatives such as credit card, PayPal, Venmo, etc. and update you as things progress. Make payable to: Blessed Creek Farm 221 Bray Road Surgoinsville, TN 37873 Our vision for this farm is a small, traditional, diversified, productive homestead. We intend to cultivate a core membership that connects to our land and supports our efforts as good land stewards. Before spring we plan to build a couple of mobile ‘chicken tractors’ for meat and eggs. Egg production will be very limited, but our intention for meat birds (chicken) is to have them available for sale first to CSA members, then to the general public at the market. Mobile chicken coops or ‘tractors’ get moved daily, sometimes twice daily, on fresh grass for natural foraging of insects, seeds, and plants, making for a most healthy, humanely treated bird, all while still protecting them from predation. Once the bird housing is in place, we’ll establish pasture space for a few pigs, also for sale first to CSA members. A part of our longer-term vision is to graze a couple of dairy cows for raw milk shares. We certainly have our work cut out for us, but it’s a labor of love. Please feel free to reach out with questions. Please send your email address to be added to our group info list.
Pick Up Details
Pickup locations: Wednesday: New Harvest Park (Knoxville), Three Rivers Market (Knoxville), On-farm (Surgoinsville) Saturday: Jonesborough Farmers Market (Jonesborough), On-farm (Surgoinsville)
PAYMENT METHOD
Credit/Debit
VISITING
Our Farm Offers:
Farm tours are available by appointment during the growing season.
Visitor Activies:
guided farm tours
PRACTICES FOLLOWED
Organic (not Certified)
