David Taylor Farm

Up and Coming Farmers – David Taylor

 We have been cooking with Taylor Farms fresh eggs for about 5 years. David Taylor is also a contractor and over the last several years he has done a number of renovations for the Beechwood Inn, but his first love is farming. His stated 3 year goal was to transition to full-time farming. His goal is now a success. 

Its exciting to see David working full-time to increase his farm’s production. I dropped by to see how his operation was progressing, and I was amazed at all the new additions. The number of raised beds has vastly increased, another long strip of land was recently levelled for even more raised beds. But the big news for 2010 was two 20 by 75 foot greenhouses. In  addition, he has barns, a sprouting shed, a small herd of pigs and a serious looking washing station for eggs and greens.

I asked David how he got into farming having grown up in Chicago. He said his fascination came as a child with family visits to his grandparents farms’ in Kansas and Iowa. He loved the smell of fresh tilled earth, corn fields on a hot summer day and even the smell of pigs in a pen beside the barn (I’m personally not sure about the pig smell).  While in college at Illinois State University he majored in art and never thought about agriculture as a career. 

After college he and wife Teresa moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, where he built timber frame and log homes. In the evening he would work on a small vegetable garden. When that company went out of business they relocated to Rabun County where he continued to work on timber frame construction. He again took up gardening but this time decided to educate himself on good farming practices by reading as much as he could. All too soon 6 chickens grew to 20, then to 50 and soon they had 200 chickens. . . 

The farm is small by global standards, only about 1½ acres, but the available land is being intensively cultivated. As we walked around everything seemed very well planned and laid out.  The new greenhouses have central overhead sprinkling systems; there are hanging pots above the beds which permit vertical use of light and space. The sprouting shed has a gas heater. The pigs have their own shed and seem quite happy – but they do smell like pigs.

The variety of things now being grown is quite large.  David has over 20 types of culinary herbs and edible flowers.  I was glad to see a number of lemon verbena plants.  David tasted some lemon verbena ice cream at Beechwood Inn last year so now he is plying this intense herb to restaurants (I want a commission on the lemon verbena sales). There is a large variety of heirloom and cherry tomatoes, but the bulk of his farming is of fresh greens.  There is every color and texture of lettuce you can imagine, arugula, spinach, endive and stinging nettles. By June David plans to be harvesting over 100 pounds of fresh greens each week. Old Edwards Inn in Highlands alone will purchase about 60 -70 pounds a week. 

At Beechwood Inn we are proud to serve Taylor Farm greens to our guests, but it does involve more work than simply buying triple washed lettuce in a plastic bag from Wal-Mart.  Someone, usually Ashley our kitchen assistant, must wash and dry the several pounds of greens we use each week. Food is needed by everyone, everywhere, every day. We believe that making shopping decisions that favor sustainable and local food sources benefits health, improves the local economy and is ecologically sound – even if it means more effort on our part.  We know these these foods taste better and we also know they are days and in many cases weeks and months fresher.

Several years ago we ran a taste test of Taylor Farm fresh free range chicken eggs versus store bought eggs. 95 percent of our guests preferred the farm fresh eggs.  The other 5 percent said they tasted too “eggy.”  I can only guess they just got used to bland eggs from chickens raised using hormones, antibiotics and fed corn-pellets.

The farming future for Taylor Farms calls for slow growth and increased efficiency, but without borrowing money.  Another greenhouse will soon be added.  He says the greenhouses can extend their growing season by perhaps two months giving them 10 months of production, and the greens are protected from drowing rains or damaging hail.  Now he wishes he had built the greenhouses years ago.

David is very generous with his farming knowledge.  I often hear of him visiting and helping other farmers build better soils or providing advice on crop management. Gosh, David, I guess you have become a consultant.  In addition, he has also become a distributor for other farms.  When he learns that someone has giant blackberries available he will harvest and sell them through his regular channels. And he learns about wild foods.  I wanted wild ramps so David located someone who goes into the mountains to gather them.

We give thanks our local farmers. When our guests taste baby lettuces and peppery arugulas that were in the ground a mere 24 hours ago, just picked berries and local melons, then they finally comprehend why we are proud of our fresh & local products. We also know that our lettuce has been grown without herbicides or pesticides and that the farmer who brought us this food is also feeding it to his family.

David Taylor’s Farm is located in Lakemont, Georgia.

by David Darugh, executive Chef, Beechwood Inn