A photojournalistic approach to getting to know our local farmers
Photographed by Taylor Lee Czerwinski
Written by Lauren Vega and Taylor Lee Czerwinski
Driving up to Fire Ant Farm, we were instantly greeted by two friendly pups, a flock of chickens, eleven acres of farmland and a cool breeze. Meet husband and wife, Anthony Natoli and Ellen Waldrop making a difference out on Johns Island, SC. They provide the local community with year-round fresh, uncertified organic produce at local farmers markets every single week.
Atlyss founder Jenny Gaddy met the duo at the Sea Island Farmers Market one Saturday where Atlyss also sells its products. The market provides a great opportunity to gather Fire Ant Farm’s seasonal produce, such as fresh herbs and roots. Atlyss uses items like turmeric and ginger in dressings and broths and when possible, we love to use their crispy fresh lettuces. It is through our relationships with the local farming community, and through our relationship with Fire Ant Farms specifically, that we are proud to say we have made a unique business model that keeps our local economy growing (pun intended).
There are many moving parts that go into running a farm, producing organic food, and harvesting it for a local community on a weekly basis. While here at Atlyss, we use those products to create healthy and delicious meals for our customers, we would not be able to offer such high quality food without the hands behind the growing process.
Here’s a sneak peek behind the curtain
and a look into the mission behind Fire Ant Farm.
Sammy, Anthony, Ellen and their pups
Q: Share an overview of how FAF operates: How big is your team? Do you operate year round? What do planting and harvesting seasons consist of for you?
Anthony and Ellen own and operate Fire Ant Farm, but they couldn’t do it without the help of some pretty incredible teammates. Each week, they harvest on Wednesday and Thursday with the help of Sammy, Anna, Kelley, Miranda, and a few volunteers here and there. This allows them to take inventory of what will be available for the Saturday market as well as weekly online orders, which began during Covid and has remained a successful branch of their business. In addition to the market and their online platform, Fire Ant sells to a few local restaurants and food businesses. Outside of Atlyss, you can find Bar George consistently using their products.
The team farms all year long thanks to the season extension due to increases in temperature. Fire Ant also has a few tunnels for salad greens and the frost covers have ensured that they haven’t lost any rooted plants yet. Currently the farm harvests fruits, vegetables, and herbs. “We want to start doing more fruit trees and shrubs. Anna has a bee hive she keeps on the farm and that has given us some ideas as well,” says Ellen.
You can shop their produce on their website posted on Friday’s at fireantfarms.com
Q: Many people think the Organic label means a product was grown without any pesticides or herbicides at all. They view Organic certification as an ideal reached by small, forward-thinking, maybe even 'hip', farms that are trying to do right for the environment. What does "Organic" mean on this farm?
“Well, we actually do everything uncertified organic and we aren’t really interested in getting certified because it’s kind of silly. Naturally, there are a lot of hoops to jump through,” says Ellen, a longtime employee of the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. Anthony adds, “We talk to customers and tell them what we actually do. Everyone says everything is sustainable but that doesn’t make sense to me. Many farmers go buy things to put in their beds and, to me, that’s not sustainable. We’re shifting away from that.”
Since 2017, Fire Ant Farm has been growing in no-till beds. For those who aren’t familiar, no-till essentially means that when plants die after a season, the farmers allow those plants to decompose and create their own nutrient dense topsoil. Fire Ant makes their own compost and have noticed a dramatic decrease in erosion of their beds since beginning no-till practices. “We’re trying to make it so we produce our own inputs, compost and cover cropping here on the farm. We don’t want to rely on importing things. With all of the shipping and plastic… that’s not sustainable and we’re working on it,” says Ellen.
*For those who are interested in learning more about no-till farming, check out this link: https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2017/11/30/saving-money-time-and-soil-economics-no-till-farming
Q:What are the major differences between store-bought organic and local?
“The freshness is the first thing. When you shop locally at a market or directly from a farm, food is harvested right before you get there. If it’s purchased at the grocery store, even if it’s organic from California, it still has to be shipped cross country so it’s not going to last you as long. Grocery store products grow on big, monoculture acreage (which means they only grow one thing). The large farming companies practice tillage and still use herbicides and pesticides. We’ve used organic pesticides minimally, but if you have more crop rotation and biodiversity, you don’t have to do as much of that. They’re doing thousands of acres of just one thing so it’s not much different from commercial farming, it’s just certified organic. ” Anthony responds.
Q: What should we know or look out for when shopping for organic foods in store vs from a local farm?
“Say you go to Earth Fare and it’s from a local farm: it still had to be shipped, and it had to sit. There’s still the carbon footprint of transportation and because the food has been sitting for days or weeks it’s not as nutrient dense,” Ellen replies.
It’s clear that even if produce is organic, it isn’t as sustainable. This means it is not as good for your own health or for the health of your local and global community as buying from local farmers and growers is. Sustainability is one of the main pillars we stand behind at Atlyss. The more we learn about the benefits of using local ingredients, the more reassured we are in our commitment to providing those ingredients to our customers.
Weather patterns are changing and becoming more unpredictably extreme. These changes are apparent in everyday life, but on a farm, they cannot be ignored.
Q: Through your experience, what weather patterns are changing and playing a part of how you operate?
“It’s getting hotter and we haven’t even been here for multiple decades. After talking to people who have been here longer, we’re reaching a point in the summer where it’s too hot to even grow tomatoes,” Anthony comments. “It’s too hot, too muggy, too many bugs. There are more hurricanes, and because of that you get hit with all these diseases. The summer sucks. It's not worth the extra resources to grow one tomato in a climate that won’t sustain it,” says Ellen.
On a more positive side, the growing season has extended because of the increase in temperature.
“We grow all winter. It used to be colder more frequently and it wasn’t necessarily effective to buy all the cover in the winter.” Now with only a few sheets of biodegradable ground cover, Fire Ant is able to grow throughout the winter and offer items like broccoli and dark leafy greens to their customers in the middle of February.
Q: How does it make you feel knowing what you grow with your bare hands touches the lives of other families and neighbors?
Ellen smiles at this question and replies, “I find it very satisfying and rewarding. That’s why we like doing the farmers market- We get to talk to customers directly, thus building good relationships. We know about each other's lives and they know what’s going on with us and we swap recipes and suggest ideas. We want to provide them with good food because they’re not just our customers, they are our community.”
Much like we believe at Atlyss, our customers are more than that. They are our friends and they make this community that much stronger together.
Q: How do you feel supported by the farming community on John’s Island and in the Charleston area?
“We don’t want it to be competitive,” Anthony responds. “When I first started working for Harleston, we used to have one big text where we would say, ‘Hey I need this’ or ‘I’ve got extra of this’ but some have started branching off doing stuff with Growfood and restaurants. There was an article a few years ago in the Post & Courier called The Uncooperative Cooperative,” Anthony chuckles and says, “there’s plenty of demand so we should not be competing. Working together could be better. It ebbs and flows. However, we have been fortunate to have a continuous working relationship with Lowland Farms.”
Q: What is something you’d like to share with consumers about shopping locally?
Ellen explains, “Supporting all local businesses keeps resources within the community and is more beneficial for all. A benefit of being a small local business is meeting and working with all the other local businesses (e.g., Atlyss!). When I look at all the tables at the Sea Island Farmers Market, I am so impressed seeing everything that is produced in our backyard. There is a level of passion, dedication, and quality that is unmatched.
Q: How has COVID impacted your success as a farm?
“A lot of restaurants stopped buying certain things because they had to downsize their menu. But in reality, Covid helped us a ton. The market was already doing better every season but when Covid happened, it got exponentially busier. Everyone started coming to the Johns Island market because you can get all your groceries there,” says Anthony.
“We started making more money so we were able to hire more. We had more demand because people didn’t trust the grocery stores and they didn’t want their food from god knows where. The community supported grocery went from 75 to 400 to 1000 people waiting to put in an order,” Ellen states.
Fire Ant Farms does not deliver. In order to get their products, you can order online at https://www.fireantfarm.org/ every Friday to pick up at the Sea Island Farmers Market on John’s Island every Saturday. You can also just stop by the market without placing an order and see what they have for sale that week.
During Covid, Lindsey from LowCountry Street Grocery began delivering fresh produce. He gave a lot of former food and beverage people jobs delivering. Because Fire Ant didn’t have the time, the manpower, or the vehicles, Lindsey’s community supported grocery enabled them to reach more customers and provide fresh produce to those who didn’t know where or how it was safe to purchase food during the height of the pandemic.
It was truly a response to the call for help.
What products does Atlyss use from Fireant Farms?
Since Atlyss crafts the menu from what is in season, we find ourselves using the following fall/winter produce:
broccoli
pickled beans
turmeric
ginger
broccoli rabe
broccolini
herbs
carrots
sweet potatoes
mini butternut squashes
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