Joe & Jerry Watson, Monetta, SC

In their second year of growing organic peaches along the “Ridge” section of South Carolina, Jerry and Joe Watson are pioneers in organic peach farming on the East Coast. In a region full of conventional peach orchards, the humid environment deters most farmers from trying to grow the fragile fruit organically. Four generations of Watsons have been active in farming at Watsonia Farms, where they currently farm 900 acres of peaches and 180 acres of organic produce in Monetta, South Carolina.

Snowville Creamery – Pomeroy, Ohio
At Snowville Creamery in Pomeroy, Ohio, the cows graze in pasture all year long and the grasses that are in season affect the flavor of the milk.  Winter milk from Snowville may taste of hay; spring milk of dandelions.  Morning milk even tastes different from evening milk!   Warren Taylor, owner of Snowville, believes that milk is perfect when it comes from the cow, so he processes his milk as minimally as possible.  Snowville Creamery milk is bottled on the farm the same day the cows are milked and delivered to Whole Foods Market the very next day to bring customers the freshest product possible.  As they say at Snowville, they make “Milk the Way it Used to Be!”

Whole Foods Market joined a long list of musicians and nearly 90,000 fans from all over the world at the 2009 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee, last weekend.  We set up a store on the grounds of the festival in Planet Roo where we served up loads of 365 products and delicious items from our vendor partners, including Talenti Gelato, Greek Gods Yogurt, O.N.E. Natural Experience, QBell all natural chocolates, and Lifeway Foods.  Check out what some of our customers had to say over the course of the weekend in Planet Roo!

Hal and Drew Ambos of Savannah, Georgia

The Ambos family, now in their fifth generation of shrimping off the coast of Savannah, Georgia, provides Whole Foods Market with fresh wild Georgia shrimp that has never been frozen.  The strong tides along the southern Atlantic coast, from which these shrimp are raised, provide these shrimp with a sweet succulent taste and a good firm texture that can only be produced in the wild.

Laura Button – Smyrna, TN
For more than 25 years, Laura Button has been helping people explore healthier ways of eating by teaching them techniques for making delicious, fresh, organic, raw foods. Through working relationships with local family and community farmers in Middle Tennessee, Journey to Bliss Raw Foods is committed to reconnecting people to the source of their food, to empower both those who grow and those who eat.

Linden Vineyards, Linden, Virginia

Since 1983, Jim Law has been delicately working the soil at Hardscrabble Vineyard in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, intent upon growing the best grapes in order to produce the best wine in the region. The soil, site, and microclimate are even more important to Jim than the grape varieties. The combination of a cool mountain microclimate and well-drained mineral soils give Linden Vineyard wines their fresh, assertive aromas and concentrated flavors.

BELL & EVANS – Fredericksburg, Pennsylvania

Bell & Evans is a leading producer of chickens raised without antibiotics.  For four generations, beginning in the 1890s, Bell & Evans has been raising and processing the highest quality chickens in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch country, in a modern facility equipped with the latest technology. The birds are raised on an all-vegetarian diet in a low stress environment, and delivered to Whole Foods Market within 24 hours of processing to ensure a fresh product with premium flavor.

Jessica & Jeremy Little

Thomasville, GA

Sweet Grass Dairy’s goats and cows graze happily outdoors on lush green pastures in south Georgia and receive no growth hormones or stimulants. Their fresh hand-crafted, semi-ripened and naturally-aged goat and cow cheeses are some of the most unique and delicious cheeses to grace a plate.

As one of the pioneers of organic farming in Georgia, Nicolas Donck grows a diverse selection of certified organic vegetables and herbs year-round on his family’s land east of Atlanta.  When Nicolas was 16, he left his home in Belgium and moved to Georgia to join his mother on her 175-acre farm.  Since then, Nicolas started Atlanta’s first organic farmer’s market in 1995, and has continued to add considerable acreage into organic production on his farm.  Nicolas says the best thing about farming is having the opportunity to live close to the earth with his family.

Note: Our Farm to Market slide shows currently feature farmers and producers from our South and MidAtlantic Regions. We hope to expand to others in the future.

After selling his financial business to Wall Street, Brian Schiner set out to pursue his true passion for farming. He began reading books from the 1800’s about raising sheep and decided that he would raise his herd according to these old techniques crafted to mimic an animal’s livelihood in the wilderness. Today Brian keeps watch over the largest sheep farm in Maryland. All of the animals at Wagon Wheel Ranch are grass-fed, raised without the use of antibiotics, and allowed to roam freely over acres of pasture.

Note: Our Farm to Market slide shows currently feature farmers and producers from our South and MidAtlantic Regions. We hope to expand to others in the future.