Riggin Farm

After spending the morning harvesting garlic and getting thousands of bulbs carefully arranged on curing racks and pallets, we moved on to preparing beds for sweet potato planting. Everything was going according to plan for once. About an hour later, we heard an incredibly loud crash from across the farm. The kind of sound that immediately makes your stomach drop.

We ran to the shipping container and discovered that the lean-to roof had completely collapsed, crashing down directly onto the garlic curing area. Thankfully, nobody was underneath it when it happened. Had the timing been just a little different, the outcome could have been much worse. Material can be replaced. People can’t.

Now it’s time for damage control. Ashley’s dad, who originally built the structure, is carefully taking it apart piece by piece because the collapsed roof is simply too heavy to lift safely as a single unit. Once it’s dismantled, the plan is to build a smaller temporary cover to protect the garlic from the rain that’s in the forecast this week and throughout the curing process.

Farming has a way of reminding you who’s really in charge. One minute you’re celebrating a successful garlic harvest, and the next you’re staring at a pile of twisted metal wondering how you’re going to salvage the day. Thankfully everyone is safe, the garlic appears to be mostly intact.

P.S. The farm store is still open today as planned.

This morning we harvested a little over half of this year’s garlic crop, and these tables are now packed full as the curing process begins. Tomorrow morning we’ll head back out to the field and harvest the rest. After months of planting, weeding, mulching, and watching the plants grow, it’s always rewarding to finally see the harvest coming in.

Our garlic was planted last fall, where it spent the winter establishing roots before taking off this spring. Garlic is a long-season crop that requires patience, but the payoff is worth it. Each bulb you see here started as a single clove pushed into the soil many months ago. Through cold weather, rain, and plenty of North Georgia sunshine, those cloves multiplied into the beautiful bulbs now curing on the tables and pallets.

Once harvested, garlic can’t be rushed. The bulbs are spread out under the lean-to where they are protected from direct sun and rain while still receiving plenty of airflow. Over the next several weeks, the leaves and stems will slowly dry down, allowing the bulbs to cure properly. This curing process improves storage life, concentrates flavor, and helps develop the papery wrappers that protect each bulb.

When curing is complete, we’ll trim the roots, cut the stalks, clean the bulbs, and sort them by size. Some will be saved as seed garlic for next year’s crop, while the rest will make their way to our CSA members, farmers market customers, and farm store shelves. It’s a lot of work, but seeing these tables full of garlic is a pretty good reminder of why we love farming.

Every Monday starts the same way here at Riggin Farm: a pair of pruners in one hand, trellis clips in the other, and a lot of walking through the high tunnels. Today was all about pruning and trellising our tomatoes and cucumbers to keep them healthy, productive, and growing exactly where we want them.

The tomatoes are really starting to show off. The cherry tomatoes are beginning to ripen, and nearly every plant is loaded with clusters of green fruit that won’t stay green for long. A little pruning improves airflow, reduces disease pressure, and helps the plants focus their energy on producing beautiful, flavorful tomatoes.

The cucumbers are loving this warm weather too. The vines are climbing higher every day, flowers are everywhere, and new cucumbers seem to appear overnight. Keeping them trained on the trellis makes harvesting easier and helps us produce straighter, cleaner fruit throughout the season.

One thing we love about growing food this way is seeing the progress from week to week. A few months ago these were tiny seedlings. Now they’re stretching toward the roof of the tunnel and filling every available space with fruit, flowers, and new growth. It’s a reminder that a lot of little tasks done consistently add up to something pretty amazing.

The season is just getting started. Tomatoes are coming, cucumbers are already rolling in, and every week the farm looks a little different than the week before. We can’t wait to share the harvest with all of you as these plants continue to hit their stride.

The Sunday farmers markets may be canceled, but Riggin Farm is still open today from 12pm-3pm, and this morning’s cucumber harvest is one of our best yet! We just brought in 20 Garden Sweet cucumbers, 23 Unagi cucumbers, and 4 pounds of pickling cucumbers fresh from the garden. Whether you’re looking for crisp salad cucumbers, a snack straight from the fridge, or enough picklers for a batch of homemade pickles, we’ve got you covered.

Don’t let the forecast fool you. Rainy Sundays are often the best time to shop local. You’ll avoid the crowds, get first pick of today’s harvest, and help support a small family farm when weather keeps many folks at home. Everything in this photo was harvested just hours before opening.

Along with cucumbers, we have a nice selection of garlic scapes, microgreens, and a little Swiss chard available today. Salad mix is becoming harder to come by as the summer heat takes its toll, so if you’re craving fresh greens, now is the time to stock up while supplies last.

We also have what feels like an endless supply of our colorful, nutrient-dense pastured eggs, plus a freezer full of pasture-raised pork and grass-fed Dexter beef. Whether you’re planning meals for the week or filling an empty freezer, there’s plenty to choose from.

And don’t forget the farm store favorites: local honey, elderberry syrup, fire cider, granola, and more. If you’re looking for a good excuse to get out of the house for a few minutes today, come see us. We’ll be here rain or shine, and we’d love to help you bring a little freshness home.

Lots of produce at the farmers market today: carrots, leeks, rainbow chard, purple kale, unagi cucumbers, garden sweet cucumbers, calypso pickling cucumbers, salad mix, garlic scapes, snow peas, arugula microgreens, broccoli microgreens, and purple radish microgreens at the Riggin Farm table. There are other produce vendors here as well.

Don’t forget to bring your dull knives, so Iron Rabbit Forge can sharpen them while you shop.

Grab a cup of hot or iced coffee and/or bring home a bag of whole or ground coffee from The Ellijay Trading Company.

Produce has been harvested and packed for the Jasper Farmers Market!

What you see here is kale, leeks, garlic, carrots, jalapeños, salad mix, snow peas, garlic scapes, cucumbers, broccoli microgreens, and purple radish microgreens that were packed for our produce CSA members. We will have many of these items plus additional varieties of cucumbers, arugula microgreens, eggs, meat, granola, and more at the farm store and the Jasper Farmers Market.

Ashley has been out of town this week at Frontline to Farm doing farmer training with fellow military veterans in North Carolina, so there will be no sourdough bread available.

We will be harvesting all of our garlic next week, so there will be thousands of heads of garlic available after they’ve cured for 2 to 4 weeks. Our sweet potatoes are also being planted next week and will be ready just in time for November when all of your favorite sweet potato recipes will be hitting your dinner table. We’re very optimistic that cherry tomatoes will be available next weekend and the slicers will start coming in the following weekend.

The Salad Mix Situation Is Real!

Just a few weeks ago, we were harvesting mountains of salad mix. Now, summer heat has arrived, and our lettuce is telling us it’s ready for a break. We’re currently harvesting about half as much as we were earlier this season, and once it’s gone each week, it’s gone.

That’s exactly why our Produce CSA members love their shares. While shoppers may arrive at the market at 11:30 and find the salad mix sold out since 9:00, CSA members still get theirs reserved and waiting. The same goes for many of our most sought-after items: carrots, snow peas, onions, lion’s mane mushrooms, and whatever other farm favorites are in short supply.

Right now, CSA members are receiving approximately $40 worth of premium, high-demand produce each week for only $30, plus the peace of mind of knowing they won’t miss out on the items everyone else is racing to buy.

This week is the final week of our current CSA cycle, and we have a few spots available for the next 12-week session beginning June 19th. If you’ve ever shown up to the market only to hear, “Sorry, we sold out,” this is your chance to make sure it never happens again.

Skip the disappointment. Reserve your produce before it ever hits the market. www.rigginfarm.com/csa

The cucumbers are coming in fast now! On the left are our thin-skinned Unagi cucumbers, perfect for snacking straight from the fridge, and on the right are our crisp, juicy Garden Sweet cucumbers, ideal for salads, sandwiches, and summer side dishes. We harvested another beautiful batch this morning, and they’re waiting for you in the farm store.

We’re also stocked up on fresh mushrooms, including both Blue Oyster and Golden Oyster mushrooms. Whether you’re sautéing them with eggs, adding them to stir fry, or making a gourmet dinner at home, these mushrooms are hard to beat. The produce and mushrooms were grown on our Certified Naturally Grown farm less than 200 feet from the register at the store.

Need more than produce? We’ve got plenty of pastured eggs, a freezer full of grass-fed beef and pastured pork, fresh microgreens, locally sourced honey, elderberry products, granola, and lots of other farm favorites.

The Riggin Farm Store is open today from 12pm-3pm

Come see what’s fresh, support a local family farm, and stock up before the weekend! We can’t wait to see you.

Tomato season is getting closer!

The tomatoes in our high tunnel are absolutely taking off. Some of these plants are already over 6 feet tall, and every day they’re putting on more growth. It’s always exciting to watch them go from tiny transplants to towering vines loaded with flowers and fruit.

The first cherry tomatoes are starting to blush and ripen, which means fresh, vine-ripened tomatoes are right around the corner. There’s nothing quite like that first sweet tomato of the season after months of planning, planting, pruning, and waiting.

Our slicer and paste tomatoes are sizing up nicely as well. Many of the plants are loaded with clusters of healthy green fruit, and it’s only a matter of time before they begin changing color. If all goes according to plan, we should have plenty of tomatoes for the farm store, CSA members, and farmers market customers in the weeks ahead.

Before we start today’s pruning and trellising work, we wanted to share what the tunnel looks like right now. Keeping indeterminate tomatoes healthy and productive requires a lot of attention throughout the season. We’ll spend the morning removing suckers, lowering and leaning plants, clipping vines to the Qlipr system, and improving airflow throughout the tunnel.

It’s a lot of work, but seeing rows full of healthy plants and the first ripening fruit makes it worth every minute. We can’t wait to start harvesting these beauties and sharing them with all of you. Tomato season is officially on the horizon at Riggin Farm!

Rainy Day = Fresh Harvest Day at Riggin Farm!

Yesterday we completely sold out of cucumbers at the Jasper Farmers Market, so this morning we headed back to the high tunnel expecting slim pickings. Instead, we were greeted by a mountain of fresh cucumbers!

We just harvested a beautiful mix of crunchy pickling cucumbers, sweet snacking cucumbers, and our thin-skinned Japanese Unagi cucumbers. We also picked the first jalapeños of the season, with many more on the way. There’s nothing quite like produce harvested just hours before it reaches your table.

If the rainy weather has you thinking about staying home today, consider making a quick stop at the farm instead. Our shelves and coolers are stocked with:
Pastured eggs, Fresh cucumbers, Microgreens, Grass-fed & finished Dexter beef, Pastured pork, Granola, Local honey, Elderberry syrup, fire cider, shrub mixers, and more!

The farm store is open TODAY from 12PM-3PM, and every purchase helps support a local family farm growing food without synthetic pesticides, herbicides, or fertilizers.

Come enjoy a peaceful drive through the countryside, stock up on fresh food for the week, and help us turn this rainy Sunday into a great day on the farm. We can’t wait to see you!

Riggin Farm Store: 300 Shady Grove Church Rd in Talking Rock