OUR STORY
Goat Island Farm started in 2019 with 20 planter boxes made of cedar and draped with netting to try to keep out the deer. Currently, there is a half-acre of cultivated garden space, an apiary, dairy goats, laying hens and a sourdough bakery! Goat Island Farm has an active Community Supported Agriculture program and supplies to multiple restaurants in the Santa Rosa Beach area. We also like to pop up at local markets such as Seaside and Grayton.
At 30 degrees latitude and -86 longitude, Goat Island Farm is rooted between the Gulf of Mexico to the south and the Choctawhatchee Bay to the north. The farm is hedged by an eclectic collection of artists and Bohemians where roosters crow, swings grow out of trees, and friends and neighbors wave on the rutted dirt road. Coastal scrub, wet prairie, swamplands, and longleaf pine forests meander to give the farm a unique geography. It’s a special spot.
BUT WHY GOAT ISLAND? TWO REASONS:
First, our goats of course! Their daily antics cause us to pause and remember to take life both less seriously and less for granted!
The second reason relates to the history of this region. Choctawhatchee Bay is dotted with little islands which emerge from the waterway. One of the larger islands, only a stones throw away from the farm, is called “Goat Island.” We named our farm after it to celebrate and connect with our history and community.
Connection through community.
A friend of mine says, “You will never be a successful farmer alone.” I am reminded of how true that is both on the land and in life. I started farming because someone took my hand in friendship and pressed a seed into my palm and said, “Go plant this now. Don’t wait!” To support and encourage one another, to walk side by side, to share each other’s burdens and help lighten the load, this is truly living. This morning I got to reach under a hen to collect a warm egg, see the steam rise from fresh milk, and pop a fig at the peak of sweetness into my mouth. These are small miracles of life that I get to share with you.
My hand may be dirty, but it will always reach out in friendship, an unspoken promise that you are welcome here. If we are humble, how much we have to learn. The stuff of life is found in conversation, with pause, through connection. Let’s not do this alone! Thank you for choosing small, local, organic. Thank you for choosing Goat Island Farm!
