I confess that I have a deep love for small roads that lead into the forest. You cannot see where the road leads or what treasures you might find along the path, but my imagination runs wild. Brando Trail is a small road off Alec Mountain and it is deeply wooded on both sides. As you make the turn onto the lane, you see several homes on the right and then the road opens into the beautiful valley of Beaver Dam Creek’s bottom land. It is gorgeous and the kind of land that people dream about when they talk about having a small farm in the mountains. It has a beautiful mountain vista and gently sloping land. It invites you to take a deep breath and celebrate all of Nature’s blessings.
Joni and Harold Kennedy’s farm, Melon Head Farm, begins like many, at the produce stand. Joni taught preschool and Harold was in sales. They were living in Batesville and had a 2000 square foot garden where they grew somethings for themselves. They were regular customers of the online market, “Locally Grown.” One day, after a converstation with Locally Grown founder, Justin Ellis of the Soque River Watershed, Ellis remarked, “Why don’t you grow some things for the market?” So she did, and like many gardeners, she and Harold began to long for more acreage, a real farm. Not a large one, but a sustainable one. They put their house in Batesville on the market and began looking.
The 15 acres on Brando Trail was just what they were looking for, but the property had some history of its own. The original home burned and hard times followed. The farm fell into foreclosure. When the Kennedys bought the property, they moved into the small guest house that was still on the property and faced out on the beautiful mountain vista. When the Batesville house sold, the Kennedys renovated and expanded the guest house into a beautiful light-filled home. The mudroom turned into the seed starting room.
A farm was born. Of the 15 acres, 10 are in hay and 2 are in production. The remaining three acres encompass the house and a beautiful old orchard. The 10 trees have been loving tended and now provide apples, peaches and pears. A berry patch provides blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and stawberries. “I grow what I like to eat,” says Joni with a twinkle in her eye. “It is tempting to get bigger, but I don’t want to spend time supervising people. I want to grow things and this size is sustainable for us,” she remarks.
Joni is passionate about community. She is committed to making Habersham’s food as fresh and local as possible. Like any teacher, she is also committed to teaching others. In the Farm-to-School Program, Joni actively participates in teaching students about farming and about tasting the goodness that comes from the farm. Joni is also circumspect about the interns she takes under her watch on the farm. “I want to teach the good, the bad and the ugly about a working farm. We need more farmers, but people who really embrace what it takes,” says Joni. This year, the snow and late freeze taught the Kennedys about the heartbreak that comes with farming. They lost hundreds of plants. Joni out her head down and kept own. Farmers who are committed to sustainability and naturally grown produce know it takes hard work.
At Melon Head, it means the 10 acres of hay are used on the farm. Seeds are started in the mudroom in the snowy late winter days. The seedlings are then moved to a small green house and then end up either in the 1/2 acre hoop house or on the plowed rows. “I have learned a lot over the past 4 years and I want to do the right thing. We are fully committed to being certified Naturally Grown.”
Harold is the “equipment manager. ” One of the features at the Clarkesville Farmers’ Market and indeed, this year’s Mt. Laurel parade, the Melon Head market stand is a float salavge that Bob Brooksher and Harold rebuilt as a float and then as the market stand. It is on the cart that Joni and Emma, her farm intern, hold court on Saturdays. Along with plants and produce, the stand offers goodies like pepper jelly, jams and soaps. Come visit them and next Satuday, get there early to claim one of the delicious artichokes….that is if Joni doesn’t claim them all for herself.
Oh, the name? Melon Head? “That’s for Harold, he is my melon head,” says Joni.
Photos are courtsey of Christy Berry of Berryvine Image and Melon Head’s FB.
