Today we’d like to introduce you to Laura Russo
Hi Laura, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
When we were living in Atlanta, my husband Jarett and I loved shopping at the local farmers markets and exploring farms in the area. After we decided that we wanted to move back closer to our hometown, we knew that we wanted to buy a property where we would build our homestead. We would need space for our garden, pastures for our future goats, chicken coops, storage space for tractors, and a cute little house. While we searched for our dream property, we rented a house in Jackson, SC, which just so happened to be located next door to an old closed down golf course that nature was rapidly reclaiming and over growing all the structures on the property. Being out in the country, surrounded by farms, with no grocery store in sight gave us an idea.
We looked next door and started dreaming. We could fix up the dilapidated golf pro shop building and repurpose it as a farmers market store, we could revive some of the space and create a stage to enjoy live music, we could grow a market garden and set up a farm stand… The dreams became excitement, the excitement became goals… The seed had been planted in our hearts and Boondock Farms was born.
The owner of the property is the kindest man ever and we had to convince him to sell the property to us, which we ultimately pulled off by offering him blue eggs from our Ameraucana chickens (Knick named Easter Eggers). It was a family effort and collaboration to buy the 60 acre property and then we hit the ground running renovating for a year before we opened our farmers market store at Boondock Farms! We rely on friends, volunteers, Dept of Agriculture, SC Agritourism Association, neighbors, local farmers and anyone who will listen, to help on the farm, help spread the word, and help us grow our market.
This year is our SIXTH (!) season of Farmers Markets. From April – December, we host a monthly festival on the second Saturday of the month with farmers + artists, food trucks, and live music. Lots of amazing vendors gather to offer their local goods to our community and customers. Our farm store sells jams, jellies, pickles, salsa, and cider, as well as locally sourced goods and seasonal produce grown in our market garden. Each festival has a theme or special event like April’s Easter Egg Hunt, May’s Ag + Art Tour of Aiken County, June’s Fathers Day Celebration, July’s famous Tomato Pie Festival , and so on. All of our events, farm to table dinners, music festivals and art classes are listed on our website.
Our new art studio hosts stained glass mosaic classes taught by me (Laura) and we bring in Guest teachers for soap making, candle making, painting, and crochet classes.
We host a summertime music festival every year, Boondock Revival, and bring in amazing local musicians from bluegrass, Americana, and Rock and Roll influences, enjoy amazing food together, bonfires, and everyone camps out on the farm.
We did get our goats, and a donkey, and chickens, a rabbit, dogs and cats. Visitors can meet the animals and tour our vegetable gardens.
Our incredible hard working vendors have become a beautiful community working together to provide amazing products to their customers. We host farmers + artists, jewelry makers, bakers, potters, wood workers, and other talented crafters. Farmers provide seasonal produce, seedlings, and holistic goods and seasonings. Local musicians entertain us with original tunes and classy covers. And our food truck offerings, bbq, coffee baristas, and bakeries indulge us with delicious treats.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Everything worth doing will come with challenges. While i grew up always having a garden, there is so much to learn about gardening and nurturing a market garden. We share information about eating seasonally and try to always have fresh, nutritious vegetables and fruits throughout the year. We share recipes made by using fresh vegetables that are in season. And we educate ourselves about the benefits of lesser known plants like Elderberry and microgreens to share that with our community.
There is always the learning curve of financials and time management. I work a full time job off farm so it can get tricky when planning out our year of festivals and there’s a lot of sacrifice involved. But we feel like we are doing meaningful work that matters and making a difference in folks healthy options, or at least influencing healthy choices. We’re also building a safe community environment that is fun and family friendly, focused on the outdoors and sustainable lifestyle.
A major challenge has been the infrastructure. For example, we had to get a collapsed roof replaced on the farm store and new plumbing and electrical run through the building before we could fix it up. So we’ve had a bunch of help from local contractors to get things in good shape. Luckily my husband Jarett is a master wood workers and carpenter, and thanks to his hard work and dedication, this property is transformed to such a beautiful vision.
Because we love this project and we feel that we are doing something meaningful, we persist.
Recent hurricanes have set us back, wrecking havoc on our trees and hiking trails. We just keep on working on improving. It’s a good life, there’s never a dull moment.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
My full time gig is a media specialist role and I produce photo and video content. I found my calling when I took and black & white film photography class in high school and I knew that I was meant to be a photographer.
Growing up as a painfully shy person, photography broke me out of my shell and gave me a confidence that I’d not experienced.
I’ve been chasing this dream for over twenty years, and I’ve been able to fly in planes and helicopters doing aerial photography for years, I’ve worked on movie sets, and I’ve been able to travel to bucket list places like Alaska with my work.
Currently I provide media services in a corporate communications environment, covering a wide range of subject matter.
Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
I measure our success by how so many folks tell me they instantly relax when they pull up on our property. That’s music to my ears.
We’re creating a life that we don’t have to escape from. My husband and I are both hard working, driven, self starters with lots of ideas. Jarett is a very mellow type personality and I wish I was (haha!)
Our vision is a sustainable lifestyle, a return to a simpler life, and a life full of good food, music, and art. We’re building a strong uplifting community of amazing people and a safe space to gather and unwind from life’s stresses.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.boondockfarms.com/
- Instagram: @boondockfarms
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/boondockfarmstead
- Youtube: @boondockfarms3787
