Today we’d like to introduce you to Nicole Nicolodi.
Hi Nicole, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My name is Nicole Nicolodi my husband Adam and our son Aiden moved to Townville in April of 2020 and established our farm “Little Upstate Farm” in addition Adam and my brother Andy established their business A&A Upstate Builders – fencing and decking.
We purchased our first house in Easley in 2017. Over the four years living there I took over our tiny side yard and maxed it out with raised beds and a big chicken coop complete with a pool house for the ducks. Adam was hesitant about chickens at first. Next thing you know I have a big dog crate set up in a spare bedroom with baby chicks in it. He loved it and everything I had going on in the side yard.
During the four years of building up our little mini farm, I read about farming and watched a lot of YouTube videos to learn all I could about regenerative and sustainable farming. Adam and I decided to sell our first home and buy a farm for real. We talked about raising meat birds and we would have a market garden and bees and pigs and layer chickens and we are going to have a stand to sell our products.
In April of 2020, we left our jobs of 9 years, sold our home and purchased the old overgrown farm in Townville and worked on establishing our businesses. It was a huge leap of faith! We had to make this work!
Fast forward two years.
Now we are Inspected and Registered Poultry Handlers for the state of South Carolina. We raise our broilers on pasture and process them on farm. We have layer hens running all over the place as well as 11 ducks. We have worked our organically grown market garden up to two high tunnels and plan to max the garden out again this fall. Adam built me a “mansion” of a stand which we finally opened in July. As I get this market gardening thing down it will be more awesome than it was this summer.
This has been such a cool experience for our family. I cannot believe it; we are doing it! As a family, we have gotten through so many ups and so many downs but we are in love with this little farm we have created and look forward to the future.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
2021 was pretty smooth, this year 2022 has been so trying! We have lost over 250 chickens, ducks, and turkeys to predators. Fox, skunks, rats and coyotes have been our biggest problem. The garden kept me on my toes as well. Keeping up with the watering during this hot summer we had was my biggest battle. Adding irrigation for next summer is number one on the to do list.
As you know, we’re big fans of Little Upstate Farm. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
We strive on growing and raising the best quality foods for our family and community while regenerating the land.
If you follow us on social media, you will notice I say “beyond organic produce” a lot and the reason for that, is we do not use any chemicals in our garden not even certified organic chemicals are used. To me, organic sprays are still not natural. Companion planting, crop rotation, organic matter, and compost as well as staying on top of bugs, we hand pick, is how we grow. There is so much work that goes into growing pure clean veggies packed with nutrients and to us, it is worth the plant loss and headache to know we are eating clean like our ancestors used to 100 years ago. There is truly a love for what we do!
Our meat chickens, turkeys and laying hens are raised humanly on pasture living natural lives in the sun and chasing bugs. While our poultry is not organically fed due to costs, we support another local farmer that makes their own feed with no hormones or antibiotics. Poultry raised in natural elements are so much healthier for us than commercially raised chickens who have lived a very unnatural life in a warehouse.
You can taste the love and devotion in all of our food. Our stand is open seasonally or you can find us on Clemsonareafoodexchange.com
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
Little Upstate Farm would not have made it this far without the support of our customers and community. For that we thank you!!
Contact Info:
- Website: littleupstatefarm.com
