Dear Friends,

 

Life is sweet at The Farm at Okefenokee! After bottling over 9,000 pounds of honey, we’re now deep in the midst of a bumper olive harvest. We feel truly blessed by such abundance, and we’re excited to finally share these farm-fresh products with you.

 

First up is our pure, raw honey, which is undiluted and contains no additives—perfect for a time when store-bought products can be less reliable. You can purchase two-pound bottles directly from your favorite OkeFarm team member or pick them up at Whistlin' Dixie Café in Folkston, Georgia. The café will be stocked and ready to sell by September 15th. While individual bottles are only available locally or through Farm Boxes for cabin owners, we do offer shipping for 12-bottle cases at $200 plus shipping. All proceeds are plowed right back into our Farming OperationsIf you'd prefer, you can pick up a 25-pound case in person while touring our beautiful farm and the wildlife refuge next door. Email us at info@okefarm.com for more information.

 

In October, we’ll have fresh olive oil available exclusively for lot owners! Our olive oil is rich in healing polyphenols and, unlike the year-old bottles found in stores, this oil will be as fresh as it gets. Lot owners, you’ll be able to harness its full nutritive power.

 

Finally, we can’t forget about our organic mayhaw cider. Due to alcohol distribution laws, the cider is only available for those who’ve purchased land at The Farm. If you're a lot owner, reach out to order your cider. And for those on the fence about buying a lot, this might just be the perfect time to join the Farm Family. If that’s you, email us at info@okefarm.com to learn more.

 

Thank you for supporting The Farm at Okefenokee. We look forward to sharing these incredible products with you!

 

Warm regards,

 

Doug Davis

Co-Founder, The Farm at Okefenokee

 

 

We love networking with other farmers! Though the thought of an “all-inclusive” farming community is idyllic, the truth is that we can't grow everything. For instance, where does an inland farm obtain fresh oysters for our oyster roasts?

 

Marissa and Judy traveled to Columbus, Georgia, to attend the Georgia Grown Symposium. This yearly gathering, hosted by the Georgia Department of Agriculture, allows farmers to network with each other while offering education about amenities offered by the GDA. While at the Symposium, our team members learned of GDA programs that The Farm could use to help people find us plus easy ways to keep our certified kitchens within compliance for everyone's health and wellness. Plus, we met farmers, breweries, and candy manufacturers for some great old-fashioned trade.

 

 

Would The Healthiest Place on Earth™ be complete without herbalism and natural health support? We don't think so. That's why we're excited to welcome Mandie Koeckes as our Community Wellness Coordinator. In addition to serving as the herbalist for cabin owners, she is coordinating the details for our on-farm certified kitchen and the future memory care center.

 

Mandie Koeckes has spent most of her life in the deserts of Nevada. She has dedicated her life to community care in one way or the other, with a career spanning from Healthcare administration to her current ANMA Board Certification as a Holistic Health Practitioner. She is an Herbalist Without Borders Scholarship Recipient, a member of the 2023 Nevada Department of Agriculture Female Farm 2 Food cohort, and has served on the board for The Fallon Food Hub. After owning and operating a community herb shop and wellness center, she set her sights for literal greener pastures, and found her way to The Farm at Okefenokee. Passionate about local food and individual rights, she hopes to continue learning and sharing her knowledge to support a more symbiotic relationship with the earth as responsible stewards.

 

 

Hot honey is wildly popular right now. And no, this doesn't come from bees visiting spicy flowers. Hot honey starts with basic honey obtained by beekeepers and bottled for human consumption. Then, hot peppers (chilies) simmer or sit within the honey until it achieves the desired level of heat and flavor. Yes, it's that easy.

 

Here are some tips for creating hot honey:

 

Small, consistent changes can have a profound impact on our health and well-being. One of the most common questions I discuss with folks beginning new holistic health journeys is, “What kind of fats are you cooking with?” 

 

As humans, we hold a broad range of beliefs, and one common belief is that all calories are equal—whether from carbs, proteins, or fats. But I’d be lying if I said I subscribed to that notion. In my experience, the kinds of foods we eat and how they are processed play a significant role in how our bodies utilize those nutrients. 

 

If you’re of a certain age, you might remember when fat was considered the worst thing you could consume, right next to red meat. During the “low-fat” craze, fat was replaced with copious amounts of sugar. Processed food companies went further, replacing sugar with high fructose corn syrup. There were Pepsi vending machines full of “fat-free” sodas with over 30 grams of sugar in each can. With climbing rates of diabetes, metabolic disorders, and Alzheimer's (now being called type 3 diabetes), we know that wasn’t the best approach for a healthier population. Around the same time, partially hydrogenated oils were added in abundance to grocery shelves, replacing butter and lard as “healthier” fats. Finally, after mountains of scientific evidence showed their detrimental effects, the FDA declared partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs) no longer GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) for any human food in 2015, with a final ban and removal by December 2023. It's not too far fetched to have hope that industrial seed oils will follow. 

 

Fat is an essential nutrient and a required building block for physical development and good health. There is an entire group of vitamins—A, D, E, and K—that depend on fat for nutrient uptake in the body, along with essential fatty acids. Fats play a vital role in cell growth, are necessary for proper hormone function, and more. One thing we now know for certain: quality matters. 

 

With a nutrient that essential, shouldn’t it also be essential to know what’s been done to it and how it’s been handled? How did it get from its raw state to that bottle? Packaging is another topic, but it’s often a sign of quality if a company opts for glass packaging over plastic. The truth is, the modern food industry spends a lot of money keeping you from knowing much about it. The ultra-processed food industry has spent over $1 billion on lobbying since 2000. 

 

Industrial seed oils are cheap, so the processed food industry loves to use them—but that doesn’t mean we should be so trusting. These oils require chemical solvents like hexane and bleaching agents to maintain “quality.” However, that quality is highly inflammatory, and oxidized oils and small amounts of hexane are still present when these oils hit the shelves in your local grocery store. 

 

Cold-pressed olive oil, on the other hand, just needs the olive fruit—no extra solvents and certainly no hexane. This pressing process ensures that oil retains all the antioxidants and polyphenols that help keep our cardiovascular system healthy, along with omega-3 content that reduces inflammation in the body, instead of adding to it. 

 

The Farm at Okefenokee, the Healthiest Place on Earth™, understands these differences down to the cultivation and care of the source. The olives are harvested by hand and cold-pressed by passionate folks who want the same thing you do: access to healthy, organic, American-grown food. Our olives are grown and pressed right here in the U.S., with regenerative soil health at the foundation of everything we do. Our lot owners get the freshest access not only to cold-pressed olive oil but also to a cornucopia of organic produce, heritage pasture-raised meats, honey, and more. 
 

 

 

LEFT: Mandie Koeckes, Community Health Coordinator. RIGHT: Lauren Dixon, Animal Welfare Manager, comforts baby Huey as the cattle move to a new pasture.

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