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How Rocky Park Natural Farm began
Rocky Park Farm was born out of Jim and Phyllis Kirksey’s love for plants, food, and community. When they bought the land in 1999 they did not know it would grow into a farm. Both always enjoyed working with and taking care of plants on a smaller greenhouse scale. Slowly they expanded their garden on the property, and eventually had a greenhouse to keep growing food during the winter. In 2013 their vision for the farm grew; creating a place where beautiful all-natural food would be produced for the local community and people could learn about organic and sustainable agriculture.
Growing the dream
The Kirksey’s had a friend named Hector Marroquin, an agriculturist who had extensive knowledge of the industry and who had himself grown up on a farm. When Hector joined the Rocky Park team his ideas and experience helped to shape the future of Rocky Park Farm.
“I came to the United States in 2000, and had known Jim for 10 years. I had this vision of growing organic produce, a farm where people can come and enjoy picking vegetables and fruit, an experience that really isn’t normal any more. There’s not many farms left where families can come and see how cows are milked, how cheese is made, how to grow vegetables, and pick berries. We noticed this way of life is becoming more popular in the US again, people are looking back and missing the way things used to be.”
-Hector Marroquin
Growing a healthier community
Inviting people to experience a good-growing culture is part of Rocky Park Farm’s business concept. Additionally, they desire to provide all-natural produce to a community where there is a lack. At the grocery store, it’s often expensive to buy organic food, and this makes it unaffordable for people who want to eat well. The process of getting that produce is not sustainable either, there is so much fuel that gets burned just to get it across the country.
The Kirksey’s have a goal: to educate people on what real all-natural produce is like, and how to do it in a sustainable way. The farm has worked to build relationships with local schools and colleges to involve future generations. It’s not common for agricultural schools or programs to teach the all-natural farming process, especially not from scratch.
Growing future interest in agriculture
Students visiting the farm have the ability to experience the whole journey, from seed to harvest. Local colleges have students from across the world, and everyone at Rocky Park Farm feels that working with them has been a great experience! Because, in a way, the students are looking for the same things valued by Rocky Park Farm. The importance of integrating a multicultural way of life at the farm, and experiencing each other’s varying cultures.
Design at Rocky Park Farm
Daliana Mendez arrived at Rocky Park Farm in April 2015 after earning her degree in architecture in her home country of Venezuela. She came to Rocky Park in pursuit of an opportunity that would provide experience with sustainable design in her everyday life. In her words she was,
“I feel really lucky, because I found a family and school in my work at the same time. I have been able to learn a new language, share with other cultures, and practice new, sustainable and ecological technics to produce veggies. In my case, Rocky Park is that place and that opportunity that I have to learn, work, create, build and do the things that I always want to do, helping people to see and understand the importance of production and sensitive food consumption.”
Since being at Rocky Park Daliana has been able to utilize her architecture and design skills in a number of ways, including designing The Stand at the farm.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”131″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center”][vc_single_image image=”129″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center”][vc_single_image image=”132″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_column_text]
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Sustainable Farming
What truly drives Rocky Park Farm is doing something good for their community, and educating people about the different ways to produce the food they eat. Not only do they make sure their food is all natural, but also that the farm stays on the path of sustainability by recycling and reusing as many of the materials they use in their process. They have established an agronomic system, in which everything that comes out of the fields goes to the compost. Nothing gets wasted, not even water. This unique process allows the farm to grow several different types of produce. They use hay to cover up their strawberries, as well as for weed control. Throughout the year it rots and gets incorporated into the soil. It’s a system they have plans to grow overtime to become even more sustainable. They want to set up solar panels for sustainable energy that they are able to produce on their own, and are also exploring the possibility of using windmills.
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What excites us the most about Rocky Park Farm?
In the words of Jim Kirksey:
“The extended family we have is the most wonderful part of it all. It always feels like there’s a party when we all get together. We enjoy seeing all the produce grow, but the most important part to us is the family and community we are starting. The best experience for us is to get to take what we have produced into our hands, cook it, and make it into an event for everyone to get together and eat. It’s such an exciting part of the process. We wanted to create a place that wouldn’t only be for one culture, or just vegans or vegetarians. We wanted everyone to be able to experience the best food in their every day lives. Where everyone can walk in and have a great meal. We are excited to continue to grow our business to make our vision of this farm come alive. It’s an opportunity that’s worth taking a risk for, and we have great plans for the future with our strong and talented team. We want to invite people to get together and be a part of the family we have formed, and community we are growing. We hope the farm will become a destination place that is centered around food, and most importantly, family. Because that’s where we all come from.”
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