{The Heritage of Shirley Daughtry}

 
Photo by Anthony-Masterson Photography
 
Shirley DaughtryGeorgia’s oldest organic farm, Heritage Organic Farms in Effingham County, is overseen by the tenacious and indomitable Shirley Daughtry.
 
Daughtry, began farming after serving as a principal in Savannah, and her 20-acre Heritage Organic Farm received its National Organics Program certification in 1991, the first one in Georgia.
 
Daughtry has never found that elusive, romanticized life where crops erupt out of the ground while she sips sweet tea on her front porch swing and takes in a pastoral view of her farm.
 
No, Daughtry works hard. Real hard. And even after all this time, she can still find herself floundering like a fledgling farmer. For three decades, Daughtry has engaged in a relentless campaign to surmount the blasted challenges presented by sandy soil, mole crickets, and fire ants.
 
Heritage Organic Farms sits on a patch of beach-like sand about 30 miles from the Atlantic Ocean, and Daughtry says her single biggest obstacle is to keep her farm’s soil rich in organic matter, which is the foundation of sustainable food production.
 
“It costs as much to grow a cover crop as a crop but that’s what we have to do. We just plow it under and incorporate it into the soil. It works, but it ain’t easy,” she says. “Mole crickets eat all my germinating seeds. Fire ants will eat anything, including people."
 
In many ways, Heritage Organic Farms serves as the quintessential model of an organic growing operation in Georgia. There’s no question the farm is a success. “Every time a sprig gets out of the ground in our garden, it is sold,” Daughtry says. “Our business is just growing so fast we aren’t able to eat our own food!” 
 
But the success is hard wrought. Every seed, plant, and harvest is the result of Daughtry’s determination and grit. And that’s just one more reason why each flavorful bite should be savored.