Local Producer: Grassy Ridge Farm

I absolutely love the chicken and eggs at Grassy Ridge Farms! The broiler chickens we buy there make at least three meals for us during a week: we roast the chicken with some veggies, use the leftover chicken in another recipe, and make broth for soup later on. That's a great value when you consider the quality. They also reuse egg cartons that customers return, which is both resourceful and ecologically sound. Tons of reasons to visit them at the Market or on the farm. Here's an interview with Marie Wallace, owner of Grassy Ridge Farm:


Tell us a little about the history of Grassy Ridge Farm, and your involvement with the Farmers' Market.

We started Grassy Ridge Farm in 2003. We visited Joel Salatin's farm in Virginia and got interested in raising free range chickens. We also raised 100 laying hens and started selling eggs off the farm and at Tidal Creek. We were one of the first vendors at the Wilmington Downtown Market. We sold our eggs and vegetables. We are able to sell our chickens at the Market for the first time this year because we now have our meat handlers license. We also sell at Poplar Grove market on Wednesdays.

What makes your chicken and pork products different from what is available in the average grocery store?

We do not feed our animals antibiotics or hormones. They are raised free range and are happy chickens and hogs. We feed them organic feed which is shipped from Virginia and we mix corn and oats with the supplement. The pasture where they graze is all organic.

How often do you process your animals?

The broilers are processed when they are 7 weeks old. We have been trying to have a batch to process every month. We will raise them until the end of October. The hogs take longer to raise and at the present time we only have two more to process this year. We have three hogs which we breed, and hope to raise our own pigs.

Your eggs are delicious! How many layers do you have, and how many dozen eggs per week do they produce?

We have approximately 225 layers and they are producing 50 dozen eggs a week so far. 125 of them are young and should start producing more. We are also going to purchase 125 more in September.

Is there anything else you'd like us to know about Grassy Ridge Farm?

I would like my customers to let me know how many chickens they need yearly. I can only raise the chickens from March to October because of the weather. I would also like customers to come to the farm and purchase chickens when we process so they can cut them up and package as they like. We are interested in raising grass fed beef and hope to get started soon. Thank you to all of our customers and we are glad you are enjoying our product!

Note: Grassy Ridge Farm is located at 399 Beaver Ridge Dr. in Riegelwood, NC. You can reach them at (910) 655-4665