There is a small operation in middle Tennessee that is big on sustainable agriculture. The Farm & Fiddle is also big on using what they grow in some value added food products.
The Farm & Fiddle is in what is called Fly, Tennessee, just outside of Santa Fe. Daniel Foulks is a fiddle player by trade; a farmer through love and marriage to wife Samantha.
“I grew up in farming,” Samantha states. “Both of my grandparents were farmers, both of my parents moved away from the farm and I was the weekend farmer so they’d send me out to my grandparents for the weekend, and I always actually told the I want to be a farmer.”
On 21-acres in Maury County, these Foulks grow a little bit of everything.
“Dairy cows and dairy sheep, and we’re very much so vegetable-centric,” Samantha explains. “We have lots of French and Italian heirloom vegetables. We grow mushrooms and cut flowers, all kinds of things.”
They offer CSA memberships, sell to Nashville area restaurants, and offer their bounty at local farmers markets.
They both know their way around the kitchen. They infuse their handmade pasta with some of their garden goodies. There is roasted tomato or carrot fettuccine, for example, or sweet potato gnocchi, but the draw is always what was just plucked from its plot that morning and ready for someone’s plate that afternoon.
“Being with her I just fell in love with farming, too,” Daniel states. “To be able to raise a child on a farm and being around animals and seeing where our food comes from, and just being connected with the land is kind of important to us.”
It is a three part harmony with Sam, Daniel, and little Joe Hickory. The Farm & Fiddle, where the soil sings.