Meet the Farmers
Founder and owner Chase Renninger opened Woodland Valley Farms in December 2016, taking the first step toward his dream of owning and operating a regenerative permaculture farm. Raised in Maryland, he found a passion for farming and ecology at a young age. Chase opened Woodland Valley Farms with the goal of providing access to beyond organic foods, free of chemicals, and filled with nutrients.
Allyssa Ferguson joined the farm after getting her boots dirty farming in the Atlanta area. She worked in fabulous restaurants and wanted to try her hand growing the food she had been serving for so long. After lots of trial and error, she finally learned how to successfully grow the best chicken and the best pork. Her pastured chickens follow her around and her pigs are so friendly, they roll over for belly rubs. She specializes in raising Berkshire and Ossabaw pigs for their lovely marbling and foraging ability.
About the Business
Chase and Alyssa pride themselves on having the most bio-diverse agriculture system in the state, while maintaining their roots in permaculture, organic practices and humane animal husbandry. During COVID-19, they switched their business model from being farmers market centric to almost entirely dependent on a 40 family CSA. Every week, they send out a fresh package to each member including a variety of products from their farm.
Sustainable Agriculture Practices
Woodland Valley Farms focuses on a systems based approach to farming where they integrate animals, plants and fungi. They treat their animals with the highest humane standards possible and don't use any toxic chemicals on their vegetables or meats. While the farm is not certified organic, it surpasses the typical organic farms in their cultivation methods. Owner and farm manager Chase Renninger has a B.S. in Agroecology and is dedicated to his mission of farming and land restoration.
They currently raise 200 heritage hogs a year and rotate them intensively throughout the 80 acres of scrub forest and vegetation. They help disturb the soil and allow them to seed beneficial species of grasses that help improve grazing for their ruminants. They maintain their open-air barn by utilizing chickens, which help keep the barn “clean” and free of vermin, flies and other pests.
Steward Comments
There are so many wonderful things to say about this farm that it was difficult to distill this page down. Alyssa and Chase have a successful business with a diverse portfolio of sustainable foods. They adapted their business to the changes that COVID brought and they're going full steam ahead. This is exactly the type of farm Steward likes to advocate for and partner with and we're excited to have them on our platform.
