Producer

Hi! We are Chara and Ryan, owners of StarFresh Farm outside of Hayti. We thrive on good food, quality produce, snuggles from our daughter, and time in nature. Chara is an LATI graduate with an associate's in business/entrepreneurship. She is a self-proclaimed "aspiring health nut," she's (almost too) creative in the kitchen, loves a good crafty challenge, and has a small obsession with houseplants. Ryan is an SDSU graduate with a bachelor's in microbiology. He's a constantly curious research enthusiast, a board game collector, puzzle solver, and inquisitive brain. He is forever learning and he does whatever it takes to make his work happen. Aryn is a July 2019 womb graduate. She loves to scarf down farm fresh eggs, sauerkraut, avocado, goat cheese, sweet potatoes, olives, and anything mom and dad are eating. She loves to feed the chickens, play with the chicks, give treats to her puppy "Oso," babble nonstop, say animal names and make animal sounds, rock her baby, read stories, play with her cousins, and video call grandma.
Since 2018, we have grown produce naturally in our garden to sell to local veggie lovers. We've experimented with different pest control methods, whether it involves flower placement or planting extra onions to keep the pests away. New to our farm this year is a high-tunnel greenhouse for tomatoes. Fingers crossed, we will be able to extend our growing season. We hope it will go well! Someday, we plan to open an aquaponic greenhouse at our home, where we will use aquatic animals to sustainably raise a variety of produce year-round. We are passionate about trying new fruits and vegetables, and we can't wait to share our own with you. While American eating habits have grown steadily worse over the years, healthy and organic options are recently more popular. We're excited to jump in and contribute to this positive movement with our natural produce, minimal environmental impact, and commitment to high-quality food.

We're not certified organic, but we're proud to offer products grown with absolutely no chemicals or artificial additives. We use plant placement and other natural methods for pest control; minimal tilling; bed rotation; chemical-free weed prevention and more to keep our soil, plants, produce and people safe and healthy. We have a growing colony of worms we regularly tend to with a balance of egg shells, coffee grounds, and produce scraps. Their castings are a rich, nutrient-filled soil perfect for nourishing plants. It's not quite big enough yet, but someday we will provide all of the soil for starting plants indoors from that worm farm. We use chicken poo and cow manure (from our resident travelling lawn mowers) as fertilizer in our soil.