Happy Dirt

ATTN: Raleigh, Durham, & Chapel Hill Celebrate organic sweet potatoes with sweetgreen and Weaver Street Market this holiday season! From now until 11/30, order any Harvest Bowl at sweetgreen’s Raleigh location (in-store only) and get a coupon for a free bag of Happy Dirt Organic Sweet Potatoes and a sweetgreen tote—redeemable at any Weaver Street Market in December. What’s the connection? Both the sweet potatoes in your Harvest Bowl and the ones in your free bag are grown by Happy Dirt Farmer-Owner Randall Watkins in Oxford, NC—just 45 minutes to an hour down the road! Hold onto your coupon, and sign up for our newsletter (link below) for a December reminder. #regionalfoodsystems #organicproduce https://lnkd.in/eUFKxwT3

Join Happy Dirt’s newsletter and learn something new! Each month, we send a few, fun, informative emails (by few we mean 2-3) to our customers. After mulling it over and seeing so many new faces follow along, we thought it would be cool to give everyone the opportunity to learn more about seasonal organic produce and the food system. But most importantly, we want everyone to learn more about the incredible farmers who grow our food like Randy Massey, one of Happy Dirt’s farmer-owners. If you’re interested, sign up via the link below! We have a ton of fun doing what we do within the food system, and we want to give you another way to join our journey to make the world of food a happier place for us all! https://lnkd.in/d7XYw7c7

Did you know we have a newsletter? Each month, we send a few, fun, informative emails (by few we mean 2-3) to our customers. After mulling it over and seeing so many new faces follow along, we thought it would be cool to give everyone the opportunity to learn more about seasonal organic produce and the food system. But most importantly, we want everyone to learn more about the incredible farmers who grow our food like Randy Massey, one of Happy Dirt’s farmer-owners. If you’re interested, head to the link in our bio and sign up! We have a ton of fun (clearly) doing what we do within the food system, and we want to give you another way to join our journey to make the world of food a happier place for us all! https://lnkd.in/eUFKxwT3 #SustainableFoodSystems #OrganicProduce

In our food system, everyone has a role to play. But at Happy Dirt, there are some roles we simply couldn’t live without—the people who work tirelessly to make sure the produce we believe in reaches your table. Our warehouse team is more than essential. They’re the heart and soul of Happy Dirt. If farmers are the backbone of the food system, then these folks are the backbone of everything we do. Every day, they show up with purpose, receiving and shipping hundreds of pallets with laser focus, making sure each order is spot-on and ready to roll. When produce from our farmers arrives, our quality team inspects it carefully, checking for that quality we’re proud to stand behind. Only then does it go on our Happy Dirt trucks, ready to head out to you. And our drivers? They’re out there before the sun rises, making sure our organic produce reaches grocery stores and restaurants, rain or shine. Days following Hurricane Helene, our team was stretched to the limit. Yet they showed up, building pallets of supplies to send to Western North Carolina while still handling hundreds of produce orders each day. With determination in their eyes, resilience in their steps, headphones on, music in their ears, they worked together without missing a beat, which is what heroes do! These are the people who keep Happy Dirt alive. They don’t just move produce—they move us all forward. And with every box packed, every truck loaded, and every mile driven, they make sure that the food grown with care gets to you, the way it should.

Fun Fact: The pumpkins and the tiny trick-or-treat buckets are heirlooms. Happy Halloween! ?? ??

It’s hard to believe a month has passed since Hurricane Helene devastated Western NC. For many of us outside the region, it feels like so long ago, but for those directly affected, the devastation is still raw and present.? ? One week after the storm, we launched a GoFundMe to help our farmers and producers in WNC begin the long road to recovery. Our goal is to raise $25,000 by the end of November, and we’re currently at $9,072. This week, we’re aiming to hit $10,000. ? Farmers are the backbone of our food system, showing up for their communities even after losing entire crops, income, and essential equipment. ? Will you join us in being heroes for our farmer-partners as they continue to be heroes for their communities? Every dollar counts in helping them rebuild and recover. ? Thank you to everyone who has donated so far, and a special shoutout to our partners at Loco Pops and Seasonal Roots for their incredible generosity! ? Let’s rally together and show our farmers the love and support they deserve. https://lnkd.in/ex2KpVVr

If the soil is the foundation of our food system, then farmers are the backbone. They grow the food we eat. They carefully tend to the soil, not only because it’s their job but because they know we can’t live without the living, rich-brown earth beneath our feet. When Mother Nature roars and natural disaster strikes like it did in Western North Carolina, farmers show up to care for their communities even though they’ve lost an entire season of crops and income. At Happy Dirt, our mission and our job is to support the sustainability and growth of organic farms not only for the health of our soils, but also for the health and financial sustainability of our farmer-partners. We don’t often think of what it took to grow the sweet potatoes, kale, or strawberries that we place in our carts at the store. But, we can tell you that it took a lot. What you don’t see is the resilient spirit of farmers. As the weather becomes more unpredictable, they figure out how they need to pivot in order to make sure that we have the most nutritional veggies on our plates. Our farmer-partners are also innovators. If a tractor breaks down and they can’t afford to fix it, they figure out how to fix it themselves. If we ask if they will grow a new-to-them vegetable, they always say, “We’ll try anything once.” They are the unseen heroes of our food system, and we celebrate them today and every day! Happy National Farmer's Day to all of our farmer-partners in North Carolina and beyond. We see you, and we're grateful for you!

How many pumpkins can you fit in a gaylord box and on your porch? Over the last week, many of you were introduced to gaylord boxes, as you helped to fill over 10 with essential supplies for Happy Dirt farmer-owner Sanford Fishel's community in WNC! Want to know what comes to Happy Dirt in gaylord boxes? PUMPKINS! And, they are grown by Sanford. Each year, Sanford grows heirloom pumpkins, warty goblin pumpkins, and carving pumpkins for Happy Dirt. While Hurricane Helene did damage Sanford's farm, the pumpkins made it through, as they were resting in fields that were higher in elevation. So, what does this mean? The more pumpkins you buy for your porch, the more pumpkins Sanford can bring to Raleigh on his box truck, and the more essential supplies we can send back with him for his community! It's also another way to help us support Sanford's farm in general. Where to find Sanford's pumpkins? ?? The Bradford Market in Huntersville, NC ?? The Durham Co-op Market in Durham, NC ?? Rebus Works in Raleigh, NC ?? Local Jo's Natural Foods in Mt. Pleasant, SC ?? Low Country Street Grocery in Charleston, SC ?? Sevananda Natural Foods Market in Atlanta, GA Sanford will come regardless, as long as his community needs him and us, but we know he would say he might as well bring more pumpkins if the people want them!

Our Farmers Need Us Now More Than Ever For the past 20 years, Happy Dirt has had the honor of working hand-in-hand with farmers across the Southeast, helping them grow, thrive, and bring fresh, organic produce to all of us. But today, we’re heartbroken as we witness the devastation that Hurricane Helene has left in Western North Carolina. The farms we love and rely on are hurting—crops and equipment have been washed away, and homes and infrastructure have been destroyed. These farmers aren’t just partners—they’re our friends, our community, our family. They’ve always been there for us, providing the food that nourishes our bodies and souls. Now, they need our help to rebuild and make it through this incredibly tough time. We’ve set up a GoFundMe to raise money for several farms we’re personally connected to: ?? Fishel Organics ?? TendWell Farm ?? Clem’s Organic Garden ?? Dare Vegan Cheese ?? River Ridge Organics ?? R Farm https://lnkd.in/ex2KpVVr Every penny raised will go to help them recover what they’ve lost—from tractors to greenhouses, from wages to seeds. We know disaster relief programs take time, and we want to ease the burden on these farmers *now*, so they can focus on healing and rebuilding before the winter sets in. If you can, please donate. Even the smallest amount can help rebuild lives and livelihoods. And if you’re looking for more ways to give, the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association has put together a list of resources. Let’s come together for our farmers. #HelpOurFarmers #WNCStrong #HurricaneHeleneRelief

Did you know that persimmons symbolize luck, longevity, and perseverance? Friday morning as Hurricane Helene made it's way through Florida and Georgia, leaving destruction in its path, we had no idea what was about to take place in Western North Carolina. Hannah, who is part of Happy Dirt’s purchasing team and works closely with our regional farmer-partners, checked in on the farmer-partners who were in Hurricane Helene’s path, including Miles Berry Farm in Georgia. Before the North Carolina organic strawberry season starts, we source organic strawberries from Miles Berry Farm. This year, they grew organic fuyu persimmons for Happy Dirt for the first time. They responded with a photo of one of the persimmon trees and said that the damage around them was overwhelming, their landscape was forever changed, but the persimmons were hanging on. We will now forever see the persimmon fruit as a small, sweet symbol of hope, even when things seem utterly hopeless for so many. We will eat persimmons while we work hard to do what we can to help our farmer-partners, vendors, customers, and their communities in Western North Carolina. And if you see Happy Dirt persimmons at the grocery store, you now know that those persimmons came from the trees that persevered through the storm.