Daily Inspiration: Meet Casey Reed

Today we’d like to introduce you to Casey Reed. 

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
The beginnings of our farm starts with my father and grandfather raising large vegetable gardens and beef cattle for my entire life. 6R Farms actually began as a direct-to-consumer beef operation in 2012. We sold select cuts of beef at different farmer’s markets around Middle Tennessee for a couple of years when we started to encompass vegetables into the operation. The beef cattle eventually phased out of our operation after a few years when we started focusing more on the fruit and vegetable crops. We have and still grow many different fruits and vegetables with our focus being on strawberries, tomatoes, and sweet corn. We are currently beginning a new chapter in our story with the addition of some on-farm events. May 7th, 2022 we will host our first 6R Farms Strawberry Festival with many handmade crafters and artisans, live music, and of course, lots of strawberries. 

We pride ourselves in growing the best-tasting products that we can and love serving our communities throughout the Mid-State. Our goals have always been to produce local foods that we are proud to serve to our families and to everyone else’s as well. 

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Our road has had many struggles, just like all farmers, I feel. The early struggles with the beef was finding local processers that had on-site USDA inspectors to be able to inspect the meats as it was packaged. (This is a Tennessee state law for all direct-to-consumer beef producers.) Moving on to the struggles with the vegetables, that I try not to think of as struggle but rather challenges that rise to make myself and my family better farmers. However, we do deal with things every year that we have to overcome. Such things as diseases, insect pressures, too much rain, not enough rain, late frosts or freezes in the spring, and the list could go on and on. However, as I said, I feel like these are things that most farmers deal with every year, but in dealing with these factors, it makes all of us better able to deal with them in the future. 

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a 7th generation (that’s as far back as we can find records) farmer. Most that have or do meet me say that I sort of beam with pride about that aspect. I take it to heart that I am a part, albeit a small part, of shouldering the responsibility of feeding friends, family, and neighbors. It is part of my heritage and an even a bigger part of who I am. My love for the land, the crops that we raise, and the people that we serve doesn’t even have a description. 

What are your plans for the future?
We are sort of in a transition phase at the moment with the farm. We have been going to farmer’s markets all around the Mid-State like I had said for right at 10 years. In 2020, we set up an on-farm stand for folks to be able to come directly to the farm to purchase their fruits and vegetables. This year, 2022, we will be moving to on-farm sales only. Our plan is to not sell at any farmer’s markets, but concentrate our efforts in serving everyone that we can at the farm and give our customers the experience in seeing where their food is actually grown before and while they are buying it. 

As I stated earlier, we are also planning some larger on-farm events to enhance that on-farm experience for our customers, and hopefully, do our part in educating customers about where, how, and why their food is grown the way that it is and give them confidence by giving them the chances to actually meet the farmers that grow their food. These events will also give us the chance to showcase some of our amazing friends that we have met over the years that grow, make, or build awesome local handmade items from baked good to woodworking items. This is also part of our goals in connecting our communities together. 

Contact Info:

• Email: crreed.6rfarms@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/6rfarms
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/6RFarms