Delvin Farms' Green Revolution Is A Family Affair

by Jas Faulkner

“People are not going to buy produce with spots on them.”  

Family matriarch Cindy usually had a lot of faith in the next generation of the Delvin Family.  With one son having recently returned from a stint in the Peace Corp and a daughter who had found a new mission in life inspired by her urban middle school students, the idea of taking the farm one step further into a movement that could make the world a better place seemed well-intentioned, but far fetched.

The Delvins were already successful farmers.  From the beginning of their business in 1972 they had built up a clientele that included household names to most Middle Tennesseans such as Kroger and Shoney’s.  Their thriving twenty-five year old farm wasn’t in need of any kind of makeover.

Amy Delvin remembers that summer in 1997:

“During my brother’s time in the Peace Corp, he had observed farmers using methods that were passed down from one generation to the next.  He came home and tried to tell our parents that there was a way to have successful crops without using conventional technology: pesticides, chemicals, GMOs. 

 “Dad gave him a section of land so he could try it. He used organic methods to grow heirloom tomatoes, for which he got four times as much as Dad got for his conventional tomatoes. That was all it took for him to see that people would be willing to buy organic produce.”

Of course the bottom line was a consideration, but Hank and Cindy Delvin had always taught their kids the importance of maintaining a strong set of principles behind whatever they chose to do.  In a family that valued learning, growth, and doing things the right way, exploring more sustainable ways to farm was the logical next step.

 “My parents originally focused on one or two kinds of tomatoes, greens, and very  traditional, familiar  varieties of produce. We grow a greater variety of vegetables now.  People are more aware of what’s out there and so the demand is greater –not only for organic produce- but heirloom varieties as well.

“Growing up on a farm, you’re aware of the importance of taking good care of the land.  We began to educate ourselves so we could do what was necessary to become a USDA certified organic farm.”

 Part of that transition included expanding and changing their customer base. This would mean reaching out to a new kind of consumer.

Amy Delvin Tavalin prepares for
an afternoon at the Farmers Market.

Amy Delvin Tavalin had returned to the farm after years of teaching at a middle school in Baltimore.  During a discussion of Harper Lee’s “To Kill A Mockingbird”, she had what some people would call a “lightbulb moment”. 

“We had just read the scene where Jem and Scout were in Boo Radley’s collard patch and one of my students asked me what a collard was.  I realized that these kids grew up never knowing what it was like to have someone in the family living and working on a farm.  Many of them didn’t even have grandparents who gardened.  They had no sense of where their food came from.”

She implemented some opportunities for her students in Maryland to learn more about farming, but realized her family farm back in College Grove, Tennessee offered an opportunity to educate children (and adults) about the importance of agriculture.  Working with educators in Tennessee she created programs that gave kids a day on the farm who might have gone their entire childhood without the chance to see a tomato ripening on the vine.

The new model of agribusiness they were following would offer the public another way to be more directly involved with getting their food from the field to the table.  By 1998, the 140 acre farm* was certified organic and in 1999 they began their CSA with 90+ subscribers. The philosophy was straightforward: provide a way for consumers to buy their produce directly from the people who grew it.  This would eliminate any mystery about the identity or the producer or the quality and safety of the product.

Ironically, simplification for customers meant a whole host of challenges and expenses for the Delvins.  The certification process was much more than just a matter of paperwork and fees.  Inspectors had to flown in, housed and fed, all at the expense of the Delvins.  In order to be able to identify as USDA Certified Organic, they had to submit to inspections of the land, the equipment and all of their paperwork, which has to account for the chain of custody and provenance of the seeds they use. 

Is it worth it? The Delvin Family seems to think so, and so do the over seven hundred subscribers who participate in their CSA.  Every year they enjoy weekly boxes of in-season produce from the farm that now grows over 80 varieties of organic fruits and vegetables.

When asked what plant had grown the most in popularity, Amy says it has to be kale. 

“We were the sole provider of kale to Shoney’s for a long time.” 

According to Shoney's logic,
kale was just too pretty to eat.

Anyone who ever visited a Shoney’s is probably trying to recall seeing kale on the menu. The truth is, it was never offered as part of their fare.  Diners certainly saw it on every plate to emerge from the kitchen, not to mention all over their salad and breakfast bars.  Remember those large, dark green leaves underneath certain entrees and buffet offerings and the curly green sides on every plate and around the edges of the buffet stations?  That wasn’t parsley, it was kale from Delvin Farms.   

“That’s right,” says Ms Tavalin,  “One of the healtiest items we grow was originally used as a decoration.  We sold them boxes upon boxes of kale and my mother would always try to talk them into cooking it.  She told them they could serve it just like any other green.”

Chef and slow food activist Rick Bayless advises anyone who wants to eat better to "get your food from the periphery of the store."  Take it one step further and get your food from the remembered periphery of a Middle Tennessee culinary institution.  This time, it's not about eating something on a dare from your big sister, it's tasting what you've been missing.

*Delvin Farm has grown considerably since then.  They now have 220 acres.