The simple hearth of a small farm is the true center of the universe.
Porter Valley Farms
339 Concord Church Road
Pickens, SC 29671
(864) 640-2575
About Us
We are a small startup family farm, located on 50 acres in the beautiful lake and mountain county of Pickens in upstate South Carolina. Our farm is in a secluded valley with rolling green pastures, streams, and hardwoods. We are starting out slow with pastured eggs. From there we hope to branch into pastured chicken, pork, lamb, and beef. We will offer our products at local stores and farmer's markets, but we hope to one day have an on-site store where we may sell anything farm related. We also hope to build an event barn and get into the entertainment side of agriculture with farm tours and on-site events. We want our farm to be an experience we can share with our customers, one that connects them to a time and place in the past when life moved at a slower pace and things were simple.
We are also in the process of getting our social media machine rolling. Be sure to follow us on instagram @portervalleyfarms, follow our blog at https://portervalleyfarms.blog/ and look for us later on Facebook. This journey will be a marathon, not a race, and we hope that you will join us on this adventure as we grow our farm.
Look for our pastured eggs at the following locations
Clemson Area Food Exchange
Bee Well Honey Natural Food Market
Bee Well Honey Natural Food Market
The Clemson Area Food Exchange (CAFE) is an online market place of locally grown and produced food that makes it possible for farmers to work together to meet the growing demand for local, sustainable food in upstate South Carolina.
Farmers benefit from the marketing, packaging, selling, and delivery of their produce and prepared foods, while consumers get to shop dozens of farms within a 50 mile radius of Clemson, right from the comfort of their own home.
Check them out. There's no commitment. Buy what you want as often as you want. You don't have to order every week. Individual farm orders will be combined for easy pickup in Clemson, Anderson, Seneca, Easley, and Pickens.
Bee Well Honey Natural Food Market
Bee Well Honey Natural Food Market
Bee Well Honey Natural Food Market
Bee Well Honey Natural Food Market, a division of Bee Well Honey Farm & Bee Supply, is a family owned company servicing local foodies with natural foods, Bee Well Honey, soaps, skin care products, vitamins, supplements, and Bees Beans coffee. Give them a call at 864-897-9955 or , better yet, drop by for a visit. They are located at 205 Hampton Avenue in Pickens, SC.
https://www.beewellhoneynaturalmarket.com
The Farmacy
Bee Well Honey Natural Food Market
Hometown Market, Clemson
The Farmacy is a local grocery and natural market in Easley, SC. The owners are passionately driven to create access to fresh, local produce and goods for people in the Easley area. Veggies, meats, dairy, eggs, coffees, teas, natural bath, beauty, and cleaning products are just a few of the products offered in this specialty grocery store. Their phone number is 864-442-6777. Visit them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/thefarmacyeasley/
or visit them in person at 508 S B St, Easley, SC 29640.
Hometown Market, Clemson
Hometown Market, Clemson
Hometown Market, Clemson
Hometown Market, located on 190 New Hope Road in Clemson, South Carolina, provides fresh fruit and produce, eggs, baked goods, meats, jams and canned goods, cheese, artisanal soap, and so much more. The items at Hometown Market are mostly produced in Clemson and surrounding counties of South Carolina. Hometown Market offers a place to enjoy fresh, locally produced foods, support local farmers, and visit with friends.
Visit their website at www.hometownmarketclemson.com
or give them a call at
(864) 533-2869
Eggs! Eggs! Eggs!
Hometown Market, Clemson
Eggs! Eggs! Eggs!
This past year, in addition to our brown eggs (a customer favorite), we offered a variety of colored eggs. Although they were a huge hit with our customers, we will be phasing out our colored eggs in 2021 and we will also be switching our brown layers from Rhode Island Reds to Gold Comets.
Here on the farm, our eggs are gathered daily. Prior to packaging for delivery, each egg is hand washed, towel dried, and inspected for cracks and imperfections.
In addition to forage, our laying hens are fed daily with a high protein feed specifically designed to support egg laying and formulated to support healthy, vigorous birds.
See next article for more details on the feed (layer pellets) our hens consume.
Tucker Milling
Hometown Market, Clemson
Eggs! Eggs! Eggs!
We feed all of our hens Super Lay 22 pellets from Tucker Milling. This feed is specifically designed to support egg laying, and is formulated to support healthy, vigorous birds.
> Added calcium for strong egg shells.
> Quality nutrients for nutritious eggs and birds that thrive.
> Vitamins A, D3, E, and B12 for healthy immune system.
> Contains yeast culture to promote digestive health.
Tucker Milling is located on the Tennessee River in Guntersville, Alabama. All of their products are manufactured with grains and ingredients grown and sourced in North America.
Local Hens
Local Hens
Local Hens
Our farm is registered with Local Hens. Over the past year we proudly packaged and sold our eggs in their cartons. Local Hens helps farmer connect with consumers across America. They also offer farmers egg cartons and other merchandising material to help them bring fresh, wholesome goods to local markets. Just go to their website and enter your zip code to find farms near you.
While we still support Local Hens, in 2021 we will be switching to a new carton in hopes of saving some money and passing that savings on to our customers.
eat healthier and minimize your exposure to covID19
Business is Booming at the Clemson Area Food Exchange
If you live in the upstate area of South Carolina, I want to encourage you to check out the Clemson Area Food Exchange. It allows members to shop local farms from the convenience of their own home. Participating farms are located within a 50 mile radius of Clemson, SC and adhere to strict standards to ensure that everything produced is chemical-free. All member farms are dedicated to supplying their customers with the freshest and highest quality vegetables, herbs, mill products, dairy, eggs, meats, fruits, flowers, and transplants. Producers post their goods for sale and orders are taken from 9:00 pm Friday night through noon the following Monday. Goods are delivered on Tuesday and then distributed to customer pickup sites in Clemson, Anderson, Pickens, Easley, Seneca, and Salem. What better way to support your local farmers and at the same time, promote a healthier lifestyle by eating fresh local foods and minimizing your exposure to COVID19 by avoiding large, crowded supermarkets? It makes sense and it is really catching on. Orders are at a nine year high and membership is literally growing by the hour. What are you waiting on? There is even an app you can download from the app store that will let you shop from the convenience of your phone. Sign up today!
It's a matter of taste!
We are now certified SC grown
The Certified South Carolina program is an exciting cooperative effort with farmers, processors, wholesalers, retailers and the South Carolina Department of Agriculture (SCDA) to brand and promote South Carolina products. When consumers can easily identify, find and buy South Carolina products, they are taking home fresher, tastier foods and supporting local farmers.
poultry operations
Farm Fresh Brown Eggs
Some Interesting Facts
Some Interesting Facts
In 2021 we will be switching our brown egg layers from Rhode Island Reds to Gold Comets. We originally chose the Rhode Island Red because it is the most popular American heritage breed in our area and very possibly the most popular in the entire country. They are dual-purpose birds (meat and eggs) and prolific layers of large to extra-large brown eggs. We decided to switch to Gold Comets because they are hands down the best brown egg layers available, producing as many as 330 eggs per year, per bird. They are also a bit smaller than the Rhode Island Red and thus have a better feed-to-egg conversion ratio.
The Gold Comet is a "sex-link" chicken, meaning that the sex of the bird is identifiable at the time of hatching. A sex-link is not a true breed, but rather a hybrid. The Gold Comet is a cross between a New Hampshire rooster and a White Rock hen. These birds are also known as Cinnamon Queens, Red Stars, Golden Buffs, and Gold Sex Links.
Some Interesting Facts
Some Interesting Facts
Some Interesting Facts
When you buy eggs from Porter Valley Farms, you are buying pastured eggs from hens that live within enclosures that are large enough to allow the birds to free-range for forage and insects.
Consider this. In the United States, USDA free-range regulations currently apply only to poultry and indicate that the hens have been allowed access to the outside. The USDA regulations do not specify the quality or size of the outside range, nor the duration of time the hens must have access.
The USDA Food and Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) requires that chickens raised for meat have access to the outside in order to receive the free-range certification. There is no requirement for access to pasture and there may be access to only dirt or gravel. Free-range chicken eggs, however, have no legal definition in the United States. Likewise, free-range and pastured egg producers have no common standard on what the terms mean. This is why it is important to know where your eggs come from!
Healthier Eggs
Coming Fall, 2021 - Duck Eggs
Coming Fall, 2021 - Duck Eggs
Look at the picture above. The egg on the bottom is a certified organic egg purchased from a national chain supermarket. The egg on the top is one of Porter Valley Farms Rhode Island Red pastured eggs. You can see the difference and you can certainly taste the difference, but did you know that pastured eggs are healthier for you? They have…
- 1/3 less cholesterol
- 1/4 less saturated fat
- 2/3 more vitamin A
- 2x more omega-3
- 3x more vitamin E
- 7x more beta carotene
So, be sure to buy local and be sure to visit the farm where your eggs are being produced. Find out if they are truly pastured or free-range. Know what you are eating! Call and arrange a visit to our farm. We’d love to show you our hens!
Coming Fall, 2021 - Duck Eggs
Coming Fall, 2021 - Duck Eggs
Coming Fall, 2021 - Duck Eggs
Khaki Campbell Ducks
Our flock of Khaki Campbell ducks are growing fast and should be laying by October. These ducks are one of the most popular domesticated breeds in the U.S. and produce extra large, creamy white eggs (although some eggs will have a slight green tint).
Here is a link to some great information on these ducks.
https://www.thehappychickencoop.com/khaki-campbell-duck-everything-you-need-to-know/