Our Story
Daffodil Spring Farm is a community-scale farm located in the pastoral Valle Crucis community of Watauga County.
We raise pastured pork and delicious vegetables. Daffodil Spring Farm practices ecological and ethical agriculture, growing food that is good for the land, animals, and our community. Farmed by Dave Walker, Daffodil Spring Farm complements his local-food system work and his passion for growing toward a just future. The name of the farm comes from the daffodils that show before our last snow. They're hopeful and tell us that the mountains will soon be green again, full of new vibrant colors.
Pork Production Standards
Daffodil Spring practices ecological and ethical agriculture and holistic land management. This means that pigs are frequently rotated every two weeks to fresh pasture. What the pigs have rooted up is sowed with a cover crop mixture of buckwheat, crimson clover, and annual rye in the spring and summer and winter wheat and crimson clover in the fall. This builds our soil and provides food for the animals. It also makes for a pollinator paradise when the cover crop flowers!
Between 2017-2019, Daffodil Spring sourced its heritage-breed pigs from Melinda Brown of Never Ending Farm in Sugar Grove, NC, a Certified Animal Welfare Approved farmer. Beginning in 2019, Daffodil Spring purchased a sow from Never Ending Farm and began work towards becoming a closed herd, raising Tamworth-Hereford cross pigs and Berkshire cross pigs.
To supplement the pigs' food, they are fed a GMO-free feed, by hand, twice a day. The GMO-free feed includes wheat midds, milo, and black oil sunflower seeds and is sourced from the locally-owned feed store. The pigs always have fresh, clean water available and ample room for them to root and graze. Feeding them by hand, allows us to assure that they remain healthy and makes them easier to work with and better natured.
Potatoes
All-Blue
Delicious dark blue/purple potato with a white ring and purple inside is an heirloom variety sourced from Wood Prairie Family Farm in Maine. All-Blue is also known as Blue Marker, Fenton Blue, and River John Blue.
Russian Banana Fingerling
Nutty and delicious. The Russian Banana Fingerling is an easy favorite of many customers at the High Country Food Hub. My parents frequently use the Russian Banana in potato soups. I like to bake the smallest of the lot whole with salt and olive oil. However you enjoy them, be sure to get them while you can because this super popular spud sells quickly at the farmers’ market.
Adirondack Blue
The medium-sized Adirondack Blue is a deep, dark purple all the way through. This means that it has lots of anthocyanin, known to suppress colon cancer among other health benefits. Adirondack Blue was first crossed in 1993 and released in 2003 by Cornell University potato breeders Robert Plaisted, Ken Paddock, and Walter De Jong.
Maritime Blue Fingerling
Silver, purple, and long with a blue nose, Maritime Blue is also known as Ruby Pulsiver's Bluenoser. According to the Kenosha Potato Project, “Canadian collector Garrett Pittenger reports that this is one of three known Canadian Maritime ‘blues’ - this variety was grown commercially on Tancook Island, Nova Scotia and was traditionally boiled with salt fish.” A favorite of many High Country Food Hub customers due to the nutritional benefits of its purple coloring, this starchy potato will turn more silver-gray when cooked and is said to go exceptionally well cooked in the bottom of a pan with a whole chicken on top.
Kennebec
Tried and true, the hard-working Kennebec is a solid white potato with a dependable fluffy, creamy taste. Most of Daffodil Spring Farm’s Kennebec potatoes are on the smaller size, compared to those that you might find at the grocery store.
Rob’s Russet
Sourced from long-time High Country seed savers Marilyn Derr and Rob Danford, Rob’s Russet is an excellent keeper.
Purple Waldo II
Sourced from long-time High Country seed savers Marilyn Derr and Rob Danford, the Purple Waldo II is an amazing provider, yielding lots of long sturdy tubers — the shape of a fingerling, but on the larger size.
Red Norland
The medium to very large Red Norland potato is one of the first to find its way to the farmers’ market each season. It can even be dug as a “new potato” in late June! As the summer progresses, its skin hardens and keeps well. I like to roast these waxy potatoes with herbs, but they also make a great complement to any boil.
Masquerade
AmaRosa Fingerling
Pink Yip
White No. 9
Rob & Marilyn’s Reds
Adirondack Red
The medium-sized Adirondack Red potato is similar to the Adirondack Blue potato and was released in 2004 by Cornell University potato breeders Robert Plaisted, Ken Paddock, and Walter De Jong. Its known for its striking red color all the way through, which holds up in cooking and makes for a great rainbow effect on the dinner plate.
The Farm
Over the last several years, Daffodil Spring has expanded to 3 plots in Valle Crucis, about 15 minutes outside of Boone, NC.
This includes land at the the FIG Farm in Valle Crucis's Upper Valley. The FIG Farm is designed to provide beginning producers with a relatively low-risk entry into farming by providing land, production and marketing infrastructure to help farmers establish lasting farm enterprises in the High Country.
The FIG Farm property is owned by the Valle Crucis Conference Center and is under an agricultural conservation easement with Blue Ridge Conservancy.
Within sight of the FIG Farm is my grandmother's homeplace where I also raise finishing pigs in a forested lot and in a small meadow.
Several miles down the road in Valle Crucis’s Lower Valley, Daffodil Spring leases land from Blue Ridge Conservancy that is a part of the Cooper Farm, adjacent to the Valle Crucis Community Park and the Original Mast General Store. For 2021, this prime bottomland will be Daffodil Spring’s primary potato plot and is currently in cover crop production.
Where Can I Find Daffodil Spring Farm?
The High Country Food Hub operates year-around as an online farmers’ market for locally-grown food, located at 252 Poplar Grove Rd. in Downtown Boone. To purchase Daffodil Spring Farm products online, please click here.
Alternate CSA Pick-up Locations
For 2021, CSA participants can also choose to pick-up their Pork or Potato CSA at the Tuesday afternoon King Street Market (May-October) or at the farm.
To learn more about these alternate pick-up locations and days of the week, please email: daffodilspringfarm@gmail.com.
The Boone's Winter Farmers' Market offers an indoor retail space to local farmers and producers during the winter months and provides community members an opportunity to continue to access quality, local products from December through April, when many other venues are not available.
The market takes place at the Watauga Agricultural Conference Center, in Boone, every Saturday, 9am-12pm. The Watauga Agricultural Conference Center is located at 252 Poplar Grove Road Boone, NC 28607. Click here to follow its Instagram.
Due to COVID-19, Daffodil Spring Farm is not participating in Boone’s Winter Farmers’ Market for 2020-2021.
The King Street Market takes place on Tuesdays from 4:00pm- 7:00pm, from May through the end of October.
Located in the grassy area in front of the Watauga County Social Services building and the Watauga County Health Department, it is a stop on the ApplCart route and features an ATM machine.
The King Street Market is located at 132 Poplar Grove Connector # C, Boone, NC 28607. Click here to follow its Instagram.
For Direct Sales
To place an order, please email: daffodilspringfarm@gmail.com
If you live or work in Valle Crucis, NC, you are eligible for a 5% good-neighbor discount.
If you would like to purchase large orders (+ $150), A 10% bulk-order discount can be applied.
Restaurant and catering orders accepted, please inquire for pricing and delivery options at:
daffodilspringfarm@gmail.com
Instagram: DaffodilSpringFarm
