Savannah River Farms: from the field to the kitchen
Photo by Lily Avery
Written by Lily Avery
If you’re one of SCAD’s meat-consuming students and are grabbing a meal at one of the dining halls, then chances are your food came from Savannah River Farms (SRF). Although the SRF are most well known for their work with the Savannah Food Co-op and Forsyth Farmer’s Market, their USDA certification now allows them to serve SCAD students and faculty the best organic, humanely raised meat they can.
The owners of SRF, husband and wife team Ben and Kellie Deen, aren’t new to the Georgia farming scene. Ben is a fifth-generation crop and livestock farmer who brought Kellie into the business when they married 30 years ago. Like most farmers, Ben and Kellie didn’t start off with much. They started their initial few years with only five chickens, until eventually Kellie decided it was time to further their production.
Suddenly, five chickens turned into five hundred. Not long after, pigs, cows, donkeys and a billy goat joined their farm family. They have made great progress since then: currently, they’re the largest hog farm in the tri-county area, serving 25 restaurants in the Savannah and Augusta region in addition to the SCAD facilities, the Savannah Food Co-op and Forsyth Farmer’s Market.
The Deen family didn’t begin raising and selling as they do now, though. Before 2010, they functioned like most commercial farms do, minus the antibiotics. They would raise the calves and hogs before loading them onto a truck to be slaughtered. However, after years of watching their animals be shipped off, unaware of their final destination, the family decided to explore alternate options.
“It just made us sad when we saw them being put on a trailer … so I was looking on the computer one day and saw where people were really into this humanely raised, locally sourced, no antibiotics, and that’s the way we did it anyways, so we just started selling at Savannah Food Co-op and that was the first place we sold,” said Kellie Deen.
The Deens’ operation has remained the same for four and a half years now. Along with the recent contract with Bon Appetit and getting USDA certified, they’ve built their own killing floor so the animals don’t have to travel to a slaughterhouse. They season, process and package all of their meats on the farm as well.
Just in the last year, they’ve progressed from selling 18,000 pounds of sausage in 2013 to 30,000 pounds of sausage in 2014. According to Kellie, their possibilities are endless for the upcoming years.
“We’ve been very fortunate. The food is good; the people like it,” she said. “At least that’s what they tell us.”
Savannah River Farms sells their products every Saturday at the Forsyth Farmer’s Market. Their meats can be ordered through the Savannah Food Co-op, and even individual orders are accepted.
If you’re craving a good sausage pizza right now, then head down to one of the SCAD dining halls and try their signature pork sausage.
