Talladega Landowner Shares Gardens of Huckleberry Hill

By Alice Love, Agricultural Outreach Liaison, NRCS, Auburn, AL

Sandra Simone is among the few people in Alabama that is slated as Organically Certified, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). She operates and owns approximately 100 acres in Talladega County called the Huckleberry Farm. Her farm is named this because of the tremendous amount of volunteer huckleberries that grow there.

In October 2007, the local paper "Daily Home" did an excellent article on Ms. Simone titled "Adding Spice to Life…Naturally."  It highlighted her journey to becoming a CSA farmer.

Simone works closely with the Talladega SWCD/NRCS and Coosa Valley RC&D staff to address her resource concerns and conservation needs. Her primary produce are vegetables and fruits. She also raises goats and provides farm tours.

Recently, Simone was among twenty-six minority farmers that completed the Small Farmer Agricultural Leadership Training Institute in Washington, DC. Three Alabama producers (Barbara Shipman, Barbour County; Sandra Simone, Talladega County; and Ernest Tyson, Geneva, County) successfully completed the two-year course. The Honorable Tom Vilsack, USDA Secretary of Agriculture, presided over the graduation ceremony held at USDA Headquarters in the Jamie L. Whitten Building on March 27, 2009.

This program focused on the success of agricultural entrepreneurs, promoting sustainability of small family farms, enhancing decision making skills, and assisting in leadership development to become successful agribusiness managers and community leaders. The uniqueness of this program is that it is the only one in the country targeting minority, socially disadvantaged and/or limited resource agricultural producers.

Simone will make good use of her hard-earned farm skills and her Small Farmer training as she actively seeks avenues to benefit her farming operation and to help educate others.

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