Today we’d like to introduce you to Heather Fritz.
Hi Heather, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I am known for my architectural photography and drone imagery in the Atlanta area and nationwide via my company Bloodfire Studios. And I love this work! But when I started to surrender to God every day, he turned me into a farmer. This is the last thing I ever thought my life would be, and I’ve never been more challenged, fulfilled, and happy.
In 2020 my husband bought some land in Reynolds Georgia for hunting deer. When I went down to check it out and clean the house, I turned in and suddenly felt the space inside my head expand. I felt the space to be creative for the first time in my life. That is saying something considering I’ve been in a creative field my entire career. It was more of an energetic expanse that is hard to put into words: bottom line, I fell in love.
We closed on the property two days before George was shut down for Covid so I got to spend the entire pandemic, going back-and-forth to the farm, with no traffic on the interstate, and becoming endeared to this place. It was a Haven, a sanctuary from the madness, paranoia and fear.
I wanted to do something with this land that meant more than just harvesting venison for our family. I wanted to grow something that was different than the traditional pecan, strawberry and peaches commercially grown in the area. I wanted to grow organically as I am a cancer survivor myself and I wanted to grow something medicinal.
At the beginning of 2022 I read an article about turmeric farmers in South Georgia and got inspired. The seed was planted in me.
I was a 48 year-old first time Farmer, who literally knew nothing about growing food. So I started teaching myself and letting God lead me.
My first real education was a book by Mark Shepherd called Restoration Agriculture. Next I was led to the methodology of Permaculture through books and podcasts. The philosophy synced with my values and I decided this is how God wanted me to grow – with nature not against it.
I was led to a professor 20 minutes from my farm at Ft. Valley State University, a land grant institution with a strong agriculture department. Dr. Bipul Biswas was finishing a 3 year study on turmeric to learn the best formula to grow this amazing rhizome in my zone and sandy soil for the highest yield. He was wonderful and offered to teach me and let me harvest their rhizomes; that is what started our orchard.
The university has been such a helpful resource and I can’t fully express my gratitude to Dr. Biswas for his support. I also hire FVSU students who want a future in agriculture to help me around the farm as well as planting and harvesting.
The goal is to grow what others don’t, create a polyculture food forest, alley crop turmeric and annuals in between, and build a strong organic turmeric market in the US; currently 90 percent is imported.
I’ve spent the last three years learning and growing turmeric, working the land to create a quarter of a mile of drought proofing swales, planting 600 trees, harvesting mulch from our property, and improving the sandy soil with cover crops, compost and cow manure from our neighborhood cattle rancher.
We have 1 acre of turmeric in the ground – harvesting during the winter months – and plan to have 10 acres in the next few years.
The response has been so positive and strong that my dream has expanded to building a turmeric processing facility, empowering others to grow turmeric, and combine grower’s resources to create a CoOp.
I never thought that being a farmer would be my life and fulfill all of my interests; it’s art and design, it’s science, and it’s business. I have also become a leader in American turmeric somehow and recently published a video I created on turmeric you can find on my website.
I have been a vendor at local events like the Taylor-Made Market and The Georgia Strawberry Festival to build awareness, selling only a little. We have been using the harvest to expand the orchard primarily, but this year we begin online sales!
We offer fresh (lightly dried) whole rhizomes from November – August, leaves from July – October, and dehydrated ground turmeric spice year round.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The struggles of a farmer are immense. For me personally, I started as I was entering menopause so hard labor and hot weather is big challenge for me. But I have built up some stamina and discovered that you can’t conserve your energy but rather the more you use, the more you generate over time as you work. I also have to keep blinders on as I can get overwhelmed with the work and our projects. I have to tell myself often that the turtle wins the race. Even though I feel slow or tired, I can get a lot done over time. It’s significant and I have to focus on that.
Another huge challenge since I’m working this business alone, is finding hard working and efficient help when I need it. The students of FVSU has helped me with this as I can now call on those relationships I’ve built for help as needed. I’ve also discovered just how God shows up when I don’t know how I am going to accomplish something. I believe that if God commands it, he will pay for it or send you the resources you need. I have seen him show up many times in this business and save the day. If I didn’t trust in God, I wouldn’t be doing this. Turmeric is a new commodity for the USA and as such, the market has to be built. I don’t know what I’m doing, but I’m confident that God will do what I can not and I trust that the market will be there when I’m ready. I’ve already seen that the market is ready and I can sell the little I have, so I can push the rest out to expand the orchard.
Washing turmeric is a huge challenge as doing this by hand with a hose is inefficient and costly and we need to make money or we can’t function. We are researching and plan to build a wash station that can handle hundreds of pounds of rhizomes quickly. This is a huge barrier to those new to turmeric. Hopefully one day growers will use our processing facility and be a part of a CoOp where we can pool resources and sell consistently to clients and get contracts with larger customers.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am known for my architectural photography and drone imagery via my company Bloodfire Studios. I love this kind of creative work and my clients.
But when I started to surrender to God every day, he turned me into a farmer. This is the last thing I ever thought my life would be, and I’ve never been more challenged, fulfilled, and happy. It truly combines my love for art and design, science, learning, and nature.
With this new business, I get to connect with the community, teaching about the health benefits of turmeric, how to grow and cook with this amazing golden rhizome. I am constantly meeting like-minded people who value God, natural remedies, and organically grown foods. I’m proud to be a part of this new community and I strive to empower anyone who wants to grow turmeric to do so.
What makes you happy?
I believe that happiness is a choice and joy is found in God. As such, God sent me Radar, my dog who has become the unofficial mascot of the farm; you can see him on a lot of my social media posts.
I’m at the farm alone quite often and he is an incredible companion. He was absolutely sent to me by God. I had lost Kona, my chocolate lab, after 14 wonderful years; I was so sad over her loss. I prayed for my next dog and Radar showed up the next day. God knew that I needed a companion who would act as an alarm, a bodyguard and a cuddly velvety bundle of fur. Watching him grow up and pick weeds with me, chase bugs in the turmeric field, and love on and distract the students that come to work – he provides me with such joy.
Pricing:
- Fresh (lightly dried) whole turmeric rhizomes available November – August: $20/lb
- Turmeric leaves available July – October: $2/ea (minimum of 10 leaves)
- Farm fresh dehydrated and ground turmeric available year round in 2.3 oz glass spice jars: $19.00
- Turmeric “Mother” plants available January-March: $20/4 mothers (like bulbs)
Contact Info:
- Website: https://BloodfireOrchards.com
- Instagram: Bloodfireorchards
- Facebook: Bloodfireorchards
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bloodfirestudios
Image Credits
Photos by Heather Fritz, courtesy of Bloodfire Orchards
