ABOUT UPSTATE LOCALLY GROWN ON-LINE FARMER’S MARKET
AT A GLANCE:
Hello, Friends! Upstate Locally Grown Market has been on a hiatus, but we are re-grouping and moving in an even better direction. We will be re-doing much of the info on the site, but the important thing is that you can now sign up for an account and “order” classes, crafts, herbs, veggies, pre-order for markets or events and more. Choose Your vendor’s drop-off site to pick up. It may be that each of us “vendors” may have a different time/day/route arrangement; or even that your choice may be mailed or shipped, so please read carefully, and please touch base with your vendor before ordering. You can read about each vendor on the “growers” page. You can pay via the donate button; and make a note of your vendor’s name. The Locally Grown site will forward You will receive a receipt via email, your vendor will receive your order, and your vendor will receive the payment.

Farmers literally
pick and pack your order
just hours before you pick it up!

Get your shopping done online, local-style at Upstate Locally Grown!
“Upstate Locally Grown Market” is meant to emulate many aspects of a traditional “booths and tables” farmers’ market. The members are buying directly from the grower, at prices set by the grower. The grower describes what is available, supplies photos of the items, and sets the purchase price, as well as the drop-off or pick up arrangements.

WHO ARE WE?
…“great things in business are never done by one person, they’re done by a team of people.”
Steve Jobs — Interview with 60 Minutes, 2003
Every human effort “takes a village”.
We are a cooperative team of sincere and dedicated people; devoted to providing you with the freshest, most delicious, most health-boosting foods available, and the most talented artisans and teachers in the Upstate and Lowlands of SC and Beyond! We invite local sustainable farmers, gardeners, and artisans to list the fruits of their labors on our virtual farmer’s market, so that you may order directly from the producer.

GROWERS"
For more details on our growers, go to Our Growers Page

Our “growers” are a select and very special breed of folks who are known to have sustainability as their standard. All of the growers are selected because they adhere to very strict standards, of which being a “good steward of the land” is a great part.
NO Chemicals: All of us grow without chemical pesticides, herbicides, or hormones.
Animal Welfare: In the case of animals or poultry, each farm is inspected and must practice good animal welfare. No animals are caged; all are free-ranged, and live a life as close to natural for them as a domestic animal can be. Our growers are known in the community to be of fine character, and they each come recommended by a group of their peers. We visit their farms and we personally know their methods of production.

WHAT ARE WE “ABOUT”?
Missions One of our missions is: “Promoting profitable farms which produce healthy food for all people while respecting the natural environment.”
Your dollars go directly to support local farms, artisans, craftspeople, and their families. There is no warehouse, no middleman. You purchase your produce, proteins, and crafts directly from the producer.

“The fork is the most powerful tool to change your health and the
planet; food is the most powerful medicine to heal chronic illness.”
~ Dr. Mark Hyman
Another of our important missions is sharing knowledge with others which will give them the skills to select foods that not only taste delicious, but also foods that heal.

Upstate Locally Grown Market is administered by Putney Farm (Donna and Lenard Putney) with the help of many market helpers.

Proud members of the South Carolina Association of Farmer’s Markets

CONVENIENT
The convenience of ordering directly from home and reaching area farms is a new one, but it is rapidly spreading across the nation.
We founded Upstate locally Grown so that you did not have to travel to every farm and farmer’s market in order to get fresh local sustainable foods and crafts.
VENDOR POWERED FARMER’S MARKET
The system is meant to emulate many aspects of a traditional “booths and tables” farmers’ market. The customers are buying directly from the vendor, at prices set by the vendor. The vendor describes what is available, supplies photos of the items, and sets the purchase price.
INDEPENDENT AND SELF-SUPPORTING
You are a “*C*ommunity *S*upporting *A*griculture”. You are what makes Upstate Locally Grown thrive.
Upstate Locally Grown is an independent cooperative effort between you and your vendors. The market supports itself without the benefit of grants. We have no salaried employees, and depend entirely on volunteer services.

*If you like what we are doing and would like to lend a hand or some of your talents, please contact Donna

What they are saying about Upstate Locally Grown

“Not only does Donna’s program provide us with great-tasting and nutritious farm products, it also provides greater economic opportunities for our local farmers,” says Geoff Zehnder, coordinator of Clemson University’s Sustainable Agriculture Program.

For Putney, eating organic is fiercely personal. At nineteen, newly graduated from nursing school, she was misdiagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Within a few years she was totally disabled. She sold Tupperware, and that’s when a colleague referred her to a holistic doctor who treated her for a virus. “That began my interest in whole foods and herbs,” she says.

She and her husband Lenard own ten acres in the Friendship Community of Honea Path and raise about 300 laying hens, grow a handful of fruits and vegetables, and cultivate a variety of edible flowers and herbs.

Putney also finds herself laying the groundwork to usher Upstate Locally Grown into its next phase. She envisions including more small-scale growers like herself to the market, incorporating a teaching component, and setting up a distribution system that will streamline deliveries and conserve resources.

As co-op members become more involved, Putney sees even greater growth ahead for the organization. “I really, truly love our members … and regardless of socio-economic background, we all love real, fresh foods, and we’re willing to do what we have to in order to get local foods into our homes.”
-Heidi Coryell Williams