Horseshoe FarmA place to reconnect
Twenty acres minutes from downtown Travelers Rest, surrounded by natural water sources, biodiversity, and unscathed woodland. A working farm run beyond-organic: we don't spray anything, not even organic-approved sprays.
The name
The farm that starts most of the plants for a That Garden Guy install.
Chef and farmer
Horseshoe Farm started as a partnership between chef and farmer. Chef Greg McPhee of The Anchorage and I were in the process of looking for land to farm when the owners of the property that is now Horseshoe serendipitously walked into The Anchorage for dinner.
They had a vision of a working farm on their land, and after some talking and a site visit, we jumped at the opportunity to bring the farm to life. The relationship gave the restaurant more control over its produce and the farmer a consistent buyer. With high standards on both the farm and in the kitchen, unique and specialty crops were grown with the end goal of a culinary product.
As the farm expanded, Horseshoe produce made its way into other local restaurants, the Travelers Rest Farmers Market, and directly to the tables of local food enthusiasts through the farmshare program. Greg has always been a huge part of the local farm-to-table movement and a supporter of small farms and farmers; his support and guidance gave an aspiring farmer an outlet for produce and name recognition that helped Horseshoe blossom.
The rebuild
I now solely own and operate Horseshoe Farm, building on the foundation of that chef-and-farmer partnership.
Named 2019 Urban Conservationist of the Year by the Greenville County Soil & Water Conservation District for starting multiple micro-farms, community gardens, and residential edible installations through That Garden Guy, alongside founding Horseshoe Farm.
The farm soon claimed nearly all of my time: it fed restaurants, the market, and a farmshare community I wrote to every week for years. In 2024, Hurricane Helene took the greenhouse and a season's worth of crops with it, and I wound the farmshare down that fall.
The rebuild is underway, and this time the farm and the gardens work as one system. The farm stand, the workshops, and the pavilion are still on the list. Stay with us for more.
Grown here, planted there
Most of the herbs, vegetables and beneficial perennials that go into a That Garden Guy install are started right here, in Travelers Rest soil and Travelers Rest weather. Plants that germinate, harden off, and grow up on this farm arrive at your garden already used to Upstate clay and Upstate humidity, which is a head start no truck from a distant wholesale greenhouse can offer. Every bed already gets decomposed woodchips from the farm, and the compost operation is underway, so by next spring that goes in too. More of each garden starts its life on this ground every season.
Wholesale and custom starts
The farm's first customers were chefs, and that has not changed. What Horseshoe offers growers and kitchens today is wholesale transplants and custom plant starts: tell me what you want to grow and I start it here, hardened off in Travelers Rest soil and Travelers Rest weather so it arrives ready for Upstate ground. Fall capacity is real and it is finite.
Made on the farm
The farm is not only what grows on it. The live-edge tables, plant stands, wall pieces, cutting boards and spoons are made here too, out of figured local hardwoods, dried and finished on the farm, one piece at a time.
Horseshoe Farm · Travelers Rest, SC · Grown beyond-organic, never sprayed.