We recently connected with Melanie Harris and have shared our conversation below.

Melanie, appreciate you joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

Our mission at FarmSouth is “to showcase local growers and artisans, provide a unique market experience for local goods, and unite community members through learning experiences and events.” Our motto is “Celebrating Community”, and that short phrase drives everything we do.
As a former high school agriculture teacher, I was certainly passionate about that area. I always dreamed of opening a farm store when I retired, and after six years of devoting time to family commitments (post-retirement), I finally realized that dream. To make that goal even more special, I was able to purchase the old community grocery store that my uncle had managed when it opened in 1955. The building needed major renovation work, and we spent the next 9 months completing dozens of projects (mostly with community trades people).
When we opened in July 2023, the store showcased approximately 75 different farms and individuals. Currently, FarmSouth boasts nearly 140 producers, growers, artisans, and bakers. It is a beautiful, talented, and hard-working mix of folks, and our customer base is extremely diverse.
This store and its mission are so meaningful to me because its existence allows me to honor the individuals and the stories surrounding farming and agriculture, and it gives me daily chances to highlight the great artisans/artists, makers, and bakers that surround us all.
I love meeting new people everyday, helping to educate our customers about agriculture, visiting farms, and telling the stories of all the wonderful people that I work with.

Melanie, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I began teaching high school agriculture in 1986 and taught in that field for 20 years before moving into school administration and serving as the district Career and Technical Education (CTE) Director. When I retired in 2017, I was so fortunate to help care for our four beautiful grandchildren as their parents worked. In the back of my mind, I knew that I eventually wanted to return to my love of agriculture and farming.

In September 2022, my husband and I purchased an old community store, that my uncle had actually managed when it opened in 1955, and spent almost a year renovating and creating FarmSouth. The “South” pays homage to the South Knoxville (SoKno) community that is so dear to many and has served as my life-long home.

Our market showcases nearly 140 different producers, growers, artisans, and bakers.The store is 2700 square feet of locally-produced foods, baked goods, artisan crafts, vintage items, and almost everything imaginable under one roof. The things that make FarmSouth different is that we are truly “local”, we love to tell the stories of our growers and vendors, we showcase their photos and biographies throughout the store, and we support the “coming together” of diverse groups of people, along with their dreams, ideas, and skills.

We also provide educational workshops and events that honor all age groups (Young Artist Shows, Young Grower Month, Senior Quilting Bee, live music, etc.)

I am most proud of the fact that we work diligently to provide the best products around for our customers, and we know the stories behind the food items and other products that we offer. We know the farms where our foods come from, and we know the production practices. We love to talk with our customers about everything we sell, answering any questions they may have. I am also proud of the fact that we continue to greet many new customers each week, we know scores of our customers by name, we know their stories, and we provide the kinds of services that slipped away decades ago. We carry their bags out, hold their babies while they shop, call them when an item comes in, order special products for them, and take time just to talk about their daily lives. I am proud of the fact that we serve all ages and have products that bring happiness to such a diverse group. Every day is a great adventure and chance to meet new folks!!

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

We knew early in the process that social media would be a crucial piece in the initial success of our business. As we began to solicit vendors for our store, we visited dozens of markets, talked with potential vendors, distributed stacks of business cards with a URL code of our social media platforms, and began putting content and applications on those platforms.

Some of the first posts contained stories and pictures about the vendors who would become “FarmSouth” We used social media to help our followers become acquainted with us and our growers and artisans before we ever opened the store.

When we eventually opened the doors, our customers already felt like they knew so many of our talented makers, and that created the comfortable vibe we were searching for.

Social media also allowed us to highlight events and concerts that we were hosting and brought attention to issues facing agriculture and related fields.

Basically, we have used social media to become acquainted with one another and to create a sense of belonging.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

One of the most challenging responsibilities of my job at FarmSouth is locating, coordinating, and securing locally-produced food items for our customers. That was one of the primary goals of the store, and I could never have imagined how difficult it would be.

I have traveled to farmer’s markets in surrounding counties, visited farms across the state, gone into fields to pick crops myself, and have hauled produce and meat since day one. I have dealt with the lack of certain items in the store due to drought, floods, blight, insects, lack of processing dates, and every other malady known to man.

Some producers preferred not to sell wholesale, holding out for a retail opportunity. Other producers have had minimum orders and quantities that they are willing to sell. Other producers are just wonderful!!

We have had weeks that we have sold out of our produce, and weeks that we had baskets and baskets of leftover food products. We have faced the challenge of finding homes for excess produce, and we have spent hours cleaning up and hauling surplus items.

However, I was determined to make it work, and that has involved lots of calls, referrals, visits, and hours of hard work and travel. There have been many successes and many failures. I learn a little more each month and just continue to amass an extensive contact list and network of growers and producers. I just throw myself out there, drive up to farms, and keep pushing forward each week. It is unbelievably tough (but so rewarding) to bring all of these wonderful foods to our customers.

Contact Info:

• Website: Working on this one. Should be live within the month
• Instagram: @farmsouth_
• Facebook: farmsouthknox

Image Credits

Mary Harding, Melanie Harris