Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Rusty Ducworth. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Rusty, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

My mission was to bring awareness and advertisement to the locals that work around me. I’m constantly searching for a closer place to obtain an ingredient, whether it be pork, rice, chicken, seasonal vegetables etc. The folks that I obtain the products that makes my food taste the way it does simply don’t get enough credit. Their work is difficult and when it comes to crops specifically, this farmers depend a lot on weather among other things. Allowing room in my menu and on my social platforms to shine alittle light on the ones that help make it happen keeps the fire burning to our mission. Finding sustainable products as close to us as possible.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m 34 years old residing in a small upstate South Carolina community. I’ve worked most of my life as a firefighter/EMT. Cooking began as an escape from some of the tolls my career choice takes on the mind and body. It was strangely soothing. I started with a full blown love for BBQ and cooking over live fire. I’ve always had an old soul so I’ve only ever cooked BBQ the old fashioned way with hardwood logs and a fire. I went a step further and payed respects to my region of BBQ and began with whole hog BBQ and traditional sides that were made of ingredients sourced locally. I began to explore food history and southern foodways specific to the Appalachian region and fell in love with that. In late 2021, Harvest Whole Hog BBQ transitioned to just Harvest. It opened up the shackles of being tied to BBQ and allowed other avenues to be explored to help let’s us transfer our passions for other foods to the consumer. One thing I think that sets us apart is we do what we want when it comes to our pop up, our social media activity (we haven’t posted since January 2022 haha) There was a time where trends and keeping up with all of that would force me specifically to post or create content and it would lead to burn out. I do this for fun, and I won’t run the risk of not enjoying it anymore. The headspace and escape it brings is much to valuable to risk growing a hating for.

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

Three times I’ve been on the cusp of signing leases to open a brick and mortar restaurant and just certain things would not line up. It’s devastating at first but I feel that if you’re truly passionate about what you do then you just simply keep plugging along and doing what you can with what you got. I’ve had aspirations to open and place where folks can enjoy the cuisine we offer for as long as I can remember and one day that might just happen but I have learned to stay grounded in the fun of it and if my time comes to have doors and tables with chairs and an atmosphere to enjoy our food in comes along and everything is right then I reckon we’ll have a grand opening of sorts with all our supporters, friends and loved ones from over the years.

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

It’s real simple for me. Just be real. Post when you have content that you are passionate about. Posting good photos everyday of every meal you make really gets old. Don’t get caught up in the algorithms or hashtags etc. just do you and let’s that growth come organically. I focus on my local followers because those are the ones that show up and show out to support what we do. I try to be a light in the community. I have followers from all over the globe and I appreciate all of them but I just continue to post what I want and not what some marketing agent or group is saying to post. If my heart and head aren’t fully in it then I’ll just leave it in the camera roll.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: www.Instagram.com/rustyducworth

Image Credits
Rusty Ducworth