By Scott Grooms
This week’s spotlight is on Miranda and Ryan O’Reilly the owners of Dragonfly Creek Farms, which the couple established in 2021.
Miranda explains the project “We actually started the farm on land that I got from my grandmother here in Walterboro. Walterboro is my hometown, I attended Colleton County High School. Ryan’s from Kentucky, and we met in Charleston, but I had previously worked on several different farms in the Charleston area. I was really interested in sustainable food access, and I want to start a farm. The gift of land really allowed me to start building that dream. When we first started, we didn’t really have a lot of capital to invest into the farm, so we were both working part time off the farm for the first two years. We were able to gain some grants and different community support along the way. We’ve been slowly building the infrastructure in our gardens. Dragonfly Creek grows seasonal vegetables, culinary and medicinal herbs, cut flowers, and raise chicken eggs for farmer’s market.” Most of Dragonfly’s sales are directly to the customers at the Savannah Farmers Market in Forsyth, however they want to reach out more Walterboro customers.
Miranda has a bachelor’s degree, from the College of Charleston, in anthropology, which really sparked her interest in agriculture, even though it’s not like training in agriculture. She realized that the way that we produce and distribute our most essential resources really shapes all of our society and really believes that building a more resilient and sustainable food system will help us resolve the crises that society is facing both economically and environmentally. Her father and grandfather actually did farm in this area for most of their lives, but they were more of a conventional farmers with hundreds of acres growing commodity crops like soybeans and cotton.
After graduated Miranda continued her agricultural education, “I took the growing new farmers program in Charleston, which was an apprenticeship and classroom based training for market scale growing like we do on Dragonfly Creek. I worked on upwards of 10 different farms over the course of four or five years gaining experience. I also have a certification in permaculture design, in herbalism, and permaculture.
Ryan was born in Kentucky and moved to South Carolina as a child. He finished high school in the upstate of South Carolina at Hillcrest High School in Simpsonville. He then went to Charleston and attended the College of Charleston.
Ryan reminisces, “We started dating, and she was going to do a program in western North Carolina, so I took the opportunity to go along with her and start learning about farming.”
Ryan takes care of the construction at Dragonfly Farms. He had constructed a greenhouse, a shed he converted into a walk-in refrigerator, and a processing area. He also built a fence and high tunnel for the crops and installed a large amount of irrigation.
Ryan says, “The irrigation was a big project, I didn’t see it, but hundreds of feet of trenching and installing equipment. Eventually want to build an event pavilion over in the empty space, and where we can have more events that we can host, and have people come out and rent out the space and host their own events. We also plan to plant out fruit trees and have different perennials on walking paths through the property. So really, just a nice recreational space for people to come and enjoy.”
Some of the structures were built with grants, “The grant we got for the high tunnel through the South Carolina Association for Community and Economic Development was about two years ago. The high tunnel is basically like a big greenhouse for in ground production that helps us grow through the winter without losing crops. As part of that grant agreement we donate produce that came out of the high tunnel for a year, and so that was designed to help alleviate food insecurity for people in the local area. We started a program through the Colleton Museum and Farmers Market, where we donated produce each week, and we call it the Walterboro Harvest Exchange. That grant funding has run out, but as part of our mission, we like to make our produce accessible. At markets, we always offer a sliding scale program, so if people can’t afford to pay a market price, we just invite them to pay what they can.”
The O’Reillys have plans for the future, “In five years, I would like to see that we are making enough money that we have help, because right now, for the past few years, has mostly been me and Ryan and some part time seasonal help. We’re about to reach the point and with some grant support as well, where we can hire more production help so that we can focus more on design and building our farm out to have the pavilion, where we can have more community events. We really want to be a productive farm that’s really growing produce, but also educational, where people are coming through and they can learn how to garden the way we do and can learn about native plants. They can learn about ecology. We also want to move into more value added products like juices and pickles, and even herbal teas.”
Miranda adds, “A big part of our mission is called regenerative farming. This is where we try to keep our resources at the same level and not do too much damage, but regenerative is when you really try to renourish the resources that we’re using. We don’t use any chemicals such as herbicides or pesticides, and we don’t do any tilling in our garden. So everything’s done mostly by hand, and we add compost and mulch and things to nourish the soil, nourish the microbiology, and that helps prevent erosion and add more micronutrients to the produce that’s grown because the practices that industrial farming that feeds our grocery stores are mostly designed to where they can produce the most amount of food with the least amount of labor. This creates a healthier food product with more nutrients that’s also more beneficial for the ecology and doesn’t cause pollution.”
Some of the products they grow are radishes, arugula, lettuces, and baby cauliflower. You can also find basil, scallions, baby collards and kale. One unique crop that they grow every year, originates in Western Africa. Some people call it sorrel or Florida cranberry. They are very high in vitamin C and have a tangy hibiscus flavor. This is what really makes hibiscus teas have that punchy taste.
Miranda says, “They’re actually a perennial, so they can go year-round, but they die in frosts here. There’s a short harvest window from the time they start to bloom, the flower fades, and then the calyx grows. The calyx is actually the little bit that grows at the bottom of the flower. So once that gets bigger, you can harvest it.”
Dragonfly Farms is always looking for volunteers, “We definitely have lots of different types of tasks people can help with. So, depending on your skill level and your ability, we can find something for you to help with, for sure.
Whether it’s coming just to visit and tour or to actually volunteer and work with us, we’re definitely open to that. We’ll also be hiring. Whether they have experience or not, we’re willing to train, but if they do have any experience that would be awesome.”
