Sylvia and Al Ganier’s 350-acre family farm, Green Door Gourmet, touches roughly one mile of the Cumberland River in Davidson County, overlooking Bells Bend. The farm once hosted cattle, pigs, and row crops, but today Green Door Gourmet is a farm destination, with a culinary-inspired CSA program, a bountiful farm store full of fresh produce and local goods, and a calendar of community events that bring people together.
Green Door Gourmet is part of a dwindling farm population in Davidson County (1% of land in farms) working to farm well in an ever-urbanizing area. “We are part of the green space that is helping with carbon, that is helping with water quality, that is helping with pollinators, and with refuge for wildlife. Every time a new building goes up, that wildlife is going to be displaced,” Sylvia says.
While Sylvia’s love of the environment drives many of the farm management practices, it’s her love of her customers that really makes those decisions easy. “If you don’t take care of the soil, you’re not going to take care of the plant and then you’re not going to take care of the people who are buying our product. And there has to be that direct link. You are what you eat eats,” she shares. Sylvia farms with the belief that the best soils produce the most nutrient dense food.
