A teaching farm in Okeechobee, Florida

Varri Green Farm is a twenty-acre teaching farm on the black muck soil of the Lake Okeechobee berm, across the street from the lake, on the old natural berm from before the Herbert Hoover Dike. Centuries of storms laid down about three feet of black muck here. Farmer Sal has grown chemical-free on this land since 2003, with no herbicides, pesticides, or chemicals. Everything is of the earth and natural.

Four acres are vegetables. Seven acres are exotic fruit and nut trees. The farm tends more than sixty varieties of fruit, and more are going in the ground, plus the vegetables that will grow in Zone 10. Rare fruit here includes mamey sapote, jaboticaba, mangosteen, miracle fruit, canistel, and akee. The full list is on What We Grow.

This is a teaching farm, not a profit farm. The mission is to help people learn sustainable living, community, and homesteading, and to show what real food grown without chemical shortcuts looks and tastes like. People learn by touching soil, growing food, and doing the work. The farm will be left to the public, with people working the land so the teaching continues.

Over the years the farm has hosted tours of the gardens and fruit trees, children's workshops, Slow Food dinners, music, and sweat lodges. Sal and volunteers worked the Fort Pierce Farmers Market at the Marina on Saturdays and the Palm Beach Gardens GreenMarket on Sundays for over fifteen years, and may return to market again. Produce is only available in season. The farm closes for the summer because of the high bug populations and the intense heat, and to let the land regenerate.

The farm is rebuilding at the moment. Volunteers are always welcome. To volunteer, arrange a tour, or ask about upcoming events, call 772-333-8687 or email sal@varrigreenfarm.com. The farm is at 12847 Hwy 441 SE, Okeechobee, FL 34974.

In 2009 the Martin County Conservation Alliance honored the farm for protecting the environment with organic farming methods and for promoting community gardens. In 2013 Slow Food Gold & Treasure Coast gave the farm its Snail of Approval.