About the Farm
Happy Dragonfly Homestead LLC started with a local Jacksonville families dream of homesteading for our community. We combine generations of experience in agriculture with higher education at local institutions such as, The University of Florida, The University of North Florida, and Florida State University to promote sustainability within communities through building small organic sustainable farms. Our homestead was started in hopes of providing for our community through the education about and availability of sustainable, local, USDA Organic foods and practices. We define a homestead as any plot of land that is working to produce food, home products, and other goods in order for a family or community to reduce reliance on mass produced food or products. We are proud to share our farm and knowledge with our neighbors to help others build success through sustainable, USDA Organic agricultural practices and local family farmed food for our community.
Happy Dragonfly is dedicated to working with the land and fostering an environment for life to flourish, specifically plants and animals native to the region. The farm, located in Green Cove Springs, Florida is a wildlife haven brimming with native Florida plants and animals. We are able to boast a large number of different species of animals that call the farm home as we seek to have our farm harmoniously coincide and promote the nature that exists around and throughout. One species that we are particularly proud to host are our Gopher Tortoises. Native to the southeastern United States these tortoises, formerly on the endangered species list, were able to create a network of boroughs all over the farm. As native Floridians ourselves we take great pride in securing the the fitness and survival of our special friends. In order to ensure their enduring success, we have designated acres of land on our farm as "not for development" to keep these areas as close to their natural habitat as possible. We are also incredibly happy to announce that we have seen new baby Gopher Tortoises emerging around the property and hope to continue to foster more generations of this now "Threatened" status land-dwelling reptile. We hope to help provide other native Florida flora and fauna with an environment they can not only survive in, but thrive in. We would like to thank our customers and supporters from the community for helping us achieve this and further our other conservation goals.
Happy Dragonfly is dedicated to working with the land and fostering an environment for life to flourish, specifically plants and animals native to the region. The farm, located in Green Cove Springs, Florida is a wildlife haven brimming with native Florida plants and animals. We are able to boast a large number of different species of animals that call the farm home as we seek to have our farm harmoniously coincide and promote the nature that exists around and throughout. One species that we are particularly proud to host are our Gopher Tortoises. Native to the southeastern United States these tortoises, formerly on the endangered species list, were able to create a network of boroughs all over the farm. As native Floridians ourselves we take great pride in securing the the fitness and survival of our special friends. In order to ensure their enduring success, we have designated acres of land on our farm as "not for development" to keep these areas as close to their natural habitat as possible. We are also incredibly happy to announce that we have seen new baby Gopher Tortoises emerging around the property and hope to continue to foster more generations of this now "Threatened" status land-dwelling reptile. We hope to help provide other native Florida flora and fauna with an environment they can not only survive in, but thrive in. We would like to thank our customers and supporters from the community for helping us achieve this and further our other conservation goals.
Pictured above is a Passion Vine native to Florida, which blooms around at the homestead.
To reduce reliance on outside production we recycle, re-purpose, use organic permaculture techniques, focus on sustainability, and implement environmentally friendly operational processes all while producing quality products that we ourselves enjoy.
Recycling and using packaging that is easy to recycle is very important to us. Our egg cartons, for example, are easy to recycle or compost for your garden. No colored or glossy inks are used on the egg cartons so they would be considered appropriated to use in a U.S.D.A. Certified Organic compost. We also purchase biodegradable packaging as a substitute for plastic when needed.
Re-purposing is a fantastic sustainability tactic. For example we re-purpose many items to use as tarps instead of buying them. We use old billboards or old canvas sails from sail boats as tarps often. In fact many of our chicken tractor roofs are made from old canvas sails, giving them years of added use instead of sitting in a landfill.
Using organic production practices on this farm go hand in hand with permaculture techniques. We consider ourselves beyond organic as we do more than required per the U.S.D.A. certification pertaining to ecology and sustainability. One great example is what we do to prevent the leaching of nutrients into our beloved network of aquifers here in Florida. The leaching of nutrients specifically nitrogen cause eutrophication or the growth of algae resulting in the death of fish. Permaculture techniques we use like hügelkultur (burying logs under the garden) can greatly reduce this in our sandy Florida soils.
Sustainability is what the farm is all about and ensuring the environment will sustain us is at the top of our to do list. We collect rain water, use solar when possible, and provide habitat for beneficial insects instead of buying organic pesticides. In fact buying USDA Organic means that no pesticides are able to be present in any of our final products. This includes our: field crops, citrus, eggs, chickens, turkeys and more. Our processes on the farm are simple and require minimal tools and supplies so we are not throwing out much packaging or maintain heavy machinery. We rent a tractor if we absolutely need one but typically use hand tools and intensive planning to ensure that we do not need heavy machinery. Our golf cart is the heaviest machinery with a permanent place on the farm.
We hope that everything mentioned on this page thus far speaks to the standard and quality of our farm and its products that we are solely accountable for. Now we would like to dive further into what the USDA organic certification ensures, for you the consumer, as our certification agency maintains a close eye on our production processes and product quality. We go through a rigorous yearly application and inspection process to ensure the quality of the land and inputs. All inputs, feed and supplements must go through an approval process before use. The approval process ensures no prohibited substances are used, these include chemicals, hormones, antibiotics, pesticides, heavy metals and other contaminants. The USDA is also concerned with animal welfare as all animals must have access to an outdoor area large enough for them to exercise. Although being that our farm standards are beyond organic we provide more than what the USDA, and most humane animal certifications, consider as "acceptable".
Our animals health and happiness is of the upmost importance to us. We work hard to provide them the life they deserve, as close to their ideal natural life while being as free of pain, worries, and problems as possible. The poultry rotate through pastures full of diverse plant and insect life increasing the flavor and color of our eggs and meat as well as the health and happiness of our animals. We take care to observe the animals daily to determine if they are happy and healthy as they should be. We avoid using plastic feed and water containers as much as possible as that is the standard we hold for ourselves. In many ways we treat the animals as we would want to be treated.
The animals we raise are carefully chosen to fit the farm and customers needs. Our egg layers are high quality breeds that produce an amazingly beautiful array of colors and speckled patterns. Our egg colors have been sampled by local artists and home-builders for their upcoming projects. We like to call them "Jacksonville's most Instagram-able egg". Most of our hens are breeds that enjoy foraging, ensuring our eggs are packed with nutrients. Our whole chickens and turkeys are delicious, juicy, and extremely fresh as we usually do not freeze our meat and will specify if it has been frozen.
Ultimately we can only do so much for sustainability and the health of our community by merely writing about our farm and providing the products we have. Therefore it is our mission to educate others and pass on the passion and knowledge through educational events and tours. Please do not hesitate to reach out to us with anything, we would love to hear from you. Thank you for taking the time to read about our homestead. From our family to yours, have a wonderful day and we hope to hear from you soon!
Find out more about our eggs here
Find out more about our chickens here
Find out more about our eggs here
Find out more about our chickens here