Sugar Hill Acres, located on Bethlehem Road in Hartsville, produces everything from cotton and wheat, to vegetables and even raise cattle. After retirement from college athletics in 2010, Tim Griggs took Sugar Hill Acres to a new level as he returned to his roots in the farming community. Today the farm provides locally sourced ingredients for many local restaurants and stores within the Pee Dee area making local foods more accessible to everyone!
In 2003, Sugar Hill Acres, LLC was originally founded to purchase some farmland for a housing development. With a dream to move to the country, Tim and his family created a subdivision and named it Sugar Hill, located in the Byrdtown community. One-hundred and fifty acres of land was purchased. Fifty of those acres were divided into 9 individual lots. The family built their home on one of the lots and sold the others. The additional 100 acres around the property are farmed. A barn on the property, originally built in the 1930s, was restored to its former glory and is currently used to board horses, giving them acres to roam.
After retirement from college athletics in 2010, Tim Griggs returned to his roots in the farming community and started farming with his brother, Bobby Griggs, his father, Robert Griggs, and his cousin, William Hendrix. With their individual farms, talents, knowledge, and shared resources, they can support one another. When first returning to the farming community, Tim took the initiative of expanding the cattle farm by 50 acres and expanded the herd to over 40 Black Angus cows with calves. During that time, he joined forces with six other local cattle farmers and signed a contract with Strauss beef, participating in the organic grass-fed beef program which is distributed across the United Sates. Participation in the program require the calves maintain a strict diet of only their mother’s milk, hay, grass, water, salt block, and approved minerals. They are never exposed to shots or steroids and are never tied up or restrained. All the cows on Sugar Hill Acres are free-range. Tim Griggs is also part of the South Carolina Cattlemen’s Association and Young Farmers Association.
Three years ago, Tim also began a partnership with the Pee Dee Food Hub, which connects quality local foods from Pee Dee farmers to local customers. The Pee Dee Food Hub sells to local restaurants, hospitals, the Carolina foodshare program (CSA), churches, and other local businesses. Additionally, Food Lions in the area also began carrying vegetables from the partnership as long as the farmers are certified as using Good Agricultural Practices (GAP). With this partnership, Sugar Hill Acres has started to grow many new vegetables including broccoli, kale, eggplant, potatoes, and okra.
Sugar Hill Acres makes locally produced foods more accessible to those in the Pee Dee area. Produce grown by Sugar Hill Acres can be found in many dishes at local restaurants including The Midnight Rooster (Hartsville), Miriam’s Kitchen (Hartsville/Byrdtown), Black Creek Bistro (Hartsville), and The South of Pearl (Darlington). They have also provided produce through the Food Hub to Town Hall Restaurant and The Red Bone Alley in Florence. You can find their produce at the Hartsville IGA on N 5th Street in Hartsville, Dixon’s Produce on 151, and occasionally the Hartsville and Camden Farmer’s Markets. They primarily sell produce at Griggs Grocery located across the street from the farm at 2557 Bethlehem Road. Summertime produce is almost over but be on the lookout for their Fall produce at Griggs Grocery which will include collard greens, turnip greens, and cabbage.
Not only does Sugar Hill Acres provide locally sourced foods, they also encourage sustainable growing practices in which they want to share with others. They are planning a Farm Day this Fall for local school groups to visit and learn more about the farming experience.
Sugar Hill Acres
For more information, e-mail Tim at timgriggs855@gmail.com or Jessica, Marketing Director, at Jessica.t.griggs@gmail.com. To check out what Sugar Hill Acres is growing this Fall, follow them on Facebook:
@Sugarhillacreshartsvillesc and Instagram:
@sugar_hill_acres.