ABOUT US
Our Story
Soil Shine Farm & Ferments began in 2019 when Olivia and Rocky Ramos started gardening on ⅓ acre in Celo, NC, after returning from a journey to Guatemala and wanting to live closer to the earth. Their garden has since grown to 1.5 acres and they now sell at 8 retail locations in addition to the Yancey County Farmers Market.
Rocky and Olivia deeply value sustainability and living as closely to the earth as possible, and hope that their farming career can bring others closer to the earth too.
Olivia found farming through an interest in healthy eating, cooking, and preventing food waste. She first experimented with fermentation in an attempt to preserve an abundant cucumber harvest at the Appalachian State Sustainable Development Farm. Though she would now consider that first batch of pickles an utter failure, she was hooked on their bubbly, wild flavor and has been improving her fermentation skills ever since.
Rocky loves food, cooking, family, and live music. He was attracted to farming because of the lifestyle it provided, working closely and spending time with his young family. He grew up outside of Atlanta in a tight-knit family, and an interest in learning to grow his own food led him to Western North Carolina.
Rocky and Olivia got married in 2020 in their gardens at Camp Celo, and they welcomed their daughter August in 2021.
Our name Soil Shine represents our deep reverence for the soil. Our garden has mica-rich soil which makes your hands sparkle, which reminds us how magical it is to live in these mountains and get to garden here. The soil’s microbiome is deeply connected to our own microbiome, and we tend our soils using no till, organic, and biodynamic practices to make sure it’s as alive as possible, to make fermented products that are truly alive. (And we love Warren Haynes’ song Soul Shine.)
Our Farm
We manage a 1.5 acre garden in Celo, NC where we grow as many of our ingredients as we can. The quality of our products comes directly from the vitality of our soil, like our motto, “Living food from living soil.” We utilize no-till, organic, and biodynamic methods in our garden to tend the soil ecosystem. We believe an intact soil microbiome produces food with the highest nutrition.
We specialize in growing cabbage, Chinese cabbage, cucumbers, carrots, beets, garlic, onions, scallions, green beans, turmeric, ginger, radishes, and more for our fermented products. We also grow a large quantity of subsistence crops so our family can eat locally year round. Some of our favorites are heirloom dent corn for cornbread and masa, dry beans, potatoes, sweet potatoes and winter squash.
Our farm is located at Camp Celo, a Quaker, farm-based summer camp for children aged 7-13. In addition to running Soil Shine, we also grow vegetables and run gardening programming for children at Camp Celo.
