Hickory Cove Orchards and Blueberry Dairy

Philip and Linda Hopkins retired from busy careers in medicine in 2015 to farm full time, and what began as a humble six tree family apple orchard is now a five acre working farm of certified organic apple and blueberry orchards alongside free range chickens, rabbits, pigs and goats. They grow without synthetic chemicals or pesticides, and write that building healthy soil to produce healthy plants is part of the legacy they want to leave. What they grow is sold locally, collected at the farm by arrangement or picked up from their stall at the Market Square Farmers Market in Knoxville.

The dairy side of the farm, Blueberry Dairy, is built on a herd of Nigerian Dwarf goats. In the farm's own words, direct sale of raw milk is not legal in Tennessee but the sale of herd shares is allowed, so buying an interest in the dairy herd entitles the shareholder to a proportionate share of the milk it produces. The farm describes it as a cooperative agreement in which the shareholders share all the benefits and risks of ownership. The milk is taken daily and bottled on the farm with no pasteurisation and no additives. Kids are dam raised whenever the farm can manage it, and a single goat is only sold to a buyer who already keeps one, because goats are herd animals and do not thrive alone.