We are Travis and Meredith Gosnell. We have been married for 11 years, and have 3 children. We are glad that you are interested in our farm! We live on and help to manage a 1,000 acre family-owned Loblolly pine and hardwood plantation. Gosnell Family Properties is certified by the American Tree Farm System, and has been in good standing with the South Carolina Forestry Commission since 2011. Travis was certified as a Master Tree Farmer in 2013 and is a member of the Greenville Forestry and Wildlife Society.
In March 2018, Travis was certified through Project Learning Tree, a program of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative. This program opens doors for educators and parents to facilitate learning in the woodland stands of timber-producing farmers. His goal is to be the experiential teacher to help children in the classrooms connect with the leading agricultural industry in South Carolina, as well as get out into nature.
TimbeRoot Farm began as an idea to plant a muscadine vineyard in an old pasture in the middle of the pines. In 2016, that idea came to fruition through planning, cultivation, and planting domestic muscadine vines on a one-acre plot. Thus began the pruning, feeding, and care taking of almost 100 vines. Travis relied on his base of knowledge from the Clemson Extension Master Gardener Program, as well as countless hours of study of viticulture and gleanings from organic growers conferences at Clemson.
Being made aware of the prevalence of chemical amendments and additives for growing both plants and meat, Travis also studied the practices of Joel Salatin for many years. We were ready to put Mr. Salatin’s ideas in practice in order to establish our vineyard and gain some high quality, pastured eggs and meat in the process. In summer 2017, Travis attended an intensive seminar at Polyface Farm. This further solidified his belief in allowing chickens to “chicken” as the Creator intended, and bled over into research into sustainable practices in permaculture for the rest of our farm. We started out with our first set of chicks in February 2018. At present, we are in the process of raising Freedom Ranger (meat) chickens and several more laying hens. Our chickens are all faithfully “chickening” and doing their jobs amending the soil in our vineyard, as well as providing eggs for our family. In the near future, we hope to add the American Guinea Hog to our growing operation, eventually transitioning them to silvo-pasturing practices in our pines and chestnut tree orchard.
We would like to invite you to come an experience firsthand all that we are learning and growing, using natural processes to enhance the ecosystem that produces all we grow.
Our mission is to instill in the community a holistic worldview of ecology, agriculture, forestry, and animal husbandry through professional instruction, immediate participation, and observational sciences.
TimbeRoot Farm 