农业+生活方式
生计和激情
发布于2020年8月18日12:00 AM
Terry Bramlett’s grandmother was born and raised in a log cabin in Fannin County. She ate from the land and drank from the pure springs that flowed through the property. Living to nearly 100, Bramlett said there’s a correlation between her diet and her great heath.
现在, 几十年后, those same springs that nourished the family for five generations are still flowing, fueling a successful business and a love for the land.
“这不仅仅是我们的生计, 这是我们的激情,Bramlett谈到Bramlett鳟鱼农场时说, 他和他的妻子, 露丝, opened 40 years ago on the family property just outside of Suches, 乔治亚州.
Fishing has always been a passion for Bramlett, and is something he learned from his dad. Growing up on a cattle and poultry farm in Barrow County, 当他做完农活的时候, Bramlett would spend time catching fish in Lake Lanier. 很快, trout fishing became his favorite pastime.
“The ultimate hook for me in terms of trout fishing is the pristine environment, 清澈的水，溪流和植被,他说. “飞蝇钓鱼是一个和平而特殊的时刻, and I enjoyed it so much it didn’t matter if I caught anything.”
很快 after Bramlett received his degree in agriculture economics at the University of 乔治亚州, his parents retired and the family moved to their land in Fannin County.
“We had a spot in front of the house that we couldn’t mow, 所以我想在里面放个池塘, 有鳟鱼供我们享用, 因为我们也喜欢吃它们,他说. “We purchased fingerlings and they grew at an incredible rate, 在我们意识到之前, we had hundreds of 2-pound trout and thought, “我们拿这些钱怎么办呢??’”
很快, he said the “wheels started turning” about going into the trout business, and so he took a sample of the property’s stream water to UGA to verify its purity and suitability for trout production. Turns out, it was some of the purest water they’d tested.
“So, we acquired the land up the valley and secured our watershed. We’re surrounded by national forest, so there’s no pollution. 这里的水非常纯净，”他说. “The quality of the water, that’s something we’ve guarded very carefully over the years. We maintain the property so the water remains pristine.”
Other attributes that contribute to the quality of his rainbow trout are the environment in which they are raised. The eggs come from a supplier in Washington state whose fish are certified disease-free. After being hatched in a fiberglass setting, the fish are finished in urban systems instead of concrete.
“It’s more labor intensive, but it’s a more natural setting. The fish have full fins and great color because they aren’t exposed to abrasive concrete,布拉姆利特说.
Once he and 露丝 got the business going, they began looking for ways to market their product.
“Originally, we marketed fish to recreational fishing facilities. But the business changed gradually over the years as restaurants found out about our product and the fact that we could harvest and deliver trout to restaurants in Atlanta in a matter of hours. So, we slowly transitioned to selling to restaurants.”
Some of the restaurants that serve fish from Bramlett Trout Farms include Bacchanalia, 帝国大厦南, 霍尔曼 & 芬奇，金布尔之家和小露之家. 除了, fresh Bramlett Trout are available for purchase at Haywood Provisions in Roswell, Atlanta Highway Seafood in Gainesville and straight from the farm by appointment.
预约是关键, 因为经营一个孵化300只的农场,000 eggs per year is more than a full day’s work for the Bramletts and their one employee.
“露丝 is definitely an equal partner in all this. She can do anything I can do on the farm – and she often does,” said Bramlett, now 64. “The key to raising trout is the dissolved oxygen content in the water; the colder the water, 它将容纳溶解氧. Because of that, we have to maintain a high flow of water – 2,000 gallons per minute. This rapid turnover re-aerates the water as it pours from raceway to raceway.”
If the water stops flowing, even for a short time, the trout begin to die. 他们的行动是一天24小时进行的.
“即使是在半夜, 如果有倾盆大雨或暴风雨, we have to get out there and monitor the water flow and intake systems. 露丝 and I are always out there together,他说. “我们一直忙于这次行动. We don’t just sit on the porch and watch the fish grow.”
Despite the round-the-clock nature of their lives, the Bramletts have raised two now-grown children on the farm, 以及“在极少数情况下”,他们会挤出一点时间来放松.
“I have a customer I’ve sold to for 25 years. He lives north of Tallahassee, Florida, and is a fly-fishing enthusiast. He also has a place near us, and when he comes up we fly fish on the Toccoa River. It’s still great fun and I do enjoy it,布拉姆利特说.
给布莱莱特家的, the time consuming work is made more enjoyable when surrounded by the rushing streams and vast wildlife of the Chattahoochee National Forest.
“It’s absolutely wonderful here if you enjoy nature,布拉姆利特说. “We’re blessed to live in a valley that’s been in the family for five generations. It’s so very peaceful, with a lot of wildlife like deer, turkey, bears and some grouse. 你根本无法战胜它. What we call a traffic jam is three cars at a stop sign.”
It’s in this setting that Bramlett Trout Farms produces what they consider the “highest quality protein on this green earth,他说. “Rainbow trout are high in omega 3 fatty acids, 哪些对你有好处, 味道很好, 这也是我们非常喜欢的.”
