By Danny Harper
Danny Harper is the Development and Communications Manager at Georgia Organics.
Georgia Organics created the Land Steward Award in 1997 to recognize and honor individuals making significant contributions to the organic agriculture movement in Georgia and demonstrating commitments to key tenets of organic agriculture, including soil fertility and biodiversity.
The winner of the 2024 Land Steward Award is Julia Asherman, owner and operator of Rag & Frass Farm, who we are thrilled to recognize for her steadfast commitment to organic farming and soil conservation. Her Certified Organic farm is celebrated for its diverse offerings including heirloom seed production, specialty watermelon, cut flowers, and sugarcane syrup. Through innovation and dedication, Julia is a model for sustainable farming in Georgia.
Graphic by Ana Maria Paramo.
Born in Boston, the idea of farming was always within reach for Julia. “My mom is a gardener, as was my grandmother, along with all my aunts and uncles. We had a garden area and a community garden plot. Becoming a plant person was never far-fetched for me—I’ve always been one.”
Even though they lived in the city, her family had land in Vermont, the only place they ever vacationed. “Spending so much time in rural southern Vermont, many childhood memories come from scenes of solitude and nature,” Julia shared. “While my family wasn’t made up of farmers, those experiences made me realize from a young age that I wanted to live in a rural place.”
A nature-driven artist and activist, Julia made her way to Chicago where she earned her undergraduate degree in printmaking and metal sculpture and gained critical experience in using tools and problem solving. “My studies and activism focused on self-reliance and sustainability, which aligned with my lifelong connection to nature.” With no strong ties keeping her in Chicago and nothing to lose—just some school debt and personal belongings—Julia felt free to take a leap. “I decided I was going to defer my student loans, move to a rural place, and, in my mind, start a farm and live off the land, even though I didn’t fully know what that meant.”
Image by Jenna Shea Photojournalism.
With ambition and the proven ability to work hard and think on her feet, Julia soon learned that owning a farm would require a few more essential skills: using money, keeping books, and knowing how to run a business. “I think I believed that by farming, I would be living outside the system. I wanted to grow my own food, feel free and independent, and not be tied down. When you're out in the country, you hardly see anyone, and if you're on your own land, in the woods, or surrounded by nature, there’s a sense of liberation. I saw city life as oppressive and thought that having a farm would remove me from that system. But of course, that wasn’t the reality. If anything, I’ve never been more a part of ‘the system’ than I am right now.” When asked how she reconciled the reality of farming not meeting her expectations, Julia shared that it was a matter of growing into the reality of choosing to affect the things she can influence, “Rather than doing nothing at all because of beliefs. While there are some things I can change and some decisions I can make, there are also other decisions that I cannot make—either for myself or for society as a whole.”
That system is where farmers connect with markets, restaurants, and organizations like Georgia Organics—together creating Georgia’s local food network. As a central Georgia farmer, Julia’s initial exposure to Georgia Organics was through conferences that brought together farmers from across the state, "Which were amazing and very much opened my eyes and influenced my production and network." However, her location proved to be an obstacle to farming, as being far from the hubs of food-focused organizations in metro Atlanta left her feeling disconnected.
"I've always felt that the good food movement and nonprofits in Georgia have been hyper-focused on Atlanta, often leaving out rural communities. This ties into something I’ve observed since moving to the South and, more specifically, to rural Georgia. There is a clear divide between the resources available to city folks and those available to rural folks, and that divide definitely contributes to some resentment. I’ve felt it myself—it sometimes seems really unfair that so many resources are concentrated within just a five-county region, and if you're outside of that, you're simply out of luck."
Image by Jenna Shea Photojournalism.
Though not one to back down from challenges, Julia continued to look for opportunities to strengthen her farm and connect to other experienced growers. She enrolled in Georgia Organics first 2021-2023 Farmer Accelerator Cohort. “That was really helpful. And that was exactly like the kind of work that I thought more organizations should be doing. I really appreciate what Georgia Organics has done and continues to do and I also feel like I've noticed over the last couple years it doing more to reach the rest of the state. I really appreciated that. I really think George Organics has done a good job of self-assessing, revaluating. And that that’s what makes actual changes, how things are implemented or what the goals are. I just know that when organizations listen and center farmers that like means a lot to me. And when organizations don't. I don't consider them allies.”
When asked what kind of legacy she wants to leave behind, Julia shared, “Legacy is a big word that I don't know if I deserve yet. But I guess I hope that I would have paved the way for other farmers to either engage with farming or farm better, so whether that's teaching people what I know or, helping to get people in the right direction, providing mentorship…I guess I would hope I would just be a doorway that I didn’t get to have. And I guess I hope I leave my land better than I found it because it won't be mine forever and I'll only have control over it while I have control over it.” Whether she would say she deserves it or not, Julia’s legacy has already taken shape in Rag & Frass Farm. “So I hope that I leave it in good shape and make it possible for it to be stewarded after me. I'd like to fight some of the fights so that people behind me don't have to.”
Julia at SOWTH 2025 Conference. Image by Jenna Shea Photojournalism.
If you want to know how to support other small, certified-organic operations like Rag & Frass, the answer, in Julia’s words is to “Vote with your dollars and choose where you're spending your money, and spend it in ways that reach the farmer the fastest and the most.” More than that, she urges farm advocates and community members to know your farm, visit your farmers and most importantly, listen to and hear your farmers. “Because no one else is out there. At the end of the day, the people who know how things are landing and what's hard and what could make it better are gonna be the farmers.”
Rag & Frass Farm is located in Jeffersonville, GA. Learn more about Julia’s farm at www.ragandfrassfarm.com.