REBEL FARMS

01/13/2025

Meet Philomena. Over the next few weeks we want to showcase the people that make up the core of the Rebel Farms team and we’re starting with owner/operator of now the official photographer for Rebel Farms. You’re going to be seeing a lot more of her work in the coming months and we wanted to shed some light on the incredible woman behind the lens.

Philomena, along with her intrepid husband, have lived an adventurous life living and working on sailboats around the world and have now planted roots in NSB buying and restoring a charming seaside house. An accomplished water(wo)man, artist, entrepreneur, chef, creator and photographer - Philly brings such a wide array of talents, passions and vision to our farm and our beloved seaside town and we’re all genuinely lucky to have her.

Philly intrinsically understands the power community and her life and work are deeply rooted in mutual aid, body positivity and being part of the changes we all wish to see in the world, especially on how we grow what we eat and how to best live in harmony with nature.

From a professional perspective, Philomena’s work is truly extraordinary. Her keen sense of lighting, timing and the ability to capture candid - almost surreal moments from out of the ordinary set her apart in her field. Check out her work and stay tuned for future couples, family and group photoshoots at the farm.

11/20/2024

We need recommendations. We are looking to hire a contractor to build a 30’ x 40’ garden fence with 2 gates. Someone that feels capable of doing farm style fences similar to the picture below. The client is looking to keep the cost around $2,000 - $2,500. Please send us a message, if you think this is something you could accomplish. Thank you!

11/19/2024

Turns out, I’m a genius. Apologies for the cliffhanger we left you with weeks ago. We wanted to be sure we had all the facts before we reported back. But its true - the stakes were high. We stared into the void for days on end as the floodwaters crept back unsure if we could rally from another total loss of our crops. We’re not going to sugarcoat it, and all jokes aside - we took a hell of a hit. We’ve lost fruit trees, 25% of our soil (equal to 13 dump truck loads) and taken $12k in damages to our buildings, guest house and farm infrastructure, not to mention lost crops.

But with nearly identical rain, flooding and wind we fared far, far better than we did just two years ago. In Hurricane Ian we lost 90% of our fruit trees. In Milton, we lost 10%. Though we’re still collecting the data, we want to share with you the top three ways we’ve innovated how we farm to survive another flood event with only two years to start from scratch. We think this data is valuable for our global society - to learn and apply both very new and very old agricultural techniques to ensure a secure food supply and biodiversity in a changing climate.

1) Most fruit trees cannot survive long periods of standing water, so we planted our trees 5-7 feet above ground in mounds made from brush, compost and top soil.

2) Fruit trees are vulnerable to wind damage so we planted an elaborate and diverse system of “windbrakes” consisting of bamboo, sea grapes and native palms to slow the wind down. We also planted our newer orchards within a native forest, the canopy of which shielded the fruit trees from the worst of the wind.

3) We selected the best possible trees after meticulous research, testing & collaboration with other growers.

Now that we have proof of concept, we’re going to comeback stronger than ever. And we have applicable data that can help other growers. There’s lots of different ways to help & get involved clink the link in bio to see how. Thank you for all the words of encouragement and solidarity. It truly means the world to us.

11/12/2024

We are excited and looking forward to hosting our Forever Explorers this morning!
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This Tuesday our Forever Explorers program is heading down on the farm!

Join us for a behind-the-scenes look at Rebel Farms, a private organization focused on sustainable agriculture and permaculture. Forever Explorers will gain knowledge on fruit bearing trees and plants that thrive in Central Florida and simple steps homeowners can take to kickstart their own food forest.

This program begins at 11am, and we'll meet at MDC and caravan to Rebel Farms! Learn more & book this outing as well as all of our other upcoming Forever Explorers programs at https://marinediscoverycenter.org/forever-explorers/

04/16/2024

We’re so excited for all of the eggs we have to offer! And though having an abundance of fresh, organic eggs was always a goal, it’s only one of the benefits we receive from our hens. They’ve been serving other important roles on the farm such as eliminating almost ALL of our food waste whilst turning that waste into high quality compost. They’re also a consumer of weeds and harmful insects and primarily feed on an organic diet of the aforementioned food scraps, weeds and bugs. And most importantly their p**p provides an endless supply of organic fertilizer for our 500 fruit trees and other crops. So when considering chickens for your home, remember that they provide more than just eggs and can contribute to a closed loop ecosystem.