Armistead Farm

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Armistead Farm Armistead Farm is a nonprofit community farm in Franklin, TN, rooted in land the Short family has farmed since 1887.

We grow food, build connection, and create educational experiences for our community. Market garden, CSA, and more launching soon. 🌾

10/14/2026

The first high tunnels, or "hoop houses," are officially built, thanks to the dozens of volunteers, the Armistead Farm team, community leaders, and many helping hands at Nifty Hoops who showed up for our first Community Build last week.

By next spring, eight high tunnels surrounded by garden beds and a central field of sunflowers will begin to take shape as our Market Garden grows into a place that nourishes our community season after season.

In the months ahead, we’ll continue laying the groundwork for irrigation, preparing beds for growing food next spring, and planning for the infrastructure that will help this vision take root.

But what we built this week goes beyond the steel frames and plastic.

We built connections.
We built momentum.
We built something together.

And now, we get to watch it grow.

Thank you to everyone who helped make this first Community Build possible. We can’t wait to share what’s growing at Armistead Farm. 💚

10/07/2026

With two days of our Community Build event under our belts, serious progress is being made on the Farm. 🌱

Our team, community volunteers, and the kind folks at Nifty Hoops are busy getting the first of our high tunnels underway, bringing us one step closer to a working market farm that will grow food, create connection, and nourish our community for years to come.

And this is just the beginning. Take a look at the progress from Day 1, and stay tuned as we continue building through the week. 🚜

Special thanks to our friends at Table of Contents and Five Daughters Bakery for providing our morning fuel! ☕️ 🍩

10/05/2026

Visit armisteadfarm.org/volunteer to learn more about our Community Build event, happening now: October 5-10. 🚜

09/30/2026

For Geoff, farming is about more than growing food. It’s about understanding the connections that make healthy communities possible. 🌽

Since 2011, Geoff has worked in regenerative agriculture, managing small-scale market farms, developing CSA programs, and helping strengthen local food systems.

A passionate agricultural educator, he is endlessly fascinated by the relationships between healthy soil, the human gut microbiome, and the mycelial networks that help ecosystems thrive. His work has taken him around the world, collaborating with farmers in East Africa and Latin America to develop community-based regenerative farming systems. Most recently, he was the farm manager at West Glow Farm in Kingston Springs, Tenn.

Geoff holds a master’s degree in Sustainable Agriculture and brings a deep belief in the power of farms to nourish people, restore the land, and bring communities together.

At Armistead Farm, he’s excited to help grow that vision alongside the community of Franklin and the land that make this place special. 💚

Love for the land. 🌱For more than 135 years, this land has been farmed and cared for by four generations.As a recognized...
09/29/2026

Love for the land. 🌱

For more than 135 years, this land has been farmed and cared for by four generations.

As a recognized Tennessee Century Farm, Armistead carries a legacy rooted in agriculture, stewardship, and generations of hard work. Today, we’re building on that legacy with a vision for farming that looks toward the future while staying true to the land that started it all.

Because when you love the land, you’re not just growing food. You’re growing something worth passing down.

09/23/2026

From the dirt comes something extraordinary—but we need your help. 🌱

Armistead Farm is about to break ground on the first high tunnels, or “hoop houses,” pictured here. These structures will allow us to grow vegetables season after season, setting the groundwork for all that is still to come.

With guidance from our newly hired Farm Manager, Matt Nesbitt, and Assistant Farm Manager Geoff Hartnell, plus our partners at Nifty Hoops, we’re looking for volunteers to help bring this vision to life.

No farming experience required, just an eagerness to get your hands dirty and availability October 5-10. Will you join us? Sign up to help at armisteadfarm.org/volunteer.

📸: Nifty Hoops

Marc brings a thoughtful legal perspective and a strong connection to the Short family to his role as Board Secretary at...
09/23/2026

Marc brings a thoughtful legal perspective and a strong connection to the Short family to his role as Board Secretary at Armistead Farm. 🌱

As a partner in the firm of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings, PLP, he represents the Short family, ArmisteadTN, LLC, and Armistead Farm, the non-profit organization on various legal matters, helping guide the work that protects the farm’s legacy and supports its future.

A Georgia native and longtime Williamson County resident, Marc lives in Westhaven with his wife, Allison, and their two daughters. He is actively involved in the Westhaven and broader Franklin community, and he brings that same spirit of connection and stewardship to his work with Armistead Farm.

Marc is an alumnus of Emory University and Georgia State University College of Law.

139 years, 48 acres, 1 soul — A farm built to last.
09/17/2026

139 years, 48 acres, 1 soul — A farm built to last.

09/14/2026

For Matt, his interest in farming began with a simple question: Where does our food come from? 🥕

After working in high-end restaurants around Birmingham, Alabama, Matt found himself drawn to the farms and farmers behind the food he was preparing in the kitchen. That curiosity grew into a new calling.

Matt transitioned to working on organic farms in Alabama, Georgia, and England, learning the many sides of growing food for local communities, from vegetable production to livestock management. In 2019, he founded Field Culture Compost, turning food waste into a resource for farms and gardeners. He later served as Farm Director at Jones Valley Teaching Farm in Birmingham.

Now, Matt brings his years of experience, deep love for the land, and belief in the power of local food to Armistead Farm, where he’s excited to help grow a farm that nourishes both people and community.

Give him a warm Franklin welcome in the comments! 👋

Craige co-founded Character Development and has spent his career shaping places that feel like they belong. Spaces built...
09/08/2026

Craige co-founded Character Development and has spent his career shaping places that feel like they belong. Spaces built around community, land, and story.

Most recently, he led the development of Southall Farm, the 450-acre farm-based resort in Franklin, so he knows firsthand what it takes to grow something rooted and long-lasting.

Here at Armistead, Craige is helping us tend to the bigger picture: financing, partnerships, programming, and making sure this farm grows in step with the community around it.

Every farm needs good stewards. We're glad to have him as one of ours. 💚

Address

1740 New Highway 96 West
Franklin, TN
37064

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