Billy's Botanicals

08/31/2026

We are back! 🌊 🦞 🌹

Thank you all so much for your patience while we hit pause to celebrate our 10-year wedding anniversary in the Florida Keys, then headed straight into creating flowers for two beautiful weddings on Tybee Island this past weekend. It’s been a whirlwind of family, flowers, and gratitude. We are especially grateful for our friends at Cha Bella Restaurant/Catering & Blue Chip & Co. for helping us out with some pillar and candle loaners. Also, we cannot thank the Nichols enough for giving us a place to rest our heads, flowers, and Sandy children on Tybee as we navigated some logistics of working and floristing on island time.

Of course, we couldn’t come home empty-handed…

🦞 Fresh Florida Spiny Lobster is here!

Unlike the cold-water Maine lobster, Florida’s spiny lobster has no oversized claws—all of the sweet, firm meat is packed into that incredible tail. They live tucked into coral reefs, rocky ledges, and mangrove habitats throughout the Keys, making lobster season one of Florida’s most anticipated traditions. The meat is lean, slightly sweeter than traditional lobster, and absolutely shines on the grill with a little butter, garlic, and fresh citrus.

We’re grateful to be home, grateful to be back to work, and excited for another season of growing, foraging, fishing, and bringing the best we can find to your table.

08/14/2026

Fresh fish alert!

This Saturday at the Forsyth Farmers’ Market (9 AM–1 PM) we’ll have fresh Georgia Black Sea Bass, available as whole fish and beautiful skin-on fillets. Landed by boat in Darien, Georgia, this is about as fresh and local as seafood gets.

Black sea bass are structure-loving fish, hanging around reefs, wrecks, and rocky bottom where they ambush crabs, shrimp, squid, and smaller fish. Their sweet, firm white meat reflects that varied diet.

Unlike many highly regulated species, Georgia’s state season for black sea bass is currently open year-round, making it one of our most consistently available local reef fish.

If you’ve never cooked one, you’re in for a treat. The fillets are fantastic pan-seared with butter and lemon, while a whole fish roasted until the skin turns crisp is one of the best meals you can make. Billy has descaled all of these beauties for that crispy skin preparation of your dreams.

Support Georgia’s commercial fishermen, eat local, and taste the difference that comes from seafood caught just off our coast and processed right here in coastal GA.

08/13/2026

Our FINAL Forsyth Farmers’ Market of the month is this Saturday, 9 AM–1 PM!

We’re taking the following week off to celebrate something pretty special: our 10-year wedding anniversary. We have worked tirelessly for the past 13 years growing this farm, our business, and our family. But our greatest pride will always be our two boys, Billy (9) and Joey (4), who have grown right alongside us and this farm.

As many of you know, we don’t take a lot of scheduled time off for ourselves, so we’re going to take this week to slow down, celebrate 10 years of marriage, and spend some much-needed time together as a family.

Upon our return, Ana Nicole Dugger will be right back at it floristing 2 beautiful weddings, so we will be off from the market and Billys bags to focus on flowers and fall planting.

But FIRST—come see us this Saturday at Forsyth!

08/11/2026

08/10/2026

08/08/2026

Tomorrow at the Forsyth Farmers' Market, we’re bringing one of the absolute gems of our Southern waters: American red snapper.

Red snapper is a deep-water reef fish prized for its beautiful rosy-red color, firm texture, and mild, slightly sweet flavor. It’s the kind of fish that doesn’t need much fuss — a little olive oil, salt, lemon and a hot pan will do just fine.

And here’s a fun bit of Georgia fishing trivia: American red snapper has traditionally had an extremely limited recreational season and commercial restraints in the South Atlantic because fisheries managers have struggled with getting enough accurate data. Georgia has been working on a new project designed to improve that data and potentially create longer, more sustainable fishing opportunities in the future. The proposed 2026 Georgia recreational season was scheduled for July 1–August 31, but a federal court injunction put that pilot program on hold, and definitely put a damper on what was initially some very excited recreational anglers.

While disappointed, we understand that regulations and conservation are the cornerstone of a healthy eco system off our Georgia coast, and are grateful for those tough calls made securing the future of these beautiful fish. Come see us tomorrow at Forsyth Farmers’ Market and grab some while we have it!

07/17/2026

Join us at tomorrow from 9 AM–1 PM and see what we’ve been growing.

Our greenhouse is thriving despite the heat somehow, and thats thanks to our aquaponics system—where the fish, aquatic nitrifying bacteria and plants work/live together forming a closed-loop ecosystem of sustainable symbiosis. The water is naturally filtered/nutrient filled and recirculated. This process allows us grow beautiful aquaponics produced greens & herbs without relying on synthetic pesticides or fertilizers. We’ll have a limited amount of summer salad mix, squash blossoms, cucumbers, and herbs on the table tomorrow all hailing from the greenhouse.

On the seafood side of the tables, we’ll have some pretty snapper, tuna, grouper, mahi, and salmon. We’re always happy to have Tybee Oyster company’s 'salt bomb' oysters and Sapelo Sea Farm’s little neck clams—perfect for a summer feast. We’ll also have some beautiful GA shrimp, and a few portions of lump blue crab meat.

One thing we’re especially proud of is how seriously we take food safety. Our products are handled through our state-licensed processing facilities, and if you’ve ever met Billy, you know he’s an absolute stickler for cleanliness. He follows food safety protocols so carefully that, if we’re being honest, he probably drives the rest of us a little crazy. But that’s exactly the kind of person you want growing and handling your family’s food.

Come and see us!

07/16/2026

Food safety has been on a lot of people’s minds this week, and it’s a good reminder of why local food systems matter.

While no farm is immune to risk, buying directly from the people who grow your food means you know where it came from, who handled it, and you can ask questions about how it was grown and harvested. That’s something we’re incredibly proud of.

Our aquaponic greenhouse is absolutely thriving right now. While the deer helped themselves to a little too much of our in-ground garden this season, our sister farm, , has stepped in. Together, we’re filling Billy’s Bags and loading up for with beautiful local produce.

This week’s harvest includes:
🌿 Fresh herbs
🫛 Cowpeas
🌱 Okra
🟣 Fresh figs
…and plenty more seasonal goodness.

If you’ve been thinking about grabbing a Billy’s Bag, we still have a few available. There’s never been a better time to fill your table with food grown close to home, harvested at peak freshness, and packed with flavor and nutrition.

Visit our website www.billysbotanicals.com to reserve your Billy’s Bag, or come see us this Saturday at Forsyth Farmers’ Market from 9 AM–1 PM. Every purchase supports local farmers, strengthens our regional food system, and brings the freshest food possible to your table.

07/11/2026

Some mornings at the market are worth setting an alarm for.
This Saturday we’re bringing in fresh Tuna, wild-caught in the Gulf Stream off the North Carolina coast, along with a very limited amount of fresh Red Grouper.

The Gulf Stream is one of the most biologically productive currents in the world. Its warm, oxygen-rich waters support an abundance of baitfish, creating ideal conditions for Yellowfin Tuna to develop the clean flavor, vibrant color, and firm texture that make it so prized by chefs and seafood lovers alike.

Alongside the seafood, you’ll find everything you need for a summer table:
• Fresh-picked okra
• Crisp cucumbers
• Herbs everywhere
• Local figs
• Farm flowers
• Salt Bomb oysters
• Sapalo Island clams
• Wild Georgia shrimp

From the garden to the Gulf Stream, tomorrow’s market is shaping up to be one of our more bountiful tables of the season.

We’ll be at from 9–1. Come early—the tuna won’t last.