Corva Bella Farm is the Mother and Son team and sustainable, small and regenerative farm is located in the Ebenezer region of Oconee County, in South Carolina’s beautiful Blue Ridge foothills.
The farm is named after my Grandfather’s birthplace- Corva, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. My Grandparents were avid gardeners and some of my fondest childhood memories were spent learning to garden, bake, can and preserve food. While our love of Italy is evident, we are also passionate about the history of our home county and Southeastern Appalachia, championing locally-grown food and supporting local small business.
The farm transitioned in 2021, as this year saw my son enlist in the Air Force. Around mid-2022, I moved away from years of breeding rare Meishan pigs and show quality registered Kunekune pigs. We are so pleased to have provided breeding stock to help many small farms and homesteads to get started with raising out their own pork, and breeding stock. One of the high points of 2021 was watching CORVA Mahia Love “Aloysius” take Reserve Grand Champion Aged Boar, and then at the Royal Christmas show to see CORVA Awakino “Sassie” take Supreme Grand Champion of the show, and her sibling, CORVA Mahia love “Rowdy” Championing his boar class. As I write this in 2022, all breeding stock has left and just three kunekune meat pigs grace our farm’s grounds.
At this time, I’m working with a lovely flock of Salmon Faverolles, several generations in from my original quad of birds from Nimblequik farm. The lineages woven into my flock’s genetics are Merlin, Patterson, Boulanger, Cloverleaf, Bolder View and Knox. You can view more photos and information about my flock here, and also see their photos on the front page of the Faverolles USA website. I don’t show my birds at this time. I do offer hatching eggs twice a year, usually late Fall and Early into Late Spring.
I raise meat cross rabbits for homestead consumption, as well as to sell weaned kits to other small farms and homesteads. They have been yielding an average of 6-7 lbs by 12 weeks of age and are crosses of Californian/New Zealand/Silver Fox/Blanc de Hotot.
Spring 2023 brings bees! I’ve been taking the South Carolina Certified Beekeeper class and the first NUCs of Carniolan/Italian bees will arrive in April.
The Patronesses of the farm are St. Hildegard of Bingen, St. Kateri Tekakwitha and St. Rita of Cascia.
The name Corva Bella is a nod to my Grandparents and my Italian ancestry- my Grandfather was born in Corva, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. Corva is a tiny hamlet of Azzano Decimo, located in the province of Pordenone. The rich, fertile Meduna River valley marks this region in the most Northeastern province of Italy, an area famous for prosecco, polenta, gnocchi, and prosciutto. This land is dedicated to the farming of corn and fruit trees, as far as the eye can see. Corvids are birds such as crows, ravens, and magpies, and I believe that is the origin of the town name, as “corvo” is Italian for crow. In an area where the main crop is corn, they are frequent visitors!
My Grandfather was an avid gardener. He grew yearly acres of corn, and the biggest heirloom tomatoes I’d ever seen. My Grandmother had a large organic garden that I helped her with. She taught me all about gardening, supplementing the soil, picking, pruning and preservation. We’d can and freeze vegetables, and make jellies, jams and pies with berries. These times were truly the best memories of my childhood.
Corva Bella Farm 