Local StoriesJuly 31, 2023

Hidden Gems: Meet Scott & Rachel Frye of Sweet Granite Farm

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Scott & Rachel Frye.

Scott & Rachel Frye

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I’ve always had aspirations to work for myself and with my hands. At Southern Nash, I was in FFA in high school and had a chance to act as an entrepreneur. One year, my best friend and I created wooden reindeer with Christmas lights; we successfully sold 25! I learned about cultivating crops from my grandfather. My grandpa, who lived in King, had a huge garden each summer. I enjoyed working in it to help him.

In 2018, my new bride and I chose to make Denver, NC our home base for our blended family. Rachel’s family has lived on her family’s land her entire life, and as the eldest grandchild, she feels a fervent responsibility to act as steward for her family’s land. Aerial photos from pre-Lake Norman showcase an apple orchard and areas for cows. Today, pine trees and the lake cover much of those same spaces. The Denver area, especially around the lake is growing at a rapid rate; our goal is to convert some of this land back into a self-sustaining farm instead of another housing development.

Our trip to Napa Valley in 2019 sparked our idea. We brought home our fascination with the wineries, the grapes, the science. That fall, we made our first batch of wine from grapes picked in Franklin County. Our 2019 vintage tasted great; it worked! We ordered vines, Rachel’s father and I put up trellises … .and 2020 happened, allowing us real time to cultivate the vineyard. 18 vines are now in their third year of production.

Standing around the kitchen island, we brainstormed our label name. “Sweet” refers to our muscadines, and “Granite” is the giant rock that generations of Rachel’s family use to slide into the lake in the summer.

While the muscadines matured, we diversified. An Easter trip to Tractor Supply sparked the idea for ducks. We now have 9, featuring Buff, Khaki Campbell, Welsh Harpin, and Runner ducks. All of them produce eggs, which create the best pound cakes.

Rachel’s family had already kept bees on the land, but we recently added two hives. We use beeswax to create our solid lotion bars, lip balms, and beard balms.

This year, we officially created the Sweet Granite Farm, LLC to provide an opportunity to help the environment and our community.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Honestly, our path to create product and keep the muscadines healthy has been a relatively smooth road. We have been careful and methodical.

The most challenging aspect has been getting our name out there. We feel local support at the Denver Farmers Market and Fresh Market Produce. Both places allow us to listen to genuine, positive customer feedback. We’re learning that marketing appears to be a full-time job!

We have also learned ducks nor bees are independent. Instead of adding a hobby, we now have multiple jobs! We have already learned the difference that a strong queen can make in a hive and how to mitigate mites!

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Sweet Granite Farm, LLC?
We specialize in solid lotions, lip balms, beard balm, duck eggs, and muscadines!!! We will sell in quart-size containers this fall. We look forward to expanding that process to more of a fermented variety in coming years!

What sets us apart? We are careful business owners who will carefully navigate creating a name that will last. Our products must be high quality to ensure trust in our growing customer base.

All natural products are very important to us. The more that we talk to customers at various markets and festivals, the more that we realize that transparency of ingredients is foremost for health-conscious individuals.

What are we most proud of brand-wise? The establishment of the business this year. We already have repeat customers who are sending us their friends!

We are also proud of the functionality of our website!

Risk-taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
By nature, I am a planner. Before Sweet Granite, I would not call myself a risk taker. At the same token, we are taking a huge risk. We have invested start-up capital and have already diversified our products. Taking the leap to make the business come into fruition has been our biggest risk.

We are lifelong learners, testing, gathering information to see what is successful. We plan to adapt and make changes to stay relevant. By doing so, we will inherently take risks

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