Most neighborhoods marketed around a "farm feature" mean a raised-bed garden near the mailbox kiosk and a sign about community pride. What sits at the entrance of Wrights Farm in Grovetown is structurally different: a working agricultural operation that supplies ingredients to a bakehouse run by a two-time Food Network champion who formerly led the pastry program at one of New York City's Forbes 5-star hotels. Residents shop the farm stand before it supplies anyone else.
That distinction matters more on a Saturday morning than any amenity brochure captures.
What Edgar's Acres Actually Is
Edgar's Acres is a 6-acre farm at Wrights Farm, owned by Goodwill Industries of Middle Georgia and the CSRA and operated by Edgar's Hospitality Group. The same organization runs Edgar's Grille at 3165 Washington Road, Edgar's Bakehouse at 3179 Washington Road, The Pinnacle Club, and Edgar's Above Broad — a hospitality group with locations on both sides of the Savannah River.
The farm is not a quiet corner of green space between cul-de-sacs. It is a working production site and a living classroom for students at Helms College, Goodwill's nationally accredited post-secondary culinary school. Ben Mickel manages the farming operation. Christopher Thompson, vice president of culinary operations and education for Edgar's Hospitality Group, oversees the bridge between what grows in Grovetown and what ends up on plates across Augusta. Amy Graci handles events on-site.
Two greenhouses support year-round production. The crops rotate by season: watermelons and tomatoes carry the summer harvest, while leafy greens, kale, swiss chard, beets, carrots, bunching onions, and turnip varieties run through the cooler months. Sunflowers appear as temperatures climb toward spring. In March, the farm is mid-transition — cold-season crops winding down, summer planting underway in the greenhouses.
The Supply Chain Residents Tap Into
Here is what the generic version of this story skips: the corn grown at Wrights Farm goes to Edgar's Bakehouse, where it gets ground into flour for breads and baked goods. Jim Stiff, president of Goodwill Industries of Middle Georgia, described the arrangement to The Augusta Press in 2023: "The stuff that we'll be selling at the bakehouse, much of it will start with grinding up corn grown at Wrights Farm."
That bakehouse operates under Michael Romano, a two-time Food Network champion and former Executive Pastry Chef at The Pierre — a Forbes 5-star, AAA 5-diamond property in Manhattan. Romano leads the dessert, bread, and coffee programs across all Edgar's Hospitality Group locations. The made-from-scratch product his team produces at 3179 Washington Road draws on a supply chain that begins in a greenhouse on Wrightsboro Road.
What the chef called "the ultimate dream"
Frank Kassner, director of culinary operations for Edgar's Hospitality Group, described the Wrights Farm arrangement plainly: "From seed to table, we have full control over the product. I know what went into it, where it came from." For a professional kitchen, that kind of sourcing transparency is genuinely rare. For Wrights Farm residents, it is available at the farm stand on Saturday morning.
How Helms College closes the loop
Students enrolled in Helms College's culinary and hospitality program rotate through Edgar's Hospitality Group venues as part of their coursework. Edgar's Grille on Washington Road is where that experiential learning happens at the restaurant level. Edgar's Acres is where it begins. The farm's founding manager, David Daughtery — who holds a University of Georgia-Tifton agricultural degree with advanced studies at the Athens campus — described the goal when the farm launched: help students understand "that food doesn't just come from a Sysco truck." The farm is not decoration for a culinary college. The culinary college is what makes the farm worth operating at this scale.
Saturday Morning at the Stand
Every Saturday, Edgar's Acres runs a farm stand offering fresh seasonal produce alongside baked goods from Edgar's Bakehouse. In mid-March, that means the tail end of cold-season crops — beets, carrots, leafy greens, kale, and turnip varieties — before the summer harvest rotation swaps them for tomatoes, squash, peppers, and eventually watermelons. Sunflowers follow as temperatures hold.
The Bakehouse goods at the stand are the same made-from-scratch products sold at 3179 Washington Road: artisanal breads, pastries, and sandwiches produced by a team that includes Helms College students working under Romano's culinary program. Edgar's Bakehouse earned a Nextdoor Neighborhood Favorite designation in both 2023 and 2024. The blackberry corn cookie, tiramisu croissant, and sourdough baguettes are among the items reviewers cite by name.
For residents, the stand requires no detour. It is on the street where you live.
The Workshop Tiers
Edgar's Acres runs two levels of educational programming, and the structure is more considered than a standard community garden class schedule.
101 Series
The beginner track introduces gardening fundamentals — intended for residents who want to grow something at home but have no prior background in it. The farm's two greenhouses and Ben Mickel's on-site expertise back the curriculum. Spring is the logical entry point, when the teaching calendar lines up with planting decisions that will pay off through summer.
Master Series
The advanced track assumes you have moved past the basics. According to the Wrights Farm farm page, these courses suit those looking to develop skills at a more serious level. The Helms College connection means instruction carries a culinary dimension — what you grow, and why, is shaped by how a professional kitchen thinks about sourcing. That framing is not incidental. It is what makes the Master Series different from continuing education at a garden center.
Volunteer Days and the Events Space
Residents can also participate in the farm's daily operations through on-site volunteer opportunities. The farm is a production site, not a demonstration garden, so volunteer days contribute real labor to a real harvest schedule.
Amy Graci manages the events side of Edgar's Acres, which operates as a bookable venue. The setting — working farm, greenhouses, open land — makes it practical for private events that want something other than a rented hall. The infrastructure is there because Goodwill built it for a working agricultural and culinary education program. It happens to also serve the people who live next to it.
What Living Here Actually Means
Wrights Farm is described broadly as the area's first Planned Agricultural Community, a label that typically functions as marketing shorthand. The Edgar's Acres operation makes it something more specific: a working production site tied to a regional hospitality group, staffed by a culinary college, and open to residents on a recurring Saturday schedule.
That means three things most Columbia County neighborhoods cannot offer within walking distance of the front door: a weekly farm stand sourced from your own street, workshop programming that runs from beginner to advanced with professional culinary backing, and a direct line to the supply chain of some of Augusta's more carefully run kitchens.
Spring is when the Wrights Farm growing calendar shifts most visibly. The Saturday stand is the clearest read on where the season is landing.
To learn more about Wrights Farm or explore what's available in the community, Southeastern Residential is glad to walk you through it. Reach out whenever you're ready.
