About Sweet Clay

Sweet Clay was created by Sam McAlilly to help promote Mississippi farmers. Growing up eating sweet potatoes from Vardaman—the Sweet Potato Capital of the World—I've decided that there's something special about food grown in the red clay of the Mississippi hill country. All of these people ate food grown in that soil: Elvis, William Faulkner, Junior Kimbrough, Ida B. Wells, Jim Dickinson, Steve Holland, and more.

But I don't live in Mississippi anymore. I live in Vermont. I'm currently working to transition to sourcing from small organic farms in Vermont and New England. I want to connect the two places, their different foodways and farming capabilities. Provide Vermont with the goodness of Southern food, and bring all the flavors from Vermont into the South.

Our Mission

I support local farming communities by selling their food online. I also connect people with better food than they can find in their local grocery stores. I want to think locally and build community wealth by supporting a network of small farms that consider the broader eastern United States from New England down to the South as a regional connection that can create food sovereignty and climate resilience.

Sweet Clay will have a market garden in Vermont where I'm planning to grow southern field peas for Vermont markets and sweet potatoes for the Sweet Clay e-commerce store.

This organization is in the process of organizing as a worker-owned and producer-owned cooperative. 

Email sam@sweetclay.net if you have any questions or are interested in collaborating.