About Us

     Tyree Family Farms is truly our family farm. We say it started in 1996 when Ingrid and I moved on to her family farm a month after we were married. It truly started in 1977 when Eugene Sterrett, Ingrid’s grandfather,  bought this parcel of land in the Tennessee Valley outside of Chattanooga, TN as a retirement farm. It became known as “the Refuge” ever since. It has been a place of safety for family and friends, critters and children over the years. 

Before Ingrid and I got married we both discussed that we wanted a big family and to adopt. After 26 years of marriage we have 3 biological and 5 adopted children. We have now expanded even more with the marriages of our 3 oldest and the addition  of 3 grandchildren. Carson and Jessica, our oldest daughter, have taken over the day to day operations and internet portion of our operation. In addition to Hemp for CBD production we have also dabbled in bees, chickens, ducks, sheep, goats, beef and dairy cattle, horses, hay, soy beans, sunflowers and millet. While all of these ventures tie into my Mobile veterinary practice, we have always worked as a team and everyone contributes in their own way. While growing hemp was the most challenging job we have done as a family, I feel it has been the most rewarding. I told my children that if they worked like adults that they would be paid like adults. It was such a blessing to work side by side with my kids in the dirt and sunshine and watch this crop grow. I am also thankful for so many friends that came in beside us with skill sets, wisdom and strong backs to help us along the way. 

Before we started on this agricultural adventure we were inspired by the hope that CBD gave our family through some personal trials with one of our children that was adopted with many past traumas. We thought we were both awesome parents but quickly realized we were ill prepared to handle a child with “trauma brain”. We both went to parenting classes when a dear friend suggested we try a CBD isolate she had used with her daughter. It was amazing how the isolate would calm down her brain and allow her to make better decisions. We decided to give it a try. We did not know what specific benefits our varieties would have at the time but knew they would all help with anxiety. We discovered that each variety had different unique benefits and were helpful for many different needs. Four years into this we are doing wonderfully thanks to our loving Heavenly father, time and CBD as a tool to help work things out.

With the opportunities provided by the 2014 and 2018 Farm Bills we were able to grow under the supervision of the TN department of Agriculture.. Everyone suggested that we start small. I did not heed their advice and started with around 5 acres and 12,000 plants. I absolutely loved working the ground and watching things grow. The pictures of our grow are truly worth a thousand words so I will let them speak for themselves. The biggest challenge was caterpillars. Since our crop was organic we could not use pesticides. I was so blessed to see little green spiders and wild turkeys helping us out. We would walk through the fields at daylight and dusk and pick them off by hand as they would come out on top at these times. This made our chickens very happy too. Weather was one of my biggest fears and God blessed us immensely with rain at the right time and sunshine and dry weather for harvest. I did not realize that the hardest work would be at harvest. We were again blessed by many of our friends who were willing to help us with this labor intensive process where all plants were cut by hand, loaded on a trailer and brought to the barn to be hung by hand. After drying the plants were stripped by hand into boxes to be stored. We wore out so many leather gloves. 

As a family we have learned to reach for our CBD capsules for many of our own needs on a daily basis. In 2020 I started working with the USDA on a third shift position. I utilized our Hawaiian Haze during waking hours for mental focus and the Suver Haze to help me sleep. This was amazing with 8 kids in the house “trying” to be quiet. We all take Frosted lime or Sweetened to help with daily pains and injuries. Some take Hawaiian Haze and Sweetened at the same time to ward off the symptoms of PMS.(I have learned that there is not a good way to recommend that it needs to be utilized). My college kids have taken Suver Haze to help sleep before a big exam and Hawaiian Haze to reduce anxiety and increase mental focus the day of the big test. My wife has asked me not to take Sweetened (Motivation) as it is a real pick me up and I embarrass the kids if I sing and dance down the sidewalk.