Tour of Georgia Stop #4: North Georgia

Breathe in the fresh mountain air and enjoy the view! Our Tour of Georgia is taking us to the North Georgia mountains.

Our North Georgia gift box features products from all over this area of the Peach State including: Nora Mill General Store Wild Blueberry Muffin and Pancake mix, Unicoi Preserves Salted Caramel Peach Spread, Honey On The Hill Bee Peachy Sugar Scrub and Wildflower Honey, and JumpinGoat Coffee Roasters Southern Pecan Coffee.

Meet the Artisans

Unicoi Preserves

Suzy and Clark Neal founded Unicoi Preserves out of a desire to produce products from ingredients they could source locally from their Georgia mountain region. They created their popular Salted Caramel Peach Spread, featured in our North Georgia gift box, from a bushel of Lane Southern Orchards Ruby Prince peaches sourced after a day of vending at a Georgia Grown festival. The Neals are competitive home cooks and their products have won numerous awards including being named a finalist at UGA Flavor of Georgia Food Product Contest and winning a World Hot Sauce Best of Show award. You can find recipes on their website to cook their delicious creations at home. The Neals moved to Sautee-Nacoochee, GA from south Georgia in 2008 because they were drawn to the area for its outdoor recreation opportunities.

Honey On The Hill

Dale Fisher is the founder, owner and head beekeeper at Honey On The Hill. After his last tour in Afghanistan, Dale found himself injured both mentally and physically and searching for something to keep him out of a dark place. After trying other farming ventures, he found that harvesting honey was his passion. In fact, he credits honeybees with saving his life by giving him focus, balance, and a reason to face a new day with every sunrise. With that, Dale started Honey On The Hill with the goal of providing the best raw, sustainably-sourced honey available on the market. Today, Honey On The Hill has grown to not only provide raw honey varieties but also gourmet candy, beauty products, and SuperFood Heroes. You can find Honey On The Hill Wildflower Honey and Bee Peachy Sugar Scrub in our North Georgia gift box. 

Nora Mill Granary

Nora Mill Granary has been a part of North Georgia history for over 100 years. The mill was built in 1876 complete with 1,500 pound French Burr Mill Stones and a 100 ft. wooden raceway that feeds water to a water turbine - not a vertical water wheel. In 1902 Dr. Lamartine G. Hardman bought the mill and named it "Nora Mill" in memory of his sister Nora. After a succession of millers throughout the years, in the early 1980s, Retired Army Lieutenant Colonel Ron Fain worked with the Hardman family and leased Nora Mill for him and his parents to bring back to life and operate. Ron became the Miller of Nora Mill. Over the years, Ron worked with his parents until their passing, and then brought his youngest daughter Joann in under his wing to learn the art of milling and work the Nora Mill business. Nora Mill is now in the fourth generation of the Fain family operation as Joe Vandegriff and his wife Addi, along with Joann Fain Tarpley, with husband Rich, continue to manage and operate Nora Mill Granary. There have been many changes over the years, but the main idea is still the same: to grind fresh grains with no additives or preservatives with old-fashioned quality. Nora Mill has recently gone through a major refurbishing to help continue the legacy of the Mill for many years to come. You can find their Wild Blueberry Muffin and Pancake mix in our North Georgia gift box.

Jumpin Goat Coffee Roasters

Jumpin Goat Coffee Roasters in Cleveland was founded with the goal of providing the best coffee possible. Their products are the highest quality single origin beans and flavored coffees offered anywhere in the world. You may wonder, "what do goats have to do with coffee?" Their name originates from the ancient folklore of how coffee was discovered. In the 1500's, a Goat herdsman an Ethiopian named Kaldi would free range feed his goats. His goats would always stop and eat the red ripe cherries that grew on a bush and after eating these red cherries they would start jumping and running around with a new burst of energy. He shared his experience with friends and fellow Herdsman, and they all decided to pick some of the red berries and boil them. Once they had boiled them and decided to drink the juice, they felt a new burst of energy and knew that this is what the goats had experienced as well. The news of this new drink spread around the world and became known as Coffee. You can find Jumpin Goat Southern Pecan Coffee in our North Georgia gift box.

It was so refreshing to visit the North Georgia mountains for this piece of our Tour of Georgia. To have a tranquil escape to North Georgia from your home, order our North Georgia gift box here.