It All Starts on the Farm – Leading Hemp and CBD Lifestyle Brand Franny’s Farmacy Promotes “Farm Over Pharma”
Franny Tacy left a successful, decade-long career in pharma to buy an organic farm and launch an entrepreneurial “hempire” dedicated to hemp, health, community and the environment. And, she invites the public to visit the farm and learn about sustainability.
You can see the iconic “LOVE” sign painted on the old barn as soon as you drive up the road to Franny’s Farm, located in a rural valley nestled in the Great Smoky Mountains near Asheville, NC. That sign, says Franny Tacy, founder of Franny’s Farm, Franny’s Farmacy and Franny’s Farm Foods, a fully integrated hemp, CBD and natural wellness enterprise that has garnered national recognition, serves as a daily reminder of a personal and professional commitment to promote natural health – and how we can help regenerate the Earth through the development and use of hemp in today’s industrial, agricultural and consumer markets.
Raised in Nashville, TN, and spending part of her youth growing up on the family farm outside of the city, Franny received a degree in forestry from Northern Arizona State University. Among the first to see the potential in the hemp plant, from sustainable food and fiber to building materials, clothing, botanical medicine and more, she left a successful career in pharmaceuticals, and in 2017 became the first female hemp farmer in North Carolina in more than 75 years.
Shortly thereafter, Franny established Franny’s Farmacy, a pioneering, woman-owned franchise of CBD wellness stores, now numbering 15 retail locations in five states in the Eastern U.S., with four additional locations in development. The stores feature clean, sustainable design with a focus on wellness, healthy lifestyles, CBD and hemp-derived products, and consumer education. Recently, Franny also launched a food division, Franny’s Farm Foods, to highlight the hemp plant as a nutritious ingredient in everyday foods and beverages.
Honoring Earth Day Every Day
While this month we celebrate Earth Day, Franny and her team of “hempreneurs” are dedicated to driving sustainability throughout the year, from the sourcing of local and organic ingredients for her food, chocolates, personal care products, CBD tinctures and other botanical products, to the very construction materials the company uses in the company’s retail stores, including HempWood®, an innovative building material made from hemp, in its shelving and displays.
“We are expanding our reach and changing the lives of many people through our products, but it all starts on the farm,” Franny reminds us. “That’s where the connection to our food and Mother Nature happens. It’s also the heart of our business. Earth Day reminds us to honor this connection every day,” she says.
Franny so believes in that connection that she invites the public to visit, attend or host weddings and events, and stay at one of the eco-cabins on the farm. Franny also hosts educational events at the farm, located in Leicester, 20 miles from Asheville, and recently debuted an interactive dinner theater, “Nonna’s New World Gnocchi” at the farm to mark the launch of Franny’s Farm Foods and gluten-free, plant-based vegan hemp pasta created by chef Mike Ptaszek of Pasta & Prana, made with organic hemp protein from Victory Hemp Foods. A yoga enthusiast, Franny is also renowned for hosting Goat Yoga classes at the farm.
This year, Franny’s Farm features an educational Hemp History Garden with plants and informational signs. While Franny sources most of her hemp and other ingredients from local growers, a number of botanical ingredients used in her products are grown on the farm.
All Franny’s Farmacy products, including tinctures, edibles, topicals and CBD flower, are prepared in small batches with full spectrum cannabinoids, while containing less than 0.3% THC. In addition, with teas, chocolates and pastas made from organic hemp and other healthful ingredients, Franny’s Farm Foods was established to expand the variety of hemp-derived products the company offers. Today, Franny’s Farmacy is a vibrant, ever-evolving business that is rigorously expanding across the U.S.