Getting started…again
This is our first post! We took the big leap and decided to revive the family farm. It means a lot to us and we hope you’ll follow along to see what we’re doing and why.
100 years of smiles, tears, and mostly just hard work in one paragraph
After five generations and nearly 100 years, the dairy on the corner of Highway 123 and Carnes Creek Road in Toccoa finally stopped operating when John’s grandfather (Farris) died in 1990. When the dairy closed, Stephanie and LaDonna’s grandfather (L.J.) worked with their father (Charles) and cousin (Alex) to keep the buildings up and raise some beef cattle there, even though L.J. was long retired and not in the best health. After L.J. died, his son, James (also retired and with some health problems) with help from Stephanie and LaDonna’s husbands, did the same on the farm and made steady improvements. This summer, James passed away and Stephanie and LaDonna have taken the reins with the help of James’ wife, Adele. Stephanie and LaDonna still live right by the old dairy. John grew up on it, but lives a few counties down the road now.
What’s happening now?
Many, many decades have gone by since it was a viable farm. Did we say “many” enough? The grass is slowly turning to weeds, the wells are dry, the lake is more of a big puddle, and the buildings are barely hanging in there. It definitely puts the “rust” in rustic. Since the summer, Stephanie and LaDonna’s families have been working non-stop trying to clean things up. “We’re going to fix this!”
Meanwhile, John spent the last several years studying grass-finished cattle and traveled from Nebraska to Virginia and points in-between trying to figure out how to make a sustainable business. Can a family still earn a living from a farm? After carefully working out the plan in 2020 (thanks, COVID), he knew exactly how to do it. This summer he was ready to start leasing land and knocked on the door of literally every landowner with more than 50 acres in Barrow County. Quickly running out of lease options, he talked with Stephanie at the family reunion in August and…
serendipity.
Broad River Beef
John, Stephanie’s family, and LaDonna’s family are working together to provide healthy, high-quality, grass-finished beef for families in Northeast Georgia. It’s a small start with a lot of effort in getting high quality forage growing, finding toxin-free minerals, and the selecting the right kind of cattle, but we hope to have excellent steaks and ground beef available by next summer. We’re calling it Broad River Beef. We’re going to offer cuts that people normally use (nothing weird that needs a special recipe book) in small quantities that actually fit in a regular refrigerator. And we’ll even deliver it to you.
We are thankful for the land, the memories of being raised on it, and the opportunity to use it to improve the health and well-being of the people around us.
If you have any memories of the farm you would like to share or want to ask questions about what we’re doing, please call or email us. And keep an eye out for the next post!
Stephanie, LaDonna, John…