Loose Leaf Notes

~ The following was published in The Floyd Press on March 24, 2011

Travelers driving between downtown Floyd and Check on Route 221 are sure to take notice of Sweet Providence Farm’s red-roofed, timber-framed Farm Market and Bakery perched on a hill.   The farm’s neat rows of Christmas trees, an old-timey truck bearing signs of Fresh Produce and Eggs, a barbecue smoker that looks like a steam locomotive and a chicken hoop house across the road are also bound to pique interest.

Sweet Providence is the 70 acre homestead of John Paul and Rainey Houston and their eight children, ages two to twenty-two.   The farm is also home to the family milking cow, Louisa, a rescued dog named Maggie, pasture-raised chickens, laying hens, turkeys, pigs, and beef cattle.

“It happened in little steps,” said 22 year-old Ann Houston about the family farm’s evolution.   Sipping tea at the long kitchen table where her younger siblings do their home-schooling lessons, Ann explained that 12 years ago her family sold their large Floyd farmhouse on a small amount of acreage and purchased their current smaller home with more land, a tradeoff that allowed them to develop Sweet Providence Farm.

“We started raising chickens for eggs and meat for ourselves.  We sold eggs and meat off the back porch for a few years and pumpkins at the end of the driveway and built up a customer base,” Ann said.

Five years ago, following the construction of the Farm Market and Bakery, a retail outlet for the family’s home-grown and home-raised food, Ann’s father John Paul retired early as the Southern Farm Bureau agency manager to head-up the running of the farm and store.

Since then, the family has worked together, building the market’s reputation for one-stop grocery shopping of meats produced without hormones or antibiotics and butchered on site, free range eggs, homemade pies and pastries, fresh seasonal produce from Sweet Providence or other local farms, and diary products from Homestead Creamery, an old style creamery in Franklin County that makes home deliveries of glass-bottled milk and other dairy products.   Organic grains, flours, nuts, honey and locally-made and American-made gift items are also available at Sweet Providence.

Along with the draw of naturally grown local food and the store’s country charm, customers come to the farm for live music on the  front porch, barbeque lunches on weekends, an annual Cino de Mayo celebration in the spring, old fashion apple butter making and cider pressing in the fall, and cut-your-own Christmas trees in December.  The opportunity to pet farm animals and see the workings of a small family farm up close also makes Sweet Providence Farm a popular destination.

“People like to see where their food comes from,” Ann said, noting that the store has a large clientele from Roanoke who come up weekly to buy their meat and produce for the week.” Other shoppers range from neighbors to those originally from Europe, Mexico, Bosnia, Africa and other countries where fresh market food is a way of life.

When the economy took its first dip a few years ago, farm store sales were affected and John Paul went back to work as a financial advisor at Stone Houston and Associates in town.  In 2010 the role of store manager was passed on to Ann.  As the Sweet Providence baker who baked and sold 70 pies in the three days leading up to Thanksgiving last year, she began to pass on some baking responsibilities to 16 year-old sister Cora.   Ann’s twenty-year-old brother, John William, was promoted to farm manager and maintenance man, with 15 year-old Thomas as his right hand man.

As store manager, Ann is getting a hands-on education in life skills, people skills, organizational and budgeting skills.  She’s grateful for the teamwork of her family, the regular counsel she receives from her father and help from her mother who, when not busy taking care of baby Samuel and homeschooling Henry (7), Catherine (10), Mary (13), Thomas (15), and Cora (16), does the ordering of non-food and decorative items for the store.

Hands-on learning is a theme in the Houston household.    Farm chores compliment book lessons and are an integral part of the children’s education.   Thirteen-year-old Mary takes her turn running the store cash register and has been learning percentages by pricing farm produce as part of her math lessons.  Farm manager John William, who also plays and makes fiddles, flexed his business skills when he invested his savings in the purchase of an industrial wine press for making apple cider, which he sells at the market as a side business.

The Houstons are serious about being good stewards of the land and the animals on it and are looking into becoming “certified humane” through a national non-profit organization that sets standards for humane treatment of animals and conducts yearly inspections.  “We don’t give our animals antibiotics because they don’t get sick,” said Ann, who also teaches art to a home-schooling cooperative, said.  She explained that the farm’s animals are not crowded and are out in the fresh air grazing on grass.  “God created the seasons and pattern for the way things work. When we move away from that pattern we tend to get bad results.”

Elaborating on the farm’s mission of providing local wholesome food to the community, she said, “It makes me happy to know we provide good food.  It’s better for your health.  It tastes better.  It’s better for the animals.  It helps the local economy.  It supports our family and we support other families that provide us with honey, produce and more.”

For the first time since its opening, Sweet Providence closed on Christmas Day 2010 and remained closed over the winter months. The family took that time to clean, re-organize, stock new items and plan new events.   The first event of the season will be a grand re-opening, scheduled for April 1st and set to feature live music, free cookies, coffee and lemonade.  Along with the Houston family, chickens, ducks, the family cow and her calf will be on hand.

Ann Houston believes the secret to success is being passionate about what you do and getting your priorities right.  She and her family have been putting those beliefs into practice with good results.  Summing up Sweet Providence’s focus on local, natural and seasonal, she gave this simple advice:  “Eat good food.  Enjoy your family.  Help your neighbors.”  Colleen Redman

Note: Sweet Providence Farm Market and Bakery will be open April 1st Wednesday through Saturday 10 to 6 p.m.