Stallard Road Farm Offers Meats, Dairy, Honey to Customers

It was her husband’s family dream to own a farm, said Katherine Adams, owner of Stallard Road Farm based in Culpeper County.

That dream became a reality in 2008 when they bought the farm. They named it Stallard Farm after the road that goes through the farm that stood there during the 1600s in the original land grant, she said.

“(My husband) John’s grandparents had horses and had a history of dairy farming in the family so it was sort one of those family dreams to own a farm again, and John kind of just stuck to that,” Katherine said.

Now offering meats, eggs, medicinal herbs and honey — and in the process of becoming certified to sell goat cheese — Stallard Road Farm hosts a stand at the weekly Oak Marr Farmers Market on Wednesdays.

Katherine grew up in New York City but her mother was “totally into organic food and healthy nutrition” when she was growing up and had a garden in the backyard.

“We didn’t see Oreo cookies until I was 5 years old,” she said. “She was totally into nutrition and healthy diet way, way before it was ever on the radar.”

With this background, Katherine said she wanted the farm to be self-sufficient and decided to go with an atypical farm practice similar to the Polyface Farm in Swoope, VA.

“A farm, to be truly sustainable, has to work as an integral whole,” she said.

In this process, the cows eat only grass and fertilize the grass, then the chickens spread the fertilizer around the entire pasture, she said.

“All those things work together to make a healthy whole and we don’t need to use chemical fertilizers, we don’t need to use insecticides or pesticides; we don’t even need to use antibiotics, our animals are very healthy as a result being outside 98 percent of the time,” she said.

After developing the farm, Katherine said she and John were soon able to raise enough beef to sell to their friends and they decided they loved the lifestyle and wanted to develop it toward supporting the family. Both still have jobs off the farm.

Other than being able to sell their products to the community, Katherine said she and her husband appreciate talking to customers and educating them about their farm practices.

“We get a lot of questions about what makes us different, and I really enjoy educating people and so does John,” Katherine said.

Oak Marr Recreation Center hosts the Oak Marr Farmers Market weekly, from 8 a.m. to noon Wednesdays.