Let me catch you up.
Tulip U-Pick ETA: 70 Days
Happy New Year!
2025 marked Stormbrew’s sixth season.
2020 we started the farm business at the original farm in Atkins.
2021 we moved the farm to Abingdon + began construction.
2022 was a year of integrating into the Abingdon community.
2023 we grew more and fed good people good food.
2024 we grew more and worked with the biggest Farmily yet.
2025 we wintered, regrouped, and let you pick the flowers.
2026 we started something new.
A January snapshot from each year 2020 - 2026.
(Plus some bonus Percy pics.)
Thanks for opening this email. Whether you’ve been tracking the farm since our early beginnings or have recently jumped on board- we appreciate your support, interest, and enthusiasm.
A farm is a living thing that changes and evolves, and consequently, a farm business behaves similarly. We’ve thrown many ideas at the wall over the years; after six seasons, what is most clear to me is that folks enjoy connecting to the land in many ways.
This past year’s experiment with U-Pick flowers showed me that sharing the farm with the community may be the most joyous use of the space. As with any livelihood, a farmer can become blind to the magic of the farm; opening the fields to you all helped reveal the magic once again.
The same is true with our Hip Camp sites. Folks from all over stayed at Stormbrew this year- each of them commenting on the peacefulness and comfort they found by the creek, among the flowers, with our animals. Appalachia is a truly special place. Being outdoors and being free is more rare than I believed.
Also rare: quality food and authentic experiences. A lifetime of picked-from-the-garden and homemade meals has absolutely spoiled me. In our fast world where profitability takes the front seat, things done well or created slowly are left behind. When we cater a meal or host a farm experience, more work goes into it than what is “compensated”. The result, though- the guests or clients that remark on their nourishment- both physically and spiritually- makes the work worth it.
(I’ve thought about this a lot.)
Why bother with the tedium of making a pie crust from scratch or gathering and carefully de-stemming thyme for a roast?
Why not just buy peeled garlic? Sometimes shortcuts would make the day easier, but the resulting product wouldn’t be aligned with the mission. It wouldn’t provide that impactful connection to the farm. My passion for revealing that connection is the thing that has rooted me back home.
So (maybe foolishly) I will engage in tedium in 2026 in more ways than ever
because it is important to me.
Because it is important to the folks who keep coming back.
Because I think it is the best way to share the peace I have found
with others seeking something similar.
Something New
What started as a nebulous idea for some type of farm-based livelihood (as a 22 year old who didn’t know anything other than I wanted the majority of my time to be spent OUTside), has taken the shape of a neat little business over the past six years.
From the start it was always more than just Farming,
but the past few years gradually revealed the path to
farm-sourced Food + Florals. Concurrently, as I considered the path that I wanted to spend time on, it felt important to connect Farm + Food + Florals in a meaningful way.
Farms grow things.
And as this farm has grown veggies & flowers,
it has also grown a new business that needed it’s own identity.
Stormbrew isn’t going anywhere.
I just wanted to give it the opportunity to just be a Farm.
As for the Food + Florals:
I’d like to introduce you to Fae Folk | Florals + Festivities.
Fae Folk is named after the fae of folklore —
otherworldly beings like fairies, gnomes, sprites, and pixies.
In many traditions, the fae are considered nature spirits: caretakers and defenders of the natural world.
That symbolism felt right.
At the heart of Fae Folk is a commitment to supporting local growers, producers, and makers — strengthening our regional food system and local economy through thoughtful sourcing and meaningful collaboration.
We believe the best food and florals come from people who care deeply about their land, their craft, and their community.
That’s why we prioritize working with small-scale farms and businesses who are passionate about their impact.
Fae Folk isn’t about cookie-cutter events.
It’s about curating magical, intentional moments — the kind that linger in memory long after the last plate is cleared and the flowers are packed away.
And yes… the name also leaves plenty of room for gnomes and fairies on our t-shirts.
Looking Forward
So what can you expect from Stormbrew Farm and Fae Folk in 2026?
Stormbrew
Plan for more opportunities to pick flowers! Our tulip U-Pick will open in late March. With over 3,000 bulbs in the ground, we look forward to the show that awaits once the soil warms.
On-farm experiences will continue, and as always, our venue is available to rent for your celebrations, meetings, or private dinners.
This newsletter will continue and the Stormbrew social media channels will highlight more farm content :)
Fae Folk
With catering & floral designs at the forefront of this new brand, you can count on us to make any event magical. In addition to catering farm-to-table meals and adorning your weddings with locally-sourced flowers, Fae Folk also offers private chef services. For celebrations and special moments, keep Fae Folk in mind — I’d be honored to help make it magical.
(Fae Folk website under construction,
thanks for understanding!)
Upcoming Events/Collaborations
Cafe. Fae Folk is currently trialing a small cafe at EO in Abingdon. Should the trial go well, there is potential to scale & expand, offering breakfast and lunch options to the public both at the cafe and through DoorDash. That means you may be able to get some of your Stormbrew Brunch favorites on a regular basis. (Interested or excited about this possibility? Please respond with feedback!)
Virginia Highlands Festival. I am working with the Culinary Committee of the Virginia Highlands Festival on a few projects including a Vegetable Literacy workshop (how to use all of those wonderful things you see at the farmer’s market), a Stormbrew Brunch, and the 2026 curated farm tour- stay tuned!
Retreat. I’m thrilled to be teaming up with my friends Jordan & Ally at Prairie Holler Retreats. I’ll be providing nourishing locally-sourced meals during the retreats. If you’ve been feeling the need to unplug, reset, and experience real connection, I encourage you to learn more about the retreats. See what they are up to on Instagram here.
Yoga. Yoga on the farm may be coming this spring. We’ve had some interest in outdoor classes as the weather warms, and we’re starting to explore what that could look like. If you’d like to be part of it, reply with your interest and any preferences for days or times — your feedback helps shape the plan.
Valentine’s Day. We’re starting to dream up Valentine’s Day. From a Galentine’s celebration to a Dining With Strangers dinner — or even cozy in-home private chef experiences — there are lots of possibilities.
Tell us what you’d love to see (or book!) this February.
Mother’s Day. Mother’s Day is coming. We’ve done brunches, we’ve done flowers — now we want to hear from you.
What would you love to see from Stormbrew + Fae Folk this Mother’s Day?
I love cabbage.
I’m actually a huge fan of all storage crops- the last things you harvest and hold onto all winter, awaiting the fresh tastes of spring. Sweet potatoes, delicata squash, carrots, turnips, onions, and cabbage have been the stars of many of my meals this winter.
Here is a recipe, not from the catering kitchen, but from the farmer’s kitchen. This is one I feed myself for a quick dinner that warms the soul.
You need:
a small pot with a lid
butter
onions (optional)
tamari/coconut aminos/soy sauce
cabbage
apples (optional)
mustard
sweet vinegar (like cranberry pear balsamic from Abingdon Olive Oil Co.)
salt & pepper
Melt a small amount of butter (or oil) in your pot.
Add chopped onions, sauté until translucent. Splash of tamari.
Add chopped apples. The goal is to get them softening before adding cabbage.
Add however much chopped cabbage you want to eat. I usually cook half a small cabbage for myself.
Add a tiny bit of water & put the lid on. Let the cabbage steam until it turns bright green and softens.
Add a squirt of stoneground mustard and a drizzle of sweet balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. Stir and enjoy.
This is a great way to start loving cabbage.
Make it a full meal with sausage- I like to get chicken sausages and brown them in a cast iron skillet.
A Farm Story
Maybe once in a lifetime a girl will get to know a really special chicken.
This is Legs and she was part of Stormbrew Farm long before I decided to try out a farm business. She came with the original farm in Atkins, one of four onery birds that refused to stay in their coop.
In this photo from January 2020, she is taking advantage of a sunny day and treating herself to a dirt bath in a decomposing log by the goat barn. For a long time, I used this photo as my profile picture for Uber and I wondered why it was always so hard to get rides.
While doing some chores the other day, a critter flashed by at the edges of my vision. I thought of Legs.
I was still in college when my folks became the stewards of the farm in Atkins and I would eagerly spend spring weekends helping with farm projects and chipping away at the carload of laundry hauled in from Blacksburg. With my back to the laundry room door, folding an endless pile of garments, I would feel watchful eyes behind me, careful tapping of talons on painted concrete. A flash at the edge of my vision. A chicken in the laundry room.
It happened enough times, apparently, that the other day, the flash in my eye made me think: Legs. She was a white Leghorn, a breed known for flightiness, but she allowed us the privilege to catch & pet her. She was one of the pack, following along as we chored around Stormbrew 1.0. She made the move and saw the new farm, but she was old, maybe as old as 10, and didn’t stick around for the first summer.
I've had several Chicken Wives* since Legs, but you never forget your first.
*Here on the farm, we refer to our most pettable birds as our Wives. Usually everyone has a different Chicken Wife and there have been times when a person perhaps had a Duck Wife instead.
This newsletter is for you, and I’d love your input.
What do you want to read more about?
What do you want to learn?
What kinds of farm moments should I share on Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube?
Click the button below and let me know
— I read every response
Daisy