Seeded In Family, Rooted In Community
Words by Fielder Hagan | Photography Courtesy of Hornsby Farms
Driving on Bufford Road, just off the outskirts of Tuskegee National Forest, is an old farmhouse defined by its black barnwood and tin letters spelling Hornsby Farms. This farmhouse has been passed down by many generations of farmers that have grown food to sustain themselves and their neighbors. Currently, Josh and Beth Hornsby work here with their two sons, Sully and Levi, and their daughter, Stella. Here, Beth and Josh grow seasonal produce, raise pigs and make some of Alabama’s most sought-after pepper jelly.
Starting out, Beth and Josh had no inclination of becoming full-time farmers. Coming out of college, Josh started a landscape and design company with his newly earned degree in horticulture and landscape. This business served Josh well until ‘06 when the market crashed and took the business and home away from Josh and Beth. The couple moved into Beth’s mother’s trailer in Montgomery where Josh worked on-call for the Alabama Forestry Commission in case of a fire. Josh’s job required him to be within 35 miles of the Forestry Commission office. The trailer in Montgomery was 42 miles away, so Josh moved the waterless, powerless travel trailer to a pond on his family’s farm that he grew up on and lived in it during the week to be in compliance with his job.
After dating for what Beth described as forever, Beth asked Josh when he thought it would feel right to get engaged. Josh’s response was “as soon as you can make biscuits like momma.” The next time Beth visited Josh’s mother, she showed Beth the secrets of making perfect biscuits. In her time dating Josh and making those biscuits, Beth understood that at the head of a southern, hard-working family of faith, is often a loving and patient mother. After many burnt batches of biscuits, Beth had perfected her method. Soon following, Josh proposed.
Two months before the wedding, Josh’s mother, Nanette, passed away. Beth’s response was by immersing herself in those memories, making sure to preserve Nanette’s stories so that they would never really be lost.
“She taught me all about preserving. Preserving the family, preserving farming and preserving food. Food is all about memory, and farming recreates those memories,” Beth said.
After his mother’s passing, Josh, his brother and sister all inherited the plot he grew up gardening on.
“My mother’s legacy is hard work, dedication, respect for my elders and the land and what God gave us. It’s how I farm and ultimately how I live my life,” Josh said.
“My mother’s legacy is hard work, dedication, respect for my elders and the land and what God gave us. It’s how I farm and ultimately how I live my life.”
Josh, with the help of his father, began laying an acre of plasticulture in his family garden just as the method just became mainstream. Plasticulture is a method of growing produce which uses rows of black plastic over the plant to keep it insulated and safe while drip irrigation flows under the plant. To better use his time while waiting for the forest to catch on fire, Josh would sit in the supper club parking lot on Saturdays and Sundays after church and sell his tomatoes out of the back of his pick up truck. The revenue generated ended up bringing in more than half his salary at the forestry commission in his second summer of growing tomatoes. After that successful second year, Josh sat down with Beth and discussed leaving the forestry commission to farm full-time. Josh recognized the need for the market and also predicted the booming of the farm-to-table movement, and they both agreed to make the switch.
“We kinda just found a niche. Y’know, I didn’t think I was gonna be a farmer, but we kinda just fell into it. Those next couple years, I built Beth her own storefront and canning operation where she developed the recipe to her jalapeno pepper jelly, and people were begging us for it.” Josh said. “Now we can everything. A big portion of our income comes from selling those canned goods.”
In his childhood, Josh was raised in the fields and gardens growing southern delicacies with his family. Now, Josh passes on the same lessons given to him as a kid to his own children about the importance of an honest day’s work and seeing the value of your labor.
“Watching a plant go from seed, to the table and them having a hand in it, it’s huge to us. Most kids just go to the grocery store and think the food just appears on the shelf. My kids know where it comes from and what it takes to get it on the shelf,” Josh said “Since I grew up with my own garden, I want my kids to learn how to take care of themselves.”
One of the most underappreciated results of farming full time was it gave them the ability to focus on what they deemed most important: spending quality time with family.
“The kids play in the fields, jumping from row to row while I’ve got my head in the dirt. Those are the kind of memories I want to preserve,” Beth said.
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Since there weren’t many active farms at the time Hornsby Farms was established, Beth and Josh noticed how important it was for them to own their land and use it for the community. Beth saw how labor-intensive the work was and understood why people were afraid of it, but she also realized how great the seasons in Alabama were for growing her garden. With Hornsby Farm’s putting out restaurant-quality produce while the first steps of the farm-to-table movement began to take strides, others saw what the Hornsby’s were doing and began gardens of their own.
“Life is a miracle, and each seed is something special,” Beth said.
Showing fellowship and support to other families in the community is another way the Hornsby’s improve family dynamics on and off the farm. On the farm, The Hornsby’s hold numerous markets, dinners and ticketed events to bring Auburn families together to spend time with one another. In the summer, the Hornsby Farms’ magnificent sunflower field blooms. Many parents bring their kids to admire the beauty of the flowers, which Beth views as symbolic in remembrance of her late mother-in-law.
Today, there is an active and thriving farm community that communicates with one another and promotes each other’s products to provide value and variety to the customer. Beth said one of her favorite parts of being in this network of farmers has been finding her niche.
In order to transition from winter into spring, seedlings have to be planted, fields have to be tilled and crops from the winter need to be harvested. Hornsby Farms is now growing southern-favorites like tomatoes, sugar snap peas, cucumber, watermelon, corn and much more. Thankfully, Hornsby Farms sells their produce by the basket-full. Baskets contain a variety of items which include locally grown fruits and vegetables, farm goods, local meats, small batch items from other farms and local makers.
With the farm closed to the public in response to COVID-19, The Hornsby’s also help out families off the farm in numerous ways. Josh’s nanny growing up is involved in the African Methodist Episcopal Church just down the road from the farm, and the church is gathering food for those in the community who worked in restaurants and places that have closed. Josh reached out to the pastor, and for two weeks, they have fished together, catching up to 100 fish to cook, clean and give out to the different families in the community.
On top of giving back to others, the Hornsby’s have been struggling themselves since much of their sales went to restaurants that aren’t getting the kind of business they usually do and to farmers markets that have been put on hold. Thankfully, they have seen the community step up to help them out. Since the beginning of March, their basket sales have doubled, and orders of pickles and pepper jellies from members of the community have increased.
Hornsby Farms is a staple of Auburn Farming. The hard work, love and dedication for this honest work has been passed onto them for generations and can be seen in the quality that comes out of the ground. At the center of it all is family and community that has been supporting them the entire way.
You can sign up for weekly baskets and purchase jellies, jams, pickles and other farm store goods at www.hornsbyfarms.com. You can also find them selling their goods at the City Market at Town Creek Park Saturdays from 8am to 11am.
Find Hornsby Farms on Facebook and Instagram @hornsbyfarms where they’ll update you on events, dinners and what’s growing at its peak any given day. As of July 2020, the farm is still closed to the public; however, once they reopen, you can visit the farm yourself at 1235 Bufford Rd, Auburn, AL 36830.
