In 1991, two lovebirds got married and bought 25 acres to call their own — not knowing that those acres would double and one day grow into the farm you see today.
Maynard has always had a knack for getting into a little trouble and a lot of gardening. Taking after his mom’s green thumb, he planted tomatoes and watermelons right in the middle of their in-town subdivision.
(Fun fact: Maynard still won’t eat a tomato to this day.)
Marie grew up on a hog farm in the small town of Home Branch. It’s a wonder she ever let her kids raise hogs — maybe she just really likes them… or maybe she really likes fresh bacon. While the original family farm is no longer in our family, the land is still cared for by a sweet man we stay in touch with. The hog barn still stands, and now cows spend their days grazing around.
What you see today wasn’t inherited. This farm was built from the ground up by Maynard and Marie, with the help of friends, family, and a whole lot of hard work.
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For years, Maynard worked in a manufacturing plant while Marie worked at Piggly Wiggly. In 1996, when they found out their first child was on the way, Marie wanted to stay home — but still wanted something meaningful to do. That’s when they decided to build two turkey barns and raise turkeys for Prestage Farms out of Cassatt, South Carolina.
Each flock started with about 20,000 couple-hour-old poults placed in brooder houses. After six weeks, the turkeys moved into four grow-out houses where they were finished out. Those turkey barns kept the family afloat for many years — especially during the difficult time when Maynard’s position at the plant was eliminated and he transitioned into farming full time.
In 2001, a Clemson Extension agent named Greg Harvey encouraged the family to sell produce at a new farmers market opening in Sumter. Longtime customers may remember Maynard as “Junior,” since his dad — “Senior” — helped him sell produce in those early days. What started as a small family garden slowly grew into more than 20 acres of rotating produce, planted and harvested year-round.
Looking back now, it’s amazing how much has changed — and how few photos we have from those early days. Where the blueberry orchard now stands used to be rows of pine trees, wild blackberries, and honeysuckle. The horse and goat pasture was once an okra field. Where the equipment shed and grain bins sit today used to be a watermelon patch. Back then, there was no irrigation, limited equipment, and one little tractor that did just about everything.
In 2012, we planted our first strawberries — and for the first time, opened the farm to the public. Visitors paid from a simple cash box sitting on an old electrical spool, with a couple jars of honey tucked underneath the pine trees where picnic tables now stand. There was no store then. The building you see today was originally built in 2017 as a storage shed for buckets, baskets, and honey jars.
Then came 2020.
When COVID shut down the farmers markets, our community showed up in ways we never expected. We moved our market tables into the storage shed, added tablecloths, limited the number of shoppers inside, and set the electrical spool outside. That improvised setup became our farm store — and that year changed the direction of our farm forever. It was also the first year of hayrides, a corn maze, Fall Farm Days, and the beginning of the playground expansions. And we’re not slowing down anytime soon.
The kids were raised right alongside the farm. Around age five, Marie got them involved in 4-H. The original pig pen is long gone — just a concrete pad remains — and a second pen was built behind the barns so no one could smell the pigs. A few years later came cows… then goats. Why the jump from pigs to cows? Who knows!
As for horses — Maynard always said they were “hay burners” and swore his daughter would never have one. That changed when she turned 16 and could afford to care for it herself. Don’t let him fool you though — he used to sneak Gator oatmeal cream pies, and Charlie still gets whatever she wants.
