Sweet Grown Alabama Blogs

End of the Road Farm & Studio, located in Ethelsville, Ala. is a proud member of the state’s agricultural branding program, Sweet Grown Alabama. My husband, Darwin Richardson, and I have operated this farm for over three years. We are a local, veteran owned family farm bringing you veggies, fruits, free range eggs and responsibly raised pasture meats. Our mission is to provide you with great, locally grown food using regenerative farming practices, while revitalizing the local food ecosystem.

Darwin grew up in Ethelsville, Ala. and is a 4th generation farmer helping his dad raise corn, hay, and running cow/calf operations. He did so, until he attended East Mississippi Community College and earned certificates in Industrial Electricity, Electronics Technology, as well as Instrumentation Technology. I grew up in Baltimore, MD and frequented the family farms in Pennsylvania, helping out with dairy cattle and traditional crop farming. Later, I moved away, earned my Doctorate in Audiology and eventually joined the Army as a Hearing Conservation Officer. I was medically retired in 2013 and after retirement returned to cooking from scratch. It was then when I started questioning how what I ate was affecting my health, so I began taking sustainable farming classes through the University of Massachusetts and met Darwin shortly thereafter. 

End of the Road Farm & Studio believes that we were all put here to be stewards of the land and animals. While the animals use the land to raise food, we are responsible not to overuse our resources and to ensure the animals are treated with the utmost respect. We believe in leaving this world in better shape than when they arrived and are in the process of transitioning End of the Road Farm & Studio to a regenerative paradigm, where we will be rotating the cattle throughout the pasture, ensuring that it is not overgrazed. 

We follow a consistent regimen of obtaining soil samples in the pastures, as well as in the garden and orchard to see where they are, what they need and if they’re moving in the right direction. We’ve recently integrated cover crops into the garden area to help build up the soil, feed the micro-organisms (as well as the worms) and help control weeds. 

We all know that local, naturally grown produce and proteins are just the right thing to do. With concepts like healing with food in mind, we aim to be good stewards of all God has entrusted to us. The land and livestock sustainably grown are better for the animals and plants, better for the earth and better for YOU.