Local gardener expands operation with new roadside stall

For as long as she can remember, Mary Sutton has wanted a homestead.

“I wanted to have a little roadside stand to sell vegetables,” Sutton said. “Definitely wanted the big garden and the chickens, and things have kind of just expanded beyond that at this point.”

Sutton, a Hamilton native, got the homestead she’d dreamed about in 2018 when she and her husband moved to a house on five acres of land in Reily Township off of Oxford Millville Road. Since then, she’s built up a garden for herself, made a miniature orchard, learned about beekeeping, acquired 30 chickens, a clutch of rabbits and a few outdoor cats, and taught herself how to make sourdough bread and natural salves.

And last week, she finally opened her roadside stall.

Sutton launched her business, Harvest Moon Homestead, last July. For the past year, she’s sold her goods at markets in the area, as well as porch pickups. On Sutton’s website, she also offers beginner sourdough workshops that people can sign up for.

This past summer, Sutton and her husband bought an old camper and renovated it, turning the camper into a stall for Sutton to sell her goods from. She said she’s been happy with the experience so far, getting customers every day. Her fresh eggs and baked goods have been the most popular items in the past week or so since she opened her physical location.

Sutton puts an emphasis on sustainability in her gardening. She mixes plants together to help balance nutrients in the soil, and she finds everything she needs for her herbal products locally. Much of what she’s learned has come from online research, Sutton said, though she first got interested in sustainability while in college.

“I make different herbal products with stuff that either is grown here, foraged — we have some wild areas in the back — or foraged locally,” Sutton said. The community has been supportive, too. “If I can’t find something that I need, I’ll post on Oxford Talk and be like, ‘Hey, does anybody have evening primrose.’”

Sutton’s interest in herbal products came from personal experience. Two years ago, she fractured a vertebra in a car accident and learned that comfrey, a plant that’s now a staple in her garden, had medicinal properties to help with pain and inflammation.

Starting her own homestead has come with some challenges. The bees are still frightening, Sutton said, though she has a suit for when she needs to collect honey, and it can get tiring going to events to sell her products every weekend. But being more self-reliant, and especially seeing her 4-year-old son get involved, have made the effort worth it.

“He’ll go out to the camper with me and help me put stuff out there,” Sutton said. “He’ll come out in the garden and help me pick tomatoes, and you know, he eats half of them. But that’s why I even did this, was to spend more time with him … He likes to be outside more than he likes to be inside, and so it makes me feel like I’m doing something right.”

Right now, Sutton is focused on maintaining the stand through its first few months of operation, but she has plans for the future, too. This summer, one of Sutton’s friends led a yoga class for kids on Sutton’s property, and she’d like to host more events for the community in the future. She also has recycling bins for containers like egg cartons in case people need them, and she’s interested in adding a little free library to her property, too.

As Sutton grows, she said several people in the Oxford community have helped her already. The community as a whole has a positive energy around local businesses, too, she said.

“The community in general is very supportive,” Sutton said. “Tons of people come to the farmers market. We’ve had a lot of support for the stand with minimal advertising. I think the university helps with that a lot, and Oxford has the kind of people that want to support businesses like this.”