When a Red Oak, Texas boy marries an Atwood, Oklahoma girl and they settle in her hometown, the result is a benefit for the whole area.

Joseph Durbin grew up in Red Oak, Texas, just south of Dallas, and Angie (Phillips) Durbin, was raised in Atwood. Joe is a truck driver and had some restaurant experience when he was younger. Angie is a paralegal who worked in Ada for several years and, after graduating from ECU, moved to Dallas for almost 20 years where she worked in law firms and then a children’s hospital.

Joe and Angie met when they both lived in Mesquite, a suburb of Dallas. Some things the two have in common are a love for cooking and a desire to farm. After they married, they moved to Atwood in 2018 to be near her parents.

While living in Dallas, Angie tried an aged goat cheese made in Vermont. She

continued Page 4 was captivated and offhandedly decided someday she needed to have a herd of dairy goats and make that cheese. Moving back to Atwood provided the opportunity.

Both Joe and Angie enjoy and respect the way things were done when their parents were growing up on family farms. In this part of Oklahoma many people raised almost all their own food in the garden and from animals. The Durbins wanted to see if they could still do that in today’s world. While they are not yet able to do that without supplementing with income from their jobs, they did find that they have an abundance of fresh garden produce, milk, and eggs to share.

Before making the move to Atwood the couple had studied about things they wanted to do, and they knew it wouldn’t be easy since neither of them had an agriculture background although both had a little experience from growing up in the country. They knew that raising farm animals and gardening on a larger scale requires a lot more knowledge and experience than you can get from a book, so they have appreciated the tremendous amount of help and advice from her parents, their great neighbors, and knowledgeable friends.

They found they were able to grow and raise things that help sustain each other. First, they caught a swarm of wild bees that helped with pollinating their first big garden. Next, chickens were added to eat bugs and provide eggs and fertilizer. Then came the goats that are milked for drinking, making cheese, yogurt, and soap. The goat manure can be used as garden and flower fertilizer and the goats help clear brush. Pigs were added to butcher for meat and for lard to use in soapmaking, and the pigs also eat old garden produce and extra milk. A dairy cow that fed a couple of neighbors’ orphan beef calves was next to arrive. Those neighbors also kindly let them keep the two calves so now there’s a start of a small beef herd. They started milking the dairy cow this year and expect to have an abundance of cream and butter soon.

Having a farmstand was in the early plans, but there no idea that it would evolve into what it is now. 2020, during Covid, was the first year for the farmstand. Having an open-air place where local people could get milk, eggs, vegetables, and baked goods would not only help use some of the Durbin’s abundance but also be convenient for neighbors. They use their fresh farm produce in their baked goods to the extent allowed by law. Grieve Family Farm near Holdenville helped supply the farmstand with handmade soaps and sewing crafts. Neighbors were incredibly supportive and visited every week. In 2021 when Covid was much more of a problem in the area, they decided to pre-sell shares of our garden and delivered produce boxes to customers in Atwood, Holdenville, and Ada. In 2022 they were able to come back to the carport to re-open the farmstand. The cottage food laws had changed drastically, and other foods were added instead of being limited to only certain types of baked goods. Added were smoked cheeses, jams, pickles, pies, and several other items. Vicki Shepherd of Horntown brought her Scentsy products for sale and Scentsy has been available at the farmstand ever since.

Along the way flowers were grown for market-type bouquets, and that has been the biggest surprise success. Angie started growing them because she loves flowers and quickly found that lots of other people do too. Besides selling handtied market bouquets at the farmstand, they also offer flower subscriptions where flowers are delivered on a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly basis during the growing season.

Last Fall, Laura Young of LOVEable Quiltings in Gerty, joined them and they held a Christmas Market between Thanksgiving and Christmas where food, soap, and craft items were offered, along with Laura’s wonderful baked goods and beautiful sewing crafts, and freeze dried goodies. A selection of holiday foods are available around each holiday that can be ordered online and picked up at the farm.

In the Spring of 2023, Debbie Wilson of Granny’s Garden, suggested several similar small businesses in Hughes County team up to create a shopping trail complete with various festivals during the year. Laura Young hosts the Handcrafted & Homegrown Shopping Trail - Hughes County, Oklahoma Facebook page and does an amazing, tireless job of promoting all the businesses on the Shopping Trail. Customers can pick up a brochure at any of the nine participating businesses and enter at each of the shops to win a big prize in September.

The Shopping Trail and Laura’s promoting has helped Durbinshire to grow their in-person customer base and followers on the Durbinshire Farm Facebook page. Dava Beck of Allen with Dava’s Fine Foods has also joined this year to bring wonderful gourmet items to the Farmstand. 5K Crochet is participating when available and they bring adorable plush crochet items. RayAnn’s Barrel Creations of Atwood has brought their whiskey barrel furniture and other wood crafts; Prouty Handcrafts has brought laser cut crafts. Keltic Kate joins in on Shopping Trial festival days with live music. It’s a fun, supportive group of small local businesses and everyone is more successful when they help each other.

PICKLEFEST

This Saturday, August 12th, Durbinshire Farm is participating in the Hughes County Handmade and Homegrown Shopping Trail Pickle Fest in a big way, several of these local small businesses, including a new vendor for Durbinshire, Freeze Dried Goodies, will be joining them. Many are bringing all kinds of great pickle-themed items. The event is celebrating the Calvin Pickle Company that existed in Calvin several years ago and the hope is to hear lots of stories from people who remember the Pickle Company.

Future Plans

Near-future plans for the Durbinshire Farmstand include adding a store building (with air conditioning!) and a commercial kitchen so there can be further expansion of food offerings. Plans are to add sugar free, gluten free, and keto friendly items, plus continue to provide space for other small, local businesses to join in the Saturday morning Farmstand.

For now, the Farmstand is open on Saturdays during the garden season (late June-early September). Holiday food will be offered through online orders at durbinshire. com. Once the store building is complete, the Durbins expect to extend their hours.

Angie said, “Sometimes people ask how we manage all these things. We often feel that we do none of it well, and while we do wish there were a lot more hours in the day and a lot more energy in our bodies, doing what we love is never really work. We believe in treating the land and our animals as well as we can, and we are rewarded in return. Teaming up with a community of friends makes us all more successful. We look forward to where our Farmstand business takes us as it has already developed into much more than we expected. And most importantly, having the opportunity to provide farm fresh foods, visit with our neighbors and friends, and meet new people every Saturday is a big bonus to a rewarding lifestyle.”