The Alimond Show
Welcome to The Alimond Show --join us as we share our entrepreneurial guests' stories, uncover their secrets to success, and explore the unique paths they've taken to build thriving businesses in our community.
In each episode, our host, Aliyah Dastour, sits down with a diverse group of local business owners, from the corner cafe to the boutique shop, from tech startups to family-run enterprises. We peel back the curtain to reveal the trials, triumphs, and transformational moments that have shaped their entrepreneurial journey.
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The Alimond Show
Bernadette Boland of Fields of Athenry Farm and Sidesaddle Bistro - From Two Lambs to Culinary Success: Pioneering Holistic Health, Innovative Marketing, and Family Entrepreneurship in Virginia
Join us for an inspiring tale of resilience and family entrepreneurship as we chat with Bernadette Boland about the journey of Fields of Athenry Farm and Side Saddle Bistro. From their humble beginnings in Virginia with just two lambs, Bernadette and her mother Elaine Boland have cultivated not only a thriving farm-to-door delivery service but also a beacon of holistic health through their nutritious offerings like bone broth. Bernadette opens up about her personal health struggles, revealing how they spurred her mother to explore the nourishing power of animal products. Discover the importance of grass-fed, free-range practices and how this family business creatively pivoted during the COVID-19 pandemic with charcuterie classes and intimate private events.
Explore the marketing savvy and future ambitions of this charming family-run farm and bistro set in Middleburg. Bernadette shares their unique approach to standing out in the market through word-of-mouth, social media, and newsletters, along with an innovative subscription model for fresh meats and seasonal delights like Thanksgiving turkeys. Get insights into their plans for expansion, including a new club for elevated dining experiences, while maintaining their local community roots with private events. As Bernadette reflects on her journey of self-improvement, she emphasizes the power of focusing on one's own path and the rewarding challenges of running a family business.
So I'm Bernadette Boland. My mom, elaine Boland, started the business 20 years ago. It's Fields of Athenry Farm and Sidesaddle Bistro and we provide farm-fresh meats and prepared meals and bone broth to our customers, where we do a lot of home deliveries between, like Lovettsville to Arlington and Alexandria. We drop off right at your door. You leave a cooler outside and the meat's butchered fresh every week, so the majority of the product that you're getting in your order is going to be fresh cut rather than frozen.
Speaker 2:Yeah, can't beat that freshness right. No, I'd like to know a little bit of a backstory. I know your mom started this endeavor 20 years ago. I want to know how that came to be and then how you came into the picture and what made you decide to be like.
Speaker 1:you know what I want to do this, I'm going to do it. Well, my family moved out here from Arizona. My mom always wanted a farm and my dad's sister and her husband moved to Vienna and they were just driving around, stumbled upon Loudoun County and Middleburg and called my parents and basically were like, if you want, they packed up the five girls and we moved out here and we started with two little lambs. My sisters and my parents set up this little scavenger hunt for my little sister and I and it ended with the two lambs in the stall and over Easter and it was so funny because at that time a lot of hot air balloons would go over Snickersville and we were just sitting outside playing on the trampoline and this hot air balloon with the Easter bunny and like flew over, was like we thought it was like the coolest thing ever that the Easter Bunny made a visit and all that stuff.
Speaker 1:So, um, eventually we got some chickens and all of that good stuff and, mom, we turned the basement of the house into the shop and we let people come and visit the farm for about 20 years over time and products started to grow. I got sick and my mom started reaching out to different holistic practitioners and alongside, like my normal doctors, and started learning how to use, like all parts of the animal and the importance of how you raise the animal to get the most like nutritious product from it. So that's when she started developing the bone broth and it's just kind of grew from there. People started coming out and reaching out to her to create specific broths for either themselves or family members that were going through their own health crisis and everything in between Back up just a little bit from that.
Speaker 2:So tell me a little bit about bone broth and what you learned, I guess, from your holistic doctor and the benefits and all of that for people who are curious and wondering.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so it obviously was a big fad for a little while. But you know, there's like a reason why everybody is like oh, I'm sick, like I really want some chicken soup. You know, it's not the chicken in there, it's the broth. Um, so we cook a lot with the organ meats and bones and the broth basically pulls the nutrients out of those so you don't have to eat like the actual thing rather than just sipping on it. Um, it just helps a lot with like brain fog and like joint health and pain and like hormone balancing, all of it.
Speaker 2:There's a lot to it, but it's yeah, people started coming and asking for their own orders of broth, and so it just grew from then.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, asking for their own orders of broth, and so it just grew from then. Yeah, exactly, so like all of our meals are based in the bone broth and um, just different ways to get something healthy into you without it feeling like a chore. You know all that process.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly, I'd like to talk a little bit about that, because on here I see that you have grass-fed beef, chicken, pork, eggs and again that bone broth. You also have farm-to-table prepared meals, deli and cheese. Talk to me about that and talk to me about why. I know you just said that you went to a holistic doctor and stuff, but tell me why it is important for you guys to have like grass fed animals there and having them like be free range and all that good stuff yeah, um, everybody thinks that we're like organic, certified um, which we're not.
Speaker 1:there's a lot of loopholes in the organic world, um, and it's important that animals are raised the way like god intended them to be outside, and there's a lot of like rotational grazing that goes into it. They're not just stuck on one piece of property and that's it. You move them around and then follow it with like a different animal and it goes back to like keeping the fields healthy and all of that stuff. And it goes back to like keeping the fields healthy and all of that stuff. But you know, food is more like fuel for the body. So if you're feeding the animals a bunch of stuff that they shouldn't be ingesting, you then in turn will be ingesting that, essentially, you know. So that's why we limit on like medications and all of that stuff. We're not pumping them full of like growth hormones to make them grow faster than naturally they're supposed to and all of that stuff.
Speaker 2:But, yeah, supposed to and all of that stuff. But, yeah, that does that answer it. Okay, no, I love it. Thank you. I know you also have a charcuterie class. Is that correct? Yeah, can you tell me about?
Speaker 1:that and you teach it right? Yeah, I teach it. So I Our bistro. Now we just do private parties and catering out of it. And that was a result of COVID and just having to adapt to the circumstances that came with it.
Speaker 1:And we found our niche there with we love creating experiences for people and using like my grandma's old silver, like serving platters and all of that stuff and, um, we threw a Kentucky Derby party and I was like 20 people were invited and I had this vision in my head of this tiered board that was just like this massive grazing board. I wanted it to be sort of a like centerpiece, slash, food art piece, love it, just it. Kind I didn't realize it was something I was pretty decent at and, yeah, started building all these charcuterie boards and whatnot. So this past year we took the year to just do a bunch of different things trial and error, what works, what didn't work and creating different experience. So the classes was one of those projects we put out there. I did three classes this year and I'll do more next year. So that will be coming out soon. But yeah, it was really fun. I thought it was really fun. I thought it was time to bring people into the shop and just try it out.
Speaker 2:You got all the ingredients there, I mean, why not right Exactly? And everybody loves a good charcuterie board, like for like a winery, a party, a wedding.
Speaker 1:It's the best way to eat. It's my favorite way to eat Just picking and cheese wine, oh cheese, yes, it's so good.
Speaker 2:And then yours is like super, like fresh, yeah, but you can't beat that.
Speaker 1:No, we don't get the little bagged pepperoni pieces.
Speaker 2:Love that. I'd like to ask you about marketing and how you're getting the word out there whether it's online or in person about the type of services that you provide and what makes you stand out.
Speaker 1:Talk to me about that A lot of it has been word of mouth, just through people talking. Obviously that's always the biggest for everybody, but right now it's really just social media and our newsletter and just chatting to people. The weekends in Middleburg are full of the DC crowd and a lot of those people don't realize that we'll deliver to your door. It's not like a drop location that you then have to go pick up somewhere. So it's nice to talk to those customers that come in and just full-on engagement and it's fun. We've made a ton of new friends that way too.
Speaker 2:For your posts. Do you guys post any of the animals on there? Because that content is like oh, we need that right now.
Speaker 1:Baby lamb, baby chicks sometimes, uh, mostly it's food. Um, I'm not really in on the farm side of things so much anymore, um, but and I do the marketing stuff. Yeah, and then, um, how many employees you guys currently have, or is it just?
Speaker 2:you and your. So they're in the shop. No, all good, it's all cool, yeah, yeah. And then how many employees you guys currently have, or is it just you and your mom?
Speaker 1:It's small. We have my mom and myself. My dad will come in and grill, my little sister will come in and help, and then we have one full-time person who we just brought on in February. One full-time person who we just brought on in February and she's been a huge help in reaching our goals towards that next like leveling up step. And then we have two more part-time one, including our driver, and then another young lady who has been with us for like six years, during her college years and everything else, so she's been an integral part of the team too, very nice, yeah, and you said to get you guys to the next level.
Speaker 2:What do you mean by that? Do you have any new goals that you're trying to attain or new things you want to add to the farm? Talk to me about that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's, our space is so fun. So we just put out this club that I'm starting for the locals and people right in town and centered around really great food and fun cocktails and again just creating experiences that are elevated and not just the normal restaurant experience. So, that's new and exciting coming up, and it's been like four years in the making, so it's wild that it's out there now. Yeah, pretty cool.
Speaker 2:I'm sure you're excited. Yeah, let's get this going. Yeah, it's good. Oh, that's so good, love it, yeah. And where do you guys that's so good, love it, yeah. And where do you guys see yourselves in the next five years? I know you have this club going on, but have you thought of maybe like another location somewhere?
Speaker 1:I love being in town. Middleburg is home and it always will be home. I just it's such a special community and the people that are supporting us there, like we're all really closely, like knit and help each other out and I love that and I love the small-town feel and I'm happy to operate the business out of there but then take it to the larger places via delivery routes. Pretty cool.
Speaker 2:No, I love it. And as far as like membership goes, or is it subscription based?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so it's both the meat products and, like our meals and such, you can choose a subscription, so it's like a local butcher box option, um, and it's nice because you can. It's easy to like skip if you need to, if your freezer's full or get it earlier, you can change the products around, um, so you're not stuck with like the same thing all the time, um, and then you can also do one-time ordering if you just want to try the product out. But then our shop is open Thursday to Sunday so you can also just come in and shop if you forget to put an order in or whatever else. And then we do Thanksgiving turkeys. So we're dealing and working with all of that right now Coming up and then moving into Christmas.
Speaker 2:It's crazy how fast the end of the year goes, it's like one thing after another, and then by then it's like New.
Speaker 1:Year's. Yeah, how did that happen so?
Speaker 2:quickly. I blamed it on here. Okay, that's pretty cool. As far as your farm goes from, what I understand is you guys hold events there as well. People can pop up we used to.
Speaker 1:We had the farm open for like 20 years let people come on there. So our location in town is just a storefront and in the bistro. We don't do farm tours anymore, OK OK. But we have a father and son that help us do a lot of the farming now, because we just outgrew ourselves to be able to do everything and I think that it's really cool to be able to choose the area that we're really good at in that whole business and grow that side of it.
Speaker 2:So but so I guess, do you guys still hold events like pop up events?
Speaker 1:We open up the restaurant when town has events going on. So we'll be open for Christmas in Middleburg, which is a big deal and such a fun day, and then things like Oktoberfest and St Patrick's Day and things like that. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And then for the bistro is that like a little restaurant too, where people can like order food If they book us out?
Speaker 1:Oh, they got to book us, yeah. And then for the bistro, is that like a little restaurant too, where people can like order food If they book us out.
Speaker 2:Oh, they got to book it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're sticking with the private events and parties in there and a lot of like the food production comes out for catering. Like the Miglia is happening this weekend, so we're doing a big grazing board for them. On Thursday We'll do race day tailgates, setups and all of that Wonderful yeah.
Speaker 2:And what do you like to do outside of this, Like do you have time? Are you too busy? Sometimes what do you like to do like in your own time, separate from like meats?
Speaker 1:and cheeses. I'm a big reader, I love to read from like meats and cheeses. I'm a big reader, I love to read, and then I also have a horse, so that takes up a lot of time Did you like all that jumping and like yeah, yeah, the fox, honey, cool, I do.
Speaker 2:Yeah, my little sister and I both have you guys been doing that since you were little, or is this like a new thing?
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, since we were like five, five or so, something like that yeah.
Speaker 2:So you know the ropes. This ain't your first. No, beautiful, yeah, it's fun, it keeps it busy, love it, and do you have anything that you would like to share?
Speaker 1:with the audience. If you want a fresh turkey, the deadline is november 4th, and then the deadline for christmas orders is the second monday of december. I think it's the ninth or something like that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but yeah you guys are running out of time. We're thinking about it? Start start planning here with bernadette and her farm. Like they've got you guys covered. It's gonna taste fresh and it's gonna be fresh yeah, it doesn't compare and it doesn't take as long to cook.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, that's something that everybody's shocked at when especially the turkeys and because it's not filled with all of the junk steroids yeah all of that, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So if you want to save some time and spend time with family, not in the kitchen as long? Hit them up. Yeah, Love it. All right. And now my final question is do you have like a quote or a saying, or maybe something that somebody told you in your life that is stuck with you and you'd like to share with us, Maybe even inspire?
Speaker 1:you oh gosh.
Speaker 2:No pressure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a good question.
Speaker 1:You know, over the past two years we've been working with this woman to help us grow the business and just get a little bit more streamlined. And family business can be tricky, but it can also be like so rewarding when things start working out, and one of the biggest things is always like there's no competition between you and everybody else, it's just you and yourself, and it's so easy to get wrapped up in what everybody else is doing and seeming to be like so extremely successful and you're just in the throes of it. And there's days where you're like what's actually happening? Like am I doing the right thing? And, um, I don't think a lot of people remember to just relax, like it's all the little steps that create the big picture and there's no competition outside of you and yourself and just do the best you can. You know, so that's been a big growing pain, but it's also so nice to see all of the work that we've been putting in the past few years really like start to pay off. Yeah, yeah, so I love that.
Speaker 2:I'm happy for you thank you. Thank you so much for being on the podcast, absolutely sharing your journey and your business and all that good stuff with us yeah, absolutely, thank you.