Farmstead Market making its mark

MILFORD, NY – Otsego County is known for its rich agricultural history and touted as a great place to work, live and explore, makes it the perfect location for a farm-to-table business.

Formally known as Sunny Acres Swiss Farm Store, named after the farm, the business in Central New York has evolved into Farmstead Market, offering a variety of homegrown produce, dairy products, eggs, baked goods, meats and specialty gifts.

Farmstead Market is owned by Kyle and Sharla Nelson and their young daughters, Maggie and Layne. Originally a Jersey cattle dairy farm, it was purchased in 1973 by Sharla’s grandparents, Lester and Margaret Tyler. They moved their small herd of Brown Swiss from his father’s farm in DeLancey, NY, to their new farm near Milford.

Today, the operation consists of 80 milk cows (50 Brown Swiss, 25 Jerseys and five Holstein/Holstein Swiss crosses). While growing up, Sharla and her sister were very involved with helping on the farm, which fueled her desire to sell products off the farm.

“I always dreamt of having a farm store and in 2017 I bought a brown cow clock on a day trip to New York City with my mom,” Sharla shared. “My mom asked where I was going to put it and I said that it would go in my future store.”

The farm store opened in summer 2020 in a small shed. While Kyle has always worked full-time off the farm, he’s been instrumental in helping Sharla follow her dream of operating a farm market.

“We started with just some produce out of our garden, beef from our steers and a single-door fridge and freezer with eggs from our chickens and milk from Clarks’ [local dairy],” she said. “Our little store had grown and business from the community poured in.”

As the market grew in popularity it became clear that a larger building was needed to expand their business. The couple found a bigger structure a friend had for sale. “It was bare bones and Kyle has done a lot of the work to it, with help from family and friends, between working his full-time job, helping on the farm and raising our two girls with me,” Sharla said. “He’s taken all the thoughts and dreams and brought them to life, always coming up with new ideas.”

As a fourth-generation farmer, with three generations working on Sunny Acres Swiss Farm, Sharla is happy to be carrying on the family legacy. “Mom and I do a majority of the cow work … We both milk, feed calves and scrape barns,” she explained.

Sharla handles the vet work, treatments and breeding. Her mother, Pam, is full-time on the farm and also juggles an elementary school assistant teaching job. “She is still in the barn every day before and after school,” Sharla said. “Poppy [Grandfather Lester] is 78 years old and he does all the feed mixing, feeds cattle and does all of the crops and field work.”

Just like her mom did when she and her sister were young, Sharla carries her daughters around the farm while doing chores. Maggie and Layne will no doubt grow up with a strong work ethic.

“Mom and I start early,” Sharla explained. “She has milking machines on by 4 a.m. and I’m moving the baby (Layne) to the barn and putting her back to sleep to start chores.”

Sharla reminisced about her early days on the farm that inspired her love for dairy farming. “I always loved Swiss and Jersey cattle,” Sharla said. “Grandma Maggie passed away the year I was born. She was the Jersey queen and loved her Jerseys, just as Poppy loves his Swiss. In a way it feels like a connection to her. I also love Jerseys. They are a smaller breed and easier to work with for both Mom and me.”

While Sharla loves working with the cattle, she’s equally as talented raising and promoting home-grown products. The Nelsons’ goal is to offer as much local product as possible, giving people the opportunity to buy local and support local farmers.

“I try to be as diverse as possible so the market keeps its unique feature – we would love to keep growing with it as well,” Sharla said. “As a small farm, I wanted to diversify with the business aspect in mind.”

The family not only provides milk, cheese curds, butter, home-raised beef and eggs, but now is offering wild game from Highland Farm including bison, elk and venison. The Nelsons support local 4-H’ers and have purchased two lambs and a pig. Lamb and pork products are also sold at the market.

They also offer candles, keychains, soap, dog treats and ice cream.

“Operating a dairy farm with your father and daughter is both difficult and rewarding,” Pam said. “My father prefers the old way of farming and does not like change while my daughter wants to input new technologies to make operations more efficient. I feel like a bridge – I need to explain each other’s ideas and find a way to implement them.”

According to Pam, Sharla and Kyle’s goal is to show everyone in the community how tasty farm-fresh food is. “To see them expand Farmstead Market by adding more products and seeing friends and vehicles pulling in all day long makes a momma proud to help her daughter fulfill her dream.”

Not only are the owners of Sunny Acres Swiss Farm excited about their Farmstead Market but they are extremely proud of breeding and developing a herd of quality Brown Swiss and Jersey cattle that have made their mark in the dairy world.

The Brown Swiss herd traces back to four 4-H calves purchased by Lester’s father when he was a boy. Through careful breeding, Lester continued to develop top-producing cattle, winning many National Milk Production honors and selling four bulls to an artificial insemination company. Sunny Acres Swiss Farm is a name synonymous with award-winning Brown Swiss in and out of the show ring.

The Jerseys have also made their mark, winning premier breeder and exhibitor honors, champion honors and competing on the county, state and national levels.

Pam admitted the work is never-ending but her granddaughters are a huge inspiration. “I love seeing Maggie and Layne every day and watching my baby teach her babies the farm life,” Pam said. “Raising the grand-girls on the farm is priceless. My father has taught me his farm values which I have passed on to Sharla to continue his legacy.”

Growing their own crops has also been a priority on the farm. They own 150 acres and rent another 150. “We do haylage, corn silage and we chop bedding hay for our bedding,” Sharla said. “My grandpa does the majority of the crop side of things and my mom helps. I used to help, but after having kids I’ve stepped away from that part of the farm because the girls are with me the majority of the time … so we tackle the barn chores. When my husband isn’t at work, he goes wherever help is needed, whether it’s taking the girls so we can finish the chores in peace, in the field or in the barn.”

In addition to the dairy farm and Farmstead Market businesses, the family has opened up their farm to RV guests. “We are on the Harvest Hosts app so people traveling with their RVs or campers can stay for a night and shop at our local farm store,” Sharla said.

Farmstead Market is operated on the honor system, card or cash. It is open 24/7 and customers are welcome to shop and pay on a tablet but there are still challenges. “We’ve dealt with theft, which is a hard hit to take even with all the security cameras,” she said. “It’s hard to understand why people need to be dishonest when we are really trying to just provide a great place within the community to come purchase items at any time.”

But even with the challenges, the family would not change a thing. “We love when we get to see customers from our town and when notes are left,” Sharla added. “It’s also very heart-warming to see locals come in and support us week after week. And when we do see locals in town they will tell us how much they love our little store and that’s just enough to keep us going.”

by Rebecca Chaney