Hello & Welcome!
We are the Shear Family and we are delighted you have stopped by.
This farm is a dream come true for our family. Oddly enough, this dream to work for ourselves and pursue a family-centric business began in 2012, during my (Daniel’s) first deployment to Afghanistan. Fawn had mailed me a book by Chad Robertson titled Tartine.
This was a book of sourdough bread baking and recipes, but also a compelling story of one couple’s journey building a business around their passion for bread. We were both inspired!
That book, coupled with Fawn’s growing interest in providing the most nourishing foods for our children were the seeds for our vision of working together as a family, on a farm in a home-based food-service business. Within weeks of returning from deployment we had moved onto three beautiful acres outside Olympia, Washington, purchased pigs, chickens and a milk goat to begin our farming odyssey.
After another deployment and long stretches of separation, we left the active duty Army in 2016 and moved to Raphine, Virginia. I joined the Virginia National Guard and became a firefighter. This transition allowed us to start our business: Seasons’ Yield Farm.
We raised pork, beef and chicken, vegetables, maple syrup and baked bread. Our model was a “full-diet” CSA for customers. We quickly realized that several of those products were not sustainable in the scale necessary and the time available. We are so thankful how the good Lord guided our steps.
We found that the product most sought after and unique in our community was the wild-leavened sourdough bread; that became our focus and passion. With my father, we built a wood-fired bread oven and began hosting twice monthly “bread days.”
Where to Find Our Products
We host Bread Days every other Saturday throughout the year.
Bread Days are a time that customers come to the farm to pick up their pre-ordered breads. (We also have a selection of breads and pastries available for customers who did not place a pre-order). Fawn churns out beautiful espresso and creative coffee creations. We enjoy having bonfires in the fall, games in the spring, and farmer’s market in the summer. It is our dream coming true to see the community gathered at our farm enjoying the bounty!
As of January 2021, we stopped all off-farm work to pursue our business full-time. Our business includes wood-fired, naturally leavened bakery and cafe, a beautiful short term rental, curated through Air BnB, various merchandise, and wood-fired maple syrup produced by our family from sugar maple trees in Raphine.
We are ever grateful to each and every one of our faithful customers for supporting us on our journey and making this possible.
the farmer's market
Although we are not able to provide a “full diet” of goods to our customers ourselves, we are striving for bread days to be a one-stop shop. As such, we are a permitted location through Rockbridge County to host a once a month farmer’s market (every second bread day of the month) to connect our community with local producers and artisan craftsmen. Please see our home page for dates!
In the News
Conde Naste Traveler
The Mill
In pursuit of our mission to provide nourishing food to the local community, we want the flour we bake with to be of the highest quality. We mill all of our grains here at the bakery the same week that the bread is baked.
Please join our farm and
Bakery Mailing List
Want to save 15% on your next order?
Seasons Yield Farm
ready for fresh treats?
DESIGN BY DAVEY & KRISTA