Kevin and Alicia Stump moved to Hendersonville from Magnolia, TX, just outside Houston, about a year ago. They’ve spent that year setting up Stump Farms at 732 Jonesborough St., basically behind Publix. It’s a continuation of what began as a “homesteading journey” – while holding down full-time jobs – and turned into full time farming some five years ago.
What’s different about this “new” business is that they come to Hendersonville with extensive hands-on experience having already built a 2 acre farm successfully from the ground up (wink), to the point of selling at multiple Farmers Markets. Yes, they’re going to have to deal with a totally different environment, coming from, as far as I can tell, a USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 9a to a 7b zone. It just about killed me to go from an 8b zone and excellent soil to our current 9a zone and clay soil at our Hendersonville home when it came to gardening.
The Stumps refer to their enterprise as a Hydroponic & Urban Farm, producing Clean & Real Food. Hydroponic in that they are growing hydroponically in over 2,000 square feet indoors. Urban in that they’re growing outdoors and in greenhouses on an urban-sized lot.
We had a little trouble finding the farmstore entrance, so I’ve included a couple helpful images from Google Maps in the gallery below.
The farmshop features plants and produce, as well as a few things like natural skin care products, soaps, and teas. One of us left with a bag of produce. The general concensus was that the pricing was very reasonable.
If you want to learn more about Kevin and Alicia, here’s a Sept 2021 Voyage Houston article where Alicia talks about their background, how & why they started their farming journey, and where it had taken them: Exploring Life & Business with Alicia Stump of Stump Farms.
What’s next for this enterprising, hard-working couple? They’re talking about opening a small plant-based cafe on the property. This makes me happy and nervous. Nervous because part of this urban property is in a flood plain. And it floods just about every year. They’ve already had to clean up from flooding after the last extended heavy rain we had.
When asked about the flooding, they explained that they’d built everything up off the floor, so there were no product losses. We’ll see what they come up with for their (possible) cafe.
Definitely go to the Stump Farms Website: https://www.stumpfarms.com/ and take a good look at all their offerings. It’s extensive and includes an online store. Here’s their Instagram Feed where you can get a feel for what they’re all about. You can also find them on Facebook.
Stump Farms
732 Jonesborough St
Hendersonville, NC
(828) 642-9680
