What we keep
The store
An old-fashioned general store inside Evenbrooke Marketplace. Honey and beeswax from the farm, a sweet shoppe at the counter, and local food packed onto the shelves.
Sweet shoppe
Ice cream, fudge, and the candy baskets.
Hand-scooped Hershey's ice cream, including in a waffle cone made with the Bells' own honey. Milkshakes too. Angie makes peanut-butter fudge, wraps it in chocolate molds shaped like bees, honeycombs, hearts, and flowers, and paints them by hand. The fudge case itself is an antique from the 1880s.
Around the counter: warm popcorn, cookies, pastries, bread, bottled sodas, and classic candy in bushel baskets. Freeze-dried candy, when they have it, goes fast.
From the hives
Honey and beeswax, made by the people selling it.
Rob and Angie are beekeepers. The honey on the shelf comes from their hives in Welcome. Flavored jars — garlic, pepper, mint — use plants they grow from heirloom seed, so they know exactly what went into the honey.
The same wax becomes lip balm, salve, lotion, bars, and honey sugar scrubs. Bee pillows, mugs, glassware, and dish towels fill in the gaps, because the store has always had a bee in the decor.
Cold case
Glass-bottle milk, and the good stuff that needs a fridge.
Homestead Creamery milk and lemonade, from the Virginia dairy, are a standing order. Farm-fresh eggs and local cheeses live in the same cooler, including Uncle Chris' pimento cheese from the Midway community.
Pantry
Take supper home with you.
Dutch Kettle pickles and jams. Locally baked sourdough and cheese straws. Soup mixes, sauces, and sandwich spreads. American Wagyu and other locally sourced meats. Goat's milk soap from Rierson Farms in Thomasville.
The shelves move with the season. If you are hunting for something in particular, call the store before you drive over.