Gathering Springs Farm Opens New Farm Store
Written by Lia Hobel | Photos by Caroline Gray
Gathering Springs Farm, known for its sustainable and regenerative farming practices, recently unveiled its latest addition: a charming farm store. This delightful space is the result of a true labor of love by the farm’s owners, Sarah Obuchowicz and Pam Jones, who have poured their hearts and souls into transforming an 8-by-12-foot shed into a fully functional storefront.
The 13-acre farm, founded by Jones and Obuchowicz in 2018, is located off the well-traveled Snickersville Turnpike at Sam Fred Road. The freshly painted cream-colored shed, adorned with white trim and black shutters, is easily visible from the road.
“We want to try to pull people who will be able to easily pop in and pop out of this little shop,” Obuchowicz shares. “There’s also a lot of cycling traffic that goes by, and so we’re also stocking products from some of our small local business partners. One of them [makes] cold-brew coffee. Who wouldn’t want a nice, cold coffee in the middle of their long ride?”
Inside, visitors will find an array of produce and products from Gathering Springs Farm and their partner businesses. The space is air-conditioned with insulation, lighting, and even uplighting, all done by the hands of the owners. Obuchowicz says they wanted the store to look “charming and whimsical.” Moreover, everything used is repurposed to align with their ethos. “We don’t want to necessarily have a high impact from an environmental standpoint by buying everything new, so we bought this little shed,” she explains. “We have basically done all the work to outfit ourselves and have been able to get the fridges from auctions or restaurants that are going out of business.”
The farm grows over 60 varieties of vegetables in a season and has 200 free-range laying hens that should offer a generous supply of eggs for the shop. Shoppers can also find dried herbs, soaps, small batches of fermented vegetables, as well as a curated selection of goods from local farms and artisans. These will include pantry staples like honey, bread, cheeses, handmade crafts, and frozen pasture-raised meat.
Prior to the store’s debut, customers would have to drive to the working farm and purchase from the wash shed with selective hours. Until now, Gathering Springs had one glass refrigerator for extra shopping needs of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) members and other guests. The new store, on the other hand, is a self-service shop that operates on the honor system.
The owners say the farm store was the necessary next step for growth. The farm built a solid reputation at local farmers markets in the area, including in Middleburg and Haymarket. Since the inception of the farm, Obuchowicz and Jones have added four employees to their staff and have grown their CSA program to 60 members.
“We’re very numbers-based business owners, and so when we sat down a year or two ago and looked at where all of our money was made and how hard we had to work for each dollar, we were like, wow!” Obuchowicz says. “The thing that really makes sense is just making more space for people to buy right here on the farm, which is also pretty convenient for us.”
The two met at Potomac Vegetable Farms in Vienna, Virginia, where they both gained experience with growing vegetables. Jones had purchased the land with her husband in 2017 with the intent to raise her own food and livestock for her family. After learning about farming and realizing the potential food supply from the 13 acres, Jones and Obuchowicz incorporated Gathering Springs Farm. “We started the farm on a zero-interest credit card that we paid off the first year, so we didn’t have to pay interest,” Obuchowicz recalls. “It was a bunch of exercising, a lot of hard work for no pay kind of situation for the first few years.”
Now, with the self-run farm store meeting customer demand, the women say they can start the second phase of their vision, which is to add more customer experiences at the farm. ML
The Gathering Springs Farm Store is located at 22022 Sam Fred Road and will be open daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. To learn more, go to gatheringspringsfarm.com.
Published in the August 2025 issue of Middleburg Life.