Sacra Acres, a popular Fieldale farm stand known for its homemade baked goods, canned goods and weekly menus, is preparing for its next chapter.
Owners Holly Childress and Michael Sacra plan to relocate the business to Patrick County, where they hope to plant an orchard, expand production and eventually offer an even wider variety of homemade foods.
The couple operates the self-service farm stand on most Fridays and Saturdays, posting a weekly menu before stocking the stand with fresh items.
Childress said she grew up in Charleston, South Carolina, before spending more than 20 years in Charlottesville. Sacra, her husband, is from Crozet. The couple met after Childress posted a photo of a dish on Facebook and Sacra reached out. They were recently married under a blue moon.
Cooking has long been a passion for Childress.
“I have always loved cooking. I think I made Thanksgiving dinner for the whole family from scratch when I was 14,” she said.
She also enjoys sharing her creations with others.
“I guess my love language is feeding you,” she said.
Childress grew up on a farm and worked as a veterinary technician specializing in horses before moving into the restaurant industry.
“I really needed a change in my life, and I moved into the restaurant business,” she said.
She later decided self-employment would better accommodate her health needs.
“If I were to work for someone else and had a bad day where I couldn’t walk around well or my knee was swollen, I didn’t want to call in sick,” she said.
After moving to the area with Sacra, she started the farm stand.
“I moved down here with Michael, and he’s been so supportive of me, and so encouraging,” she said.
Sacra Acres began by offering homemade breads and canned goods before steadily expanding its menu.
“I started with a little farm stand and got a few customers here and there,” Childress said. “I’m so appreciative and overwhelmed with the support that the community has shown me in less than a year.”
Now, the couple is preparing for another step forward.
“We are looking for something to put our roots down, and we had an idea for what we wanted,” Childress said.
After posting on Facebook about what they were looking for, a property owner contacted them about a tract of land that had already been divided into sections.
“We found our land by somebody contacting us that had a large piece of property that was already divided into sections,” she said.
Although the owner had not planned to sell, Childress said the owner liked what Sacra Acres was doing and offered to sell them part of the property.
“It’s perfect. It’s partially wooded and has beautiful pasture. We are going to slowly put fencing up and plant an orchard,” she said. They are hoping to start building early to mid-next year.
The move also will allow the business to grow.
“Right now I’m under the cottage laws of what I’m able to sell. When I move, I am hoping to be able to get a home processor’s license. It would allow me to expand my menu pretty easily. I could even make meals to go like frozen lasagna, bread pudding, anything that needs to be refrigerated,” Childress said.
Changes to Virginia’s cottage food laws taking effect July 1 also will allow Childress to ship shelf-stable products within Virginia.
“For right now, the laws for cottage law producers have changed in Virginia, starting July 1, I will be able to start shipping within Virginia the shelf-stable items, so I’m working to build a website,” she said.
That will allow customers to order some items for local pickup or shipping within Virginia.
Childress said quality remains her top priority.
“I really care about what I put out in a product. I try to use quality products, I make everything in small batches, I try to make things with local ingredients,” she said.
Products made with honey use locally produced honey, and many ingredients are grown by the business.
“I try to grow a lot of the things that I can, like the Jalapeno Cowboy Candy, it has probably been the best seller I’ve ever had,” she said.
Growing more of her own ingredients will help keep costs manageable while providing healthier options.
“The idea of being able to grow what I produce in my canning and some of my baking is the thought that I can keep some of the costs down,” Childress said. “Food is so expensive and it’s not the healthiest for you in the store, you don’t know where it comes from.”
Even with the planned expansion, Childress said the mission behind Sacra Acres will remain the same.
“I love what I do and I want to provide a healthier option and a relatively affordable option,” she said. “My main goal is to provide good food for the community and satiate my need for being creative in developing different flavors and different products.”
More information, including weekly menus and pickup times, is available on the Sacra Acres Facebook page. The farm stand is located at 986 Field Ave. in Fieldale. Questions may be directed to 434-409-8237.
