Meet Alissa Mitchell: Farmer & Cottage Food Operator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Alissa Mitchell and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Alissa, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
When Eric and I got married, homesteading and farming were not in our immediate plans. However, after having children, we knew we wanted out of the hustle and bustle of busy town living and wanted to share the love of animals and country living with our children. Once we found our perfect farm in Cave Spring, God put everything else into place. Homesteading has opened many doors to new opportunities we didn’t know existed. The biggest opportunity to date has been Cold Springs Farm (Kitchen). With Cold Springs Farm Kitchen, we have brought back the art of homemade cooking. Once we obtained our Cottage Food License, we started making unusual jelly, jams, and preserves. We pride ourselves on growing and using as many homegrown ingredients in our products as possible. We currently feature over thirty different jelly flavors like honeysuckle, corn cob, and sweet tea. After joining other farmers at farmer’s markets, we quickly added breads, cookies, cakes, and confections to our evolving menu to make our business what it is today.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
At Cold Springs Farm, it is important to us to use as many ingredients grown on our farm to make amazing homemade products for our customers and their families while using old school methods and recipes that bring back childhood memories for the adults and give the kids a taste of old school cooking. It is exciting to bridge the gap of contemporary, new, and unique products with a twist of traditional style to our customers. We enjoy providing unusual products to families that allow us to become a part of their family through pictures, comments, and stories.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If Cold Springs Farm is not enough, I mean, who doesn’t love cuddly animals, we would start our week visiting Rolator Park and Lake. At Rolator Park, we could explore the cave and the spring, which gives our town its name. While there, we could check out some of the original buildings like the Georgia School for the Deaf and City Hall from when the town was founded in 1832. Our guests would stay the night in the historic Hearn Inn and walk around looking at the several houses on the National Historic Register, including the Vann Cherokee Cabin. After exploring the downtown, a ride around the Vann Valley, named after a Cherokee Chieftain, to take in the beautiful sights, including the Lyons Bridge Beef farm. We would end the night eating at Linde Marie’s Steakhouse and then touring all of the haunted buildings that Cave Spring has to offer.

After exploring Cave Spring a day or two, our next stop would be our neighboring town of Rome. With Rome’s rich historical background and fabulous eateries, it is definitely worth the drive over. Rome has many exciting locations like Myrtle Hill, Berry College, and Chieftains Museum. With Berry College being the largest campus in the world, it is a must. Other local places worth visiting are Weiss Lake, Little River Canyon National Park, and Cornwall Furnace. Our guests would have enough to do while visiting Floyd County and the surrounding counties.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
We definitely wouldn’t be where we are today if it wasn’t for our family, friends, and customers. We are surrounded by the biggest support team that allows us to do what we love to do. Our families have always been there to support us, even if that means getting their hands dirty. There are even those friends that take time away from their family to feed, water, or even help squeeze lemons for jelly.

I want to say thank you to the local farmers and farmer’s market groups for embracing my family and me.
Cedartown Farmer’s Market (Five Cedars Farm): for inviting me to my first market and helping me get Cold Springs Farm started
Cave Spring Farmer’s Market: for allowing me to be the local Jelly Girl

I also have to give a shoutout to Tia Martin (Homegrown Scentsability), Katharine Sho (Cold Spring Farm II), Melody Noyes (Venue at Nine Twenty) for putting your life on hold countless times to help make my life a little easier.

Heather Highfield (Say Trees Photography) for dropping everything to take two days’ worth of pictures.

Karen Davis (KD Visions 2 Images Photography) for nominating for this interview with Shoutout Atlanta.

Last but not least, to the Cold Springs Farm Family! Whether you have prayed for us or ordered a hundred times, your generosity to make my business what it is today has not gone unnoticed. I am beyond grateful for the shares, comments, tags, and orders. Thank you for supporting my small business.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cold_springs_farm_cave_spring/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/coldspringsfarmcavespring

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrAmQoryl2asKmq-uhG9pYQ/featured

Image Credits
Heather Highfield: Say Trees Photography