Where it Started

Back in 2020, my husband, an avid bow hunter, was hunting with his buddy on some land that had been in his family for over 100 years. By chance (insert God here), the land adjacent to his buddy’s property came up for sale. An older gentleman bought the land as an investment, but he never touched it. We were able to purchase the land for an incredible deal. We initially didn’t even think it was possible to buy due to the cost, but through a series of miracles we were able to get it at a price that we could manage. We thought that this time, what a blessing to have some hunting property, a safe place to escape to, some land to take our boys camping and exploring - but God had other plans.

In the late summer of 2021, our family signed up for an Elderberry u-pick at a local farm about 5 minutes away. We frequent this farm for u-picks, but this was the first time they offered elderberry picking. We filled up a huge bucket and the boys had a blast harvesting. We plopped the berries in the freezer and didn’t think about them again for a few months.

Once the freezer started getting pretty full of meat and other preparedness items, it was time to get the elderberry out of the way to make more room. So one random Saturday last fall, I made a huge batch of elderberry!

I made so much that I decided to share it with my instagram community to see if we could bless anyone else with a few bottles of syrup and we sold out right away.

Taking the Leap

With this event, my husband was suddenly inspired to look in to elderberries. Although our family had taken elderberry for years, this was the first time he was interested in learning more, haha! After some research, HE came to ME and proposed that we start an elderberry farm. I was shocked and excited at the same time.

At that moment, we started making contacts with elderberry growers and had a lovely couple, Taylor and Ali Clark of Goshen, OH take us under their wings. They shared so much information, support and encouragement with us!

We took the leap to further educate ourselves, attended the River Hills Harvest elderberry conference and the rest is history. In the Spring of 2022 we put 1500 elderberry plants in the ground and plan to expand our crop in 2023 to become the largest Organic Elderberry Farm in the state of Ohio.

We are excited to supply more syrup makers with FRESH berries to use in their recipes so their products provide an even higher nutrition profile.

From Berries to Syrups (and more!)

To build upon that, I had some amazing and unique ideas for my syrup as well. I wanted to make a fresh American elderberry syrup with organic well-sourced ingredients - especially with raw seasonal honey that may change the flavor of the syrup slightly from month to month. I wanted this to remain a small batch process, not a robotic factory product that tastes the exact same every time.

I love the art of baking and cooking and the creativity it allows, which is oh so good for our minds, bodies and souls in an age ripe with technology and lacking in personal touch.

Additionally, I didn’t want a shelf stable product with preservatives in it beyond the raw sweet honey so our batches are made monthly and we will be offering subscription options as well for those who want to be sure they’re never out of syrup the whole year round.

Where We're Going

From this dream, Above and Beyond shop was born with the dream of providing a shop of curated items that will point us back to God’s original design. I have so much more than Elderberry that I will be stocking in to the shop, but for now, we’re focused on our syrups.

Let's Connect

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