Meet Julie of Orlinda

Today we’d like to introduce you to Julie.

Hi Julie, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
The Bernard family has farmed in Orlinda for four generations. My husband, Steve and his family were originally dairy, row crop and tobacco farmers. Steve and his parents stopped milking in 2012. Steve and I married in 2014 and purchased our first hogs soon after to add to our farming operation. We started selling pork at the Robertson County Farmer’s Market in 2016 when our first son was 3 months old. We offered on farm sales in 2017. We started our beef herd in 2018 and grew our following over the next 2 years. During the pandemic, we saw the need to do our own meat processing and built our new farm store with processing facility on our farm. We want to pass down our farm operation to our two sons, In addition to our meats, we sell other local farm’s chicken, eggs, milk, ice cream and cheese. We also sell local artisan’s products like popcorn, coffee and honey. We offer breakfast and lunch using our meats and host numerous events throughout the year including our annual farm to table dinner. We are open year round Monday through Saturday 7am-4pm and Sundays 1pm-4pm. Check us out on Facebook and Instagram for offerings and events.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Farming always throws challenges your way but we never anticipated the struggles that came along with starting our new store. We were met with opposition from the City of Orlinda and adjoining property owners during our preliminary building plans. The city did not want our proposed farm store inside the city limits, so we decided to move it to the county portion of our farm and were instructed to rezone our property to commercial. After our rezoning request was approved, the City of Orlinda sued us and the County for that rezoning. After going through 2 years of legal battles, the courts ruled in our favor.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Bernard Farms Custom Cuts and Market is known for our high quality beef and pork. All of our animals are bred, born and raised on our farm. We grow our own corn and grind our own feed. All of our meat is cut fresh weekly in our store by us.

Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
Since starting our meat business, we have been in the right spot at the right time all along the way. The adversities that we have faced have only made us stronger.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bernardfarmspork?igsh=MXI3c3V0Nmt1aWFzaA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1VzPJXQapz/?mibextid=wwXIfr