80 acres.
One family's work.

In 2009, James and Carla Coleman loaded two A2 Holstein-Friesian heifers into a trailer and drove them home to the family place outside Emory. They had a dozen laying hens, an old barn that needed a new roof, and a pretty clear idea of what kind of farm they wanted to run. Seventeen years later, not much about that idea has changed.

The A2/A2 dairy program was the thing that started it all. James had read about the difference between A1 and A2 beta-casein proteins — how A1 dairy, which makes up the majority of commercial milk in the U.S., causes digestive problems for a lot of people who assumed they were simply lactose intolerant. A2/A2 cattle produce milk without the A1 protein, and a lot of those same people find they can drink it without any trouble. The Colemans wanted to test that for themselves, so they started with a certified A2/A2 herd and haven't looked back. They sell the milk raw because they believe pasteurization destroys too much of what makes real milk worth drinking — the enzymes, the beneficial bacteria, the flavor. They test the herd on a regular schedule and stand behind every gallon.

The laying flock came next, then the meat chickens, then the honeybees, then the sourdough — which Carla started baking because she had excess raw milk and wanted something to trade with neighbors. The starter she feeds every morning is eleven years old. The philosophy behind all of it is the same: raise animals on open pasture the way animals are supposed to live, feed them what they'd eat if nobody was watching, and don't cut corners because you think the customer won't notice. The customer always notices. The hens at Emory Fields are completely soy- and corn-free — their diet is pasture, bugs, seeds, and a small amount of non-GMO grain for supplemental protein. It costs more to do it that way. It shows up in the yolks.

The Colemans sell direct because that's the only way the math works for a farm this size — and because they genuinely like knowing who's eating their food. They've had the same customers for a decade, watched their kids grow up, heard back from the families whose dairy-intolerant children are now drinking two glasses of A2 milk at dinner without issue. That kind of accountability is something a grocery store supply chain will never give you. They open the farm for tours every Saturday morning because they have nothing to hide and everything to show. Come see where your food comes from. Bring the kids. The cows are friendly and the honey samples are free.

“Our youngest has had a dairy sensitivity his whole life — cramping, bloating, the works. A pediatric GI doc told us to just avoid milk. We tried Emory Fields A2 on a recommendation from another farm family and he hasn't had a single episode in two years. He drinks it every morning. We drive from Longview once a month and it's the best errand we run.”