Reid Homestead

08/21/2026

Dreaming of the days when we finally got to go on our honeymoon to Costa Rica after our wedding 😍 It came right at a time when we REALLY needed a break.
🏝️ We hope to go back for a vacation in the next two years, Until then, we try to shape the homestead as our own retreat. That can be difficult with all the needs around the farm, but the little things make a big difference.
🌳 We love hiking our mushroom foraging trails, enjoying a soak in the hot tub under the muscadines, and loving on all the animals we care for.
🗳️ Voting continues at America’s Favorite Couple, and we have until Aug 27 to make it to First Place in our group. Find the voting link in my FB or IG bio, or message me for the link.

08/19/2026

Well, y’all. Let’s try this again! Remember that old post I made about The Upside of Stress? This book is something David and I come back to over and over again when we’re feeling the pressure. Highly recommend if you have a high stress life!
😮‍💨 Anywho—today is double voting for America’s Favorite Couple! We’re currently in 3rd place, but we’re not sweating it! We know if we’re supposed to win the prize, it will happen. Thanks for all the love and support y’all have been showing us!!! 💗
🗳️ Find our voting link in my FB or IG bio. Message me if you’re confused on where to find it 😉

08/17/2026

We’re Quarter Finalists! Unfortunately, we cannot share the link on posts because that’s spammy—and not the kind of spam that’s good on cheap white bread with Duke’s. SO…you can find our links in my bio for FB and IG as shown. Thanks for sharing us so much that we broke social media!
🖊️ Tip: if you’re a daily voter, open the page and leave it as a tab on your phone so you can easily access it

08/09/2026

Before David and I became stewards of the Reid Homestead, it was home to Fred Reid (1927–2009) and Opal McCoy Reid (1930–2020), my maternal great-grandparents. Fred and Opal married in 1945. He was 19; she was just 16. Together, they would raise four daughters—Freddie, Linda, Janice, and Rhonda—and build a life that valued hard work and resourcefulness.
Fred’s formal education ended in the fifth grade, but that never limited his capabilities. He partnered with his brother to operate Reid Sawmill and later helped run Smith’s Grocery & Filling Station. Opal was equally industrious. She worked at the Walhalla Garment Plant while finding creative ways to bring additional income into the household, including selling pecans and blackberries, along with holding yard sales. Her ingenuity made use of what she had, working with what the land provided.
The family’s first home, the blue house that still stands beside the present homestead, was moved to the property from across the road around 1947. In 1960, Fred built the brick house where he and Opal would spend the rest of their lives. At the time, the property encompassed roughly 14 acres.
Across the property are terraces—earthworks created to grow crops on sloping ground while helping manage water and prevent soil from washing away. They raised hogs and goats, and cultivated a generous assortment of crops: peanuts, sweet potatoes, corn, okra, crowder peas, tomatoes, and melons.
Decades later, the pecan and pear trees planted by my great-grandparents still continue to bear, producing hundreds of pounds of nuts and fruit in a good year. This agricultural inheritance is a connection to my family who planted them.
More in the comments…

08/06/2026

From David: The first time I met Casey, I literally couldn’t look at her, for fear that I was staring with my jaw wide open. Not in any sort of lustful way, but with astonishment. She was, as I put it later, “the most beautiful creature in the multiverse.” I was completely struck that the creatorship produced this marvel of beauty that was bouncing around the room, laughing and now standing before me, entering a costume contest with her friend Mandolin.

I was self conscious that I was staring at her, so I mainly kept my eyes down to the floor or tried to distract myself by checking in on staff, entertainers, and event attendees. It was incomprehensible to me how she could be so wonderously put together in perfect proportions, thoughtful, playful and elegantly costumed. Like some fictional character that had come straight out of a classic movie. (Likely one featuring Audrey Hepburn.)

I was too nervous to talk to her at first, other than welcoming her and sharing some general information about the brewery and the costume contest, but our friend Mandolin knew that we had to meet for some in-depth conversations about the non-profit they founded, empowering youth through an immersive experience in growing and preparing food to serve the community. Well, that broke the ice pretty well! Those of you that have known me through the decades, know that my happy places are in the garden, farmers markets, and in experiential learning environments.

(The famous online date at the brewery would come just before my workshop with them.)
That conversation paved the way for me to participate in the mission these two women founded, while spending more time getting to know Casey as a friend and collaborator — spreading compost, planting seeds, leading workshops, and supporting fundraising efforts to launch a free youth summer camp.

It was such a wonderful way to get to know Casey platonically, forming a relationship grounded in friendship, stewardship and purpose. I couldn’t be more proud of how our lives have grown together. Our relationship was truly cultivated in the garden.

08/02/2026

Try out our goodies at Farm to Fire at JVBC today! Aug 2, 2-7 PM

07/25/2026

In a previous post, I alluded to the importance of plums in our relationship. This is our wedding day, June 6, 2020, when we bit into a plum picked at our farm before sealing our marriage with a kiss.

On our first hang out / date, David took me mushroom foraging in Clemson. It was a hot summer day, and he had brought frozen plums from the brewery for us to have a cool snack.

As the relationship grew serious, I told David I wasn’t sure where I stood on marriage, and that he’d need to be ok with that if he wanted to date me long term. He was all in, and willing to roll with it.

As it became clear we were going to be the stewards of Reid Homestead, we began planting fruit trees. Pears, apples, peaches, and yes, plums. It took a couple of years for them to start fruiting, and by that time we had moved onto the property.

(Read the rest of the story in the comments)

07/24/2026

Check out the latest on tap at Carolina Bauernhaus Brewery & Winery! Featuring our Nanking and wild cherries. Yum! 🥰

07/16/2026

Have you tried our Farm to Fire Pizzas at The Fermentery? Join this pizza recipe contest and add more farms to our menu!

The First Ever Foothills Heritage Market Pizza Recipe Contest! Submit your recipe using farm-fresh ingredients from the market! The winning pizza will be featured on Aug 8th at the market by The Fermentery! Get a copy of the full rules at the market. Or see the link below.

07/12/2026

What are we grateful for this Sunday? Summer abundance! As we continue our push to win America’s Favorite Couple (vote at https://americasfavcouple.org/2026/casey-amp-david), we’d like to share what the homestead is pumping out for us 👩‍🌾 👨‍🌾
🥒 We have hundreds of pounds of cucumbers that David Thornton David has magically crafted into 5 different types of pickles
🫙 Pickled okra is now back in stock! This is definitely one of my favorite vegetables, and I’ve been thinking of a sweet pickled version — comment below if you think it’s a good idea or not 🤔
🥬 The last red cabbage harvest has been transferred to crocks to make delicious sauerkraut and kimchi
🍄‍🟫 The forest and recent rainy, hot weather has come alive with chanterelles
🫑 All the peppers are coming in, and are perfect for our farm to fire menu AND for those spicy pickles y’all love so much
🍅 Tomatoes are finally ripening so we can have our summer special pizza sauce back on the pizzas soon!
You can find all these goodies at the_fermentery and Carolina Bauernhaus Anderson

📸 Meredith Elizabeth