Welcome to Farmer & Thistle! We are Marshall and Katherine Teague. We live in our hometown of Lookout Mountain with our three kids, AnnCarter, Haddie & Camp--and more than anything we love to spend time together. It's been through our roots in the sustainable farming world, the evolution of our business in paths both beautiful and unexpected, the people in our community, our families, and even the animals we've known that have left deep impressions in our lives and given us vision for Farmer & Thistle.
Marshall and I started our company (originally named EdenThistle) over ten years ago as young sustainable farmers working hard to leave the land better than we found it and to deliver quality pasture-raised meat and egg products to our community. As our business grew and story unfolded, though it felt like a loss, for various right reasons we had to let go of full time farming. Now, we are so grateful to support other sustainable farms by selling meat and eggs raised on their farms under our brand.
Overtime our work came to include a second business. EdenThistle Dog Co., offering dog boarding and daycare services, continues today and we love this good work too. As Mary Oliver put it in her Dog Songs:
“Because of the dog's joyfulness, our own is increased. It is no small gift. It is not the least reason why we should honor as well as love the dog of our own life, and the dog down the street, and all the dogs not yet born. What would the world be like without music or rivers or the green and tender grass? What would this world be like without dogs?”
Our first dog, Farmer, imprinted our family deeply. In the unique way that only dogs can impart some life lessons, Farmer taught us how to take leaps of faith. In time, we married our roots in sustainable farming with our recognition that our dogs are "no small gift." One of Farmer & Thistle's flagship products include our Dog Treat line--a small way to give daily goodness to the creatures that bring us so much joy. And of course, Farmer & Thistle is named in part as an 'Ode to Farmer.'
This year, we take a new leap of faith as we change our name to Farmer & Thistle, and as we redefine what we're about. As we step out onto this new path, we are holding tight to the rhythms, the people, the animals and the rituals that have impressed us and that are continuing to shape us.
We depend on each other in so many ways. We are leaning into the beauty and gift of that dependency and hope that Farmer & Thistle affords you a space to slow down, to dig in, to continue cultivating your own meaningful rituals in your place and with your people. Rest in the goodness that you have a community to depend upon as we trample further down this path together.