Historic legacy and new traditions all in one
Story by Carol Pappas
Photos by MeghanFrondorf
Meander around the one-lane road that winds through Red Hill Farms, passing the cows, the hogs and the goats in this pastoral setting, and you can’t help but notice the water as the ideal backdrop to make the scene complete.
“We didn’t come to the river,” said Vaughan Bryant, who owns the farm with wife Christa. “The river came to us.”
But there it is, a panoramic reflection of glistening sunrises and sunsets bordering a 150-acre farm that has been in the family for three generations now.
When his grandfather bought the land in 1941, it was because the Army had decided to expand Pelham Range near Anniston, which needed the land where his Ohatchee farm stood. He found suitable land in Cropwell and while there was a stream that flowed nearby called Fountain Run, it would not be until 1965 when Logan Martin Lake was created that water would surround it.
For the Bryants, it has become the best of both worlds – lake living and farm life all rolled into one perfect package.
Most Saturday mornings, lake residents and others from around these parts have a new tradition – getting a glimpse of farm life and an unrivaled taste of it they can take home with them. That’s when they open the door of their garage to market what they’ve raised – USDA grass-fed beef and free-range pork – packaged in freezers that line the interior walls.
Pull up in the driveway of their lakeside home, and you’re immediately met by the farm’s official greeters, dogs Koda and Piper. The wag of their tails is a pretty good indicator they’re glad you came. They’ll even escort you all the way into the garage for a browsing session.
Beef and pork roasts, ribs, kabobs, steaks of all descriptions – filets, strips, T-bones, flank and bone-in ribeye – await. So do liver, cubed steak and ground beef. When the pork is in, usually in the spring, look for sausage, bacon and cubed ham – ideal for any table.
The concept isn’t much different than his grandfather, James Michael Bryant, who raised cotton, honey, pork, poultry, cows and vegetables and peddled what he could on the square in Anniston. The modern-day Bryants concentrate on beef and pork. But instead of selling at market, they sell directly to the customer – they take orders online (but don’t ship), they sell by appointment and through their Saturday morning markets.
And they ensure satisfied customers by providing healthier, better tasting eating choices.
In the “About Our Farm” section of their website, redhillfarms.com, they say: “We believe that contented animals produce a superior product, so we strive for a low-stress environment emphasizing the humane treatment of our livestock.
“When you choose to eat meat from animals raised on pasture, you are improving the welfare of the animals, helping put an end to environmental degradation, helping small-scale farmers, sustaining rural communities and giving your family the healthiest food possible.”
It’s not a big money-maker, they said, but direct-to-consumer helps them capture a little bit of the market while creating a win-win situation. “It’s good for the public,” said Christa. There are no antibiotics or hormones used. “The meat is much healthier than grain-fed beef,” added Vaughan.
Noting that Red Hill’s livestock are raised in a natural, healthy and humane way, Christa pointed out that with all the preservatives used in traditional markets, “we don’t know what we’re putting in our bodies.” Customers have responded. Some even get the rest of their groceries in a regular store but opt for Red Hill Farms for their meat.
They choose their breeds wisely to produce the best possible meat. They have gone from Hereford to Black Angus to South Poll, which is a composite breed developed by Teddy Gentry, bass player of the country music group, Alabama.
Gentry’s aim – as is the Bryants – was to raise a more heat-tolerant animal with a gentle disposition to produce tender beef by feeding on grass. Their newest breed, South Poll, finishes on grass and is a cross between Red Angus, Hereford, Senepol and Barzona.
“The South Poll breed is easy to raise, has a docile temperament, slick-haired, fertile, and mama cows stay in production longer than straight-bred English cattle,” Vaughan said. “Finishing on grass, their meat can be as tender or more tender than commodity beef.”
It’s a more natural way to raise cattle. They call it, “Keeping the Creator’s design in mind.”
Raising a farmer
Livestock isn’t the only thing raised on the farm. Vaughan and Christa talked of raising generations who know the value in the land and the joys of raising them to appreciate those values.
He vividly remembers one of his first chores on the family farm in Cropwell. He would dutifully gather eggs each day and make sure the chickens were watered and fed when he got home from school.
One of six children, he was second to youngest. His older brothers “saw to the cows. As time went on, I moved up to cow feeding, too,” he said. But his fledgling aspirations were a little loftier, he recalled. One day his brothers were loading hay, and he would hear them “shouting and carrying on” in what he perceived as more of a fun time than he was having rolling the bales of hay into a single line. “They wanted it in one line so they wouldn’t have to walk as far.”
He thought that would be a much easier route than rolling all those bales. An older, wiser Bryant surmised: “When you get there, you understand why they were shouting and carrying on. It’s hard work, rolling, tossing and baling hay.”
But hard work never deterred him. “I always felt like I wanted to be on the farm,” he said. “I was the only one who stayed. I always wanted to do something on the farm.” Initially, he stayed on the farm to help his father, David Bryant. The elder Bryant left a good portion of the farm to him, the younger Bryant and his wife, Christa, added to the acreage and now farm about 150 acres.
“I would like to think he’s happiest with me, but the truth is he’s happiest on the tractor outside,” Christa said with a smile. “I didn’t see it as work,” her husband added.
Christa’s no stranger to farm work herself. An educator by trade – who served as coordinator of Federal Programs and personnel director the Pell City School System before her retirement – grew up on a 10-acre farm in Coal City, she said. “But this was definitely a different life for me.”
Her father worked at Bynum, was home every day at 4, and they ate dinner together as a family. When she married Vaughan, she quickly learned that farming meant “staying until everything gets done,” so it may be well after dark before he was able to make it to the dinner table.
She was a quick learner, Vaughan noted, recalling the time she “took a trailer loaded with cattle and headed over the mountain with Daddy.”
A solid work ethic, perseverance and dedication to the job at hand are but a few of the legacies handed down to Christa and Vauhan’s generation from life on the farm. And they, in turn, passed them on to their children – Martin and Meredith. “It taught both children good skills,” Christa said. “It built their character. It wasn’t always easy.”
Sharing the good life
Vaughan and Christa recognize their good fortune in farm life and lake life, and they share both with travelers from nearby towns and places around the world. Vaughan’s father had sold a small parcel of land to a man who wanted to build a cabin on the lake.
So, he built a 400-square-foot, one-bedroom, one-bath cabin. When it came time to sell, it was too small a parcel for the cabin so the land could sell, and the Bryants bought it back. “I jacked it up (the cabin) and dragged it across the pasture and set it right here,” he said, pointing to the quaint little wooden cabin nestled under a grove of trees on a bank of Rabbit Branch.It’s an ideal setting.Farmland stretches out in front, cattle grazing nearby, and the lake is its backyard.
They have been sharing it as a rental since 1992, and it has been the setting for peaceful getaways, weddings and other gatherings.
A longtime resident there was Joey Nania, who wanted to learn to fish Logan Martin and dreamed of being the youngest Bassmaster champion. He was from Washington state, and the lake had hosted a couple of Bassmaster Classics. Nania’s father called Vaughan and asked if he could rent the cabin while learning to fish the lake.
Nania met his wife-to-be in Pell City and stayed. They held their wedding at the cabin, and Nania earned some championships along the way to becoming a noted fishing guide on Logan Martin and other Coosa River lakes.
“Through farming and the cabin,” Christa said, “we have met some really neat people and established friendships along the way. It has really been cool.”
