Feature
Farmacy to Table
From local farmers to the kitchen table, Cathy and Robby Clay are getting to the
root of healthy, organic living.
- Heather Luxemburg
- Fred Lopez
It was a bright Saturday morning in 2013. Cathy and Robby Clay were taking their usual drive to the Winter Garden Farmers Market, their hearts set on one thing, and one thing only: kale. That is, the limited kale selection under the produce pavilion which, according to Cathy, there was never enough of. When they passed a charming, cottage-shaped sign on the roadside that read “Harvest Moon Farm,” Robby excitedly pointed it out to Cathy. They made a U-turn and pulled up the long driveway, unaware that their lives were about to transform.
Delighted by its simple lifestyle and seasonal abundance, Cathy began to volunteer at the farm. She dedicated her time to cultivating both the lush organic kale crops and her agricultural knowledge, thinking about how she and Robby could one day do the same. “We always dreamt of having our own little mom-and-pop farm on 10 acres,” says Cathy. “We even had the name picked out: ‘The Farmacy.’”
Six months later, Cathy saw her true purpose unearthed. “It was the end of the season, and the farmers were going to till over the extra kale. It was a travesty! I couldn’t let it go to waste.”
With nothing but filing boxes and pots, she and Robby were permitted to dig up every last scrap of unharvested kale—and they knew exactly what they would do with it. Robby says, “We called the Winter Garden Farmers Market, and they didn’t have an organic supplier at the time. So we were able to get in that same weekend!”
They were immediately well-received. “We had no idea what we were doing, but that day, we sold out of everything. People kept asking if we’d be back next weekend,” says Robby. “So we took the money we made and just rolled it back into keeping things going.”
The Clays began to make their long-awaited dream a reality, though not in the way they expected. Maybe it wasn’t the 10-acre farm they’d always imagined, but it was no less worthy of being called “The Farmacy.”
The Root of Recovery
Although the Clays are drawn to the harmonious farm life itself, their passion for plants actually sprouted from eye-opening, albeit terrifying, personal experience. Cathy was experiencing chronic pain and health issues. “I didn’t know what was going on, and I certainly didn’t care where my food was coming from,” Cathy remembers. Her flare-ups were eventually attributed to early signs of lupus, but that didn’t answer the question of what caused them or how to prevent them. “But when I began to go out of my way to eat only locally sourced food, I started seeing improvements. It wasn’t an overnight fix, but when I started to clean up my diet, the symptoms went away.”
Optimistic, the Clays turned their focus to clean eating, organic living, and digging into all the research they could find on the effects of food on our bodies. But this knowledge isn’t easy to come by, and it isn’t always easy to hear. “Most people don’t know what they’re putting into their bodies,” says Cathy. “They just know it tastes good, and they trust whoever is making it. Unfortunately, most of the foods people eat daily are not to be trusted.”
As they say, ignorance is bliss, and too many people are blissfully unaware of the risk they are taking with every bite. Robby explains, “Trying to eat as organically as possible and lowering the toxic load is essential. People are continually exposing themselves to toxins through their food, and so their bodies never heal—it will always be stressed and overloaded with chemicals, unable to detox and do what the body is designed to do.”
Cathy agrees wholeheartedly. “Food is definitely medicine; we’ve seen the direct results of this through my own journey. We’re living proof that God designed our bodies to heal themselves.”
With their own experience to inspire them, the Clays set out on a mission to make healthy, healing food available to everyone. “Once we realized the impact food has on our health, it became a burden for us to watch everyone else continue to eat what they do and become sick because of that,” Cathy says. “There needs to be easier access for people to obtain healthier foods—they shouldn’t just be stuck with the choices at the store.”
Anchored in the Soil
Continuing their partnership with Harvest Moon Farm, the Clays began to sell organic produce at the market, eager to bestow their wisdom to the community. Word got around, and after just a few months the Clays had amazing new connections. “We just kept growing and gathering more farms. And really, that’s how it started, just us putting ourselves out there,” Robby says.
They’ll tell you it was an accident how everything came to be, but they knew just how much the community needed their fresh appeal, since they themselves were looking for the same thing.“We saw there was a gap between the farmers and the people in our community. The farmers can’t do everything—they can’t grow and harvest crops, feed their families, do everything they do and go to the markets,” says Cathy. “We’ve found a sweet spot, working on behalf of the farmers.”
Because of the farmers’ laborious schedules and endurances, they need as much help and support as possible. With Florida’s inconsistent temperatures and relentless humidity, it’s almost impossible to cultivate certain crops. “Produce doesn’t grow well under Florida circumstances,” says Cathy. “One day it’s 40 degrees, and the next it’s 90 degrees. It’s not an ideal way to cultivate, and the farmers struggle a lot … even one storm is enough to wipe out an entire crop.”
Even so, these farmers persevere. “They’re the most hardworking and dedicated people we’ve come across,” says Cathy. “They’re not doing it for the money, they’re doing it because they believe in it, and they’re passionate about it.”
Robby adds, “They show us what it means to persist, I mean, we’ve seen them go through their ups and downs, yet they never give up. Seeing their resilience and commitment to feeding people and doing things the right way … it’s so inspiring.”
After a year tending farm partners and selling organic produce at the market, the Clays opened a storefront on Plant Street in 2014, which thrived for five years. But when the pandemic hit, every business began to shut its doors, and The Farmacy was no exception.
Bleak as that time was, it was hardly the end for the Clays’ endeavor. With no one daring to set foot outside, Cathy and Robby realized their services had to adapt to fit a new need. Pivoting their entire business, The Farmacy evolved into an online ordering and curbside pickup service.
Their business growing alongside their enthusiasm, the Clays further extended their reach by joining forces with John Rivers, the visionary behind Four Rivers Smokehouse. Here, they merged their online business with Four Roots, a 40-acre nonprofit farming initiative established for better food education, sustainable farming practices, and the use of food as medicine.
“Four Roots reflected our vision of what we thought the local food movement should be. It was perfect—they had cold storage space and vehicles, and we had experience and connections,” Cathy explains.
It was a match made in heaven. “The farmers would grow the stuff, we would bring it to the farmers market, and what didn’t sell was purchased by a company called Feed the Need. What wasn’t sold there was then pushed onto an onsite composter.” Zero waste, zero worry.
And with a flourishing business and long-lasting impact, the Clays weren’t worried. That is, until Hurricane Ian raged its way through Central Florida overnight. “When you go through a real disaster, your whole life is turned upside down,” says Cathy. “You don’t know where to go next. It was like everything was dominated by the fact that our lives were in shambles.” With two children, the Clays were forced to put a pin in their Farmaceutical ventures. “Four Roots took over the online portion of it entirely. We’ve just been at the Winter Garden Farmers Market for the past six months, taking every spare second to get our lives back in order.”
Still, it takes more than a catastrophe to stamp out the passion they’ve cultivated. Reluctant to sweep their livelihood under the rug, Cathy and Robby have been strategically planning The Farmacy’s next steps.
“Our focus has shifted to figuring out a way for everyone to have access to sustainable, organic food. Even the smallest plot of dirt can grow something. We want to continue to grow our garden and eventually turn it into a quarter-acre homestead. But we also want to inspire people to do the same with their own yards.”
Starting with hydroponic towers, chickens, and a burgeoning compost pile, the Clays are well on their way to achieving their goal. So while the vision for The Farmacy has certainly changed, its mission is still firmly planted.
“We have made some of the most life-changing relationships—from the farmers to our customers to our employees,” says Robby. “Starting The Farmacy opened so many doors for us, and we’ve met so many amazing people in the community that have changed our lives. And even though the model is changing, they’re still such a huge part of our lives and support system with our homestead.”
“We have been learning a lot as we’re doing this on our own, and it really helps you to appreciate the local farmers,” Cathy adds. “If I had to live on what I could grow myself, we would be really hungry!”
