As the old saying goes, “If you want something done, ask a busy person to do it.” With three boys under the age of 7, a large livestock farm to manage, plus a full-time trucking job, Bradley Davis and Crystal Hampton-Davis have full plates — but they still make time to teach local youths about the value of buying local.

Third-generation farmers, Brad’s family has been farming this portion of Columbia County (Zion Grove) since 1845.

On nearly 350-acres (275 of which are owned by the family) they graze Black Angus cattle year-round — 70 brood cows, about 40 calves at side and another 50 in the finishing pen — plus raise 40 pigs, between 100-400 chickens and 30 turkeys for Thanksgiving delivery, as well as 3 acres of sweet corn. Crystal is also well-known for her baking, specializing in sourdough baked goods.

Three happy pigs on the Davis Grown farm.

The farm was purchased in sections over the years. Brad explained, “We started with 109 acres on the home property ... that’s the original. Then my father, when he was my age, bought an additional 105 acres down the road about a quarter mile. It’s almost touching. Then there’s 60 acres in the middle that was purchased by my grandfather and now owned by my parents.”

Brad and Crystal said they decided to get actively involved in the farm about 12 years ago — even before they were married — because Brad’s dad was ready to step out of a leadership role and enjoy farming without all of the management decisions.

“We bought the feeders from him rather than him sending them to market and just start raising them out and started building the herd size,” Crystal said.

Brad and Crystal officially bought the farm about five years ago. Currently, the cattle are grass raised and total mixed ration (TMR) finished.

Crystal Hampton-Davis specializes in sourdough baked goods.

Brad holds a degree in large animal science and Crystal has a degree in math and secondary education, as well as a master’s for principal leadership. Teaching and school administration was her career path before having children.

Married for nine years this summer, they work together raising three boys — Nash, 7, Dirk, 6, and Linken, 4.

They also spend time educating the public about the importance of buying local at community outreach events, farmers markets, a preschool, two K-12 schools and a high school.

Their journey of public outreach and education in schools started in December 2022 when Crystal attended a farm-to-institution seminar in Harrisburg that discussed how to get local products into hospitals, prisons, schools, day care facilities and the like.

While she was busy learning, she was also busy networking and spreading the word about their family farm to other attendees and presenters.

When Crystal returned home, she immediately got to work reaching out to the Bloomsburg School District.

“I asked them, ‘What foods do you serve that are local?’ and got the ball rolling to see if they’d be interested in beef and sweet corn,” Crystal said.

And to her surprise, they were interested.

In the fall 2023, they served their own sweet corn in the K-12 schools in the Bloomsburg School District.

Davis Grown provides sweet corn to several area schools.

“Beaver-Main Elementary School wanted it unhusked, so they were able to husk it there at the school. The rest of the schools wanted it husked and delivered to them,” Crystal said. “Then they cooked it for the kids at lunch. I will tell you, even this spring, I went back for a health-awareness night, and I was asking the kids if they remembered eating the sweet corn and they did.”

Brad said his family has a long-standing relationship with that particular school.

“My mom was secretary at Beaver-Main Elementary School … and my dad drove school bus,” Brad recalled. “So, whenever we had a bottle calf, it would make its way in after the bus run, and all the kids at Beaver would have hands-on (learning).”

Their portfolio of schools is growing, and they are looking for more opportunities. Davis Grown currently provides beef tips and sweet corn to Bloomsburg School District and ground beef every month to Danville Child Development Center (DCDC), Columbia County Christian School and Columbia Montour Vocational Technical School.

In addition to local food, they also provide in-school education to the same schools about what it means to be a local farmer.

“I met Crystal on a Zoom call, PA Farm to School Network Open House, as she was a presenter,” said Denise Baney, executive director of DCDC. “I recognized her name and face on the call and reached out personally to her about how we could partner up after her presentation. She contacted me the very next morning, and the rest is history.”

At DCDC, Baney said Crystal came in to read to the preschool classrooms during PA Beef Council Agriculture Literacy Week (March 18-22).

Then, she set up an egg incubator for 21 days so DCDC families and children could watch the eggs hatch to kick off “Week of the Young Child” on April 8. The next day, Crystal did a presentation to all children about their farm, what animals need to live and much more.

Children at the Danville Child Development Center had the opportunity to watch chicks being hatched, courtesy of Davis Grown.

As an extension of their farm and the education, the Davises have talked about potting sweet corn stalks so the children can actually harvest corn themselves in the fall.

The food trust has also taken an interest in Davis Grown, featuring them in a YouTube video where kids ask farmers questions, all in an effort to inform children about where their food comes from.

Brad’s father, Daniel, is still involved in the farm and according to the couple, they “always have the passenger seat open for him.”

Crystal continued: “There have been many trips that it has been he and I ... we have to go look at a bull or … we picked up pigs one time, and until we got them loaded it was 10 o’clock.”

“To my dad, that’s like passing the torch,” Brad added. “When I was 5 or 6 years old, the passenger seat was always open for Pap; if Pap (Luther) wants to come along, he’s coming along.”

Davis Grown beef can be purchased at the Bloomsburg Fair Farmers Market every Saturday over the summer or from their on-farm stand. For more information about Davis Grown, search for them on Facebook.

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