Business Review Tale of Two Farms

Amish meats and cheeses and rolled butter are also on sale in the market. Candies and fried pies are there, too, ready to satisfy that sweet tooth. Apple cider vinegar and herbal health teas are part of the offerings as well.

It’s a place where Pell City craftspeople and artists are celebrated. For example, local veteran David Carden creates beautiful wood bowls from cypress and magnolia wood.

The market opened in 2022.

“We’re just trying to spread the word that buying from a national chain is not always the best thing,” Robertson says. “Buy local. Shop small. Support local businesses.”

And Red Hill Farms-Phillips Family is always up for a celebration. Right now, it is taking “baby steps” as an event spot.

“We’re doing any kind of party,” Robertson says. “As we grow, we do small weddings, birthday parties. We let people fish in our stocked ponds. We have a petting zoo and feed experience with all of our animals.

Red Hill also takes its animals to local schools as part of an educational effort.

“As a farmer’s daughter, I always thought that everybody in the world lived like this,” Robertson says. “That everybody knew the difference between a cow or a heifer, but that is not the truth. There are a lot of people who have lived in concrete jungles – big cities –and they have no idea.”

The parties – visitors bring their own food and beverages – are entertained by the horses – Butch and Sundance – alpacas named Einstein and Waylon and a llama, a “funny little character” named George.

The alpaca named for the mop-topped science genius is easily recognizable.

“His hair is everywhere, like Einstein,” Robertson says.

What you don’t see, but you can feel at Red Hill Farms-Phillips Family is love – of the animals, of family, of the land, of country and community. Lonnie Phillips is a Vietnam veteran. Tiffeny’s husband, Chris, served in the War on Terror after 9/11.

“We love that people are enjoying (the farm) so much,” Tiffeny Robertson says. “That’s the biggest kick we get out of it.

“You know, people ask me all the time why we don’t charge more for our parties,” she says. “One, we are an operational farm and two, I want people to experience it without having to take out a loan. We’re not necessarily here to get rich. I just want people to know who we are.”

Other plans are in the works, like a place for kids to learn how to rope, or how to milk a cow or goat, or harvest honey from a hive – “Minus the bees, of course. We’re trying to educate as well as provide,” Robertson says.

There’s a joy in experiencing a simple life, she adds.

“Everybody just can’t go to a beach resort for vacation,” she says. “Everybody doesn’t want to deal with the heat and the traffic at an amusement park. They want something to do outdoors. Everybody needs the sunshine.”

Her childhood house – shaped like a barn – is still home for her dad. Every building on the property is red, eye popping on green grass against a blue sky. “As a kid, I wondered why we were always buying red stuff.”

A director of construction for a major firm, she never thought she would return to the family business. For her, it’s about honoring and preserving her parents’ legacy of labor and love.

“I wanted to preserve it the way it was until it was my time not to be here anymore. I want our toddlers to grow up and understand what their grandparents worked so hard for, fought for and loved so much.”

People often ask why she toils seven days a week to make the farm sustainable.

“This is my legacy. I sacrificed back in the 80s to be here, so that I could be here until I no longer have a say,” Robertson says.

For more information on Red Hill Farms visit its Facebook page at Red Hill Farms-Phillips Family, email redhillfarms3@gmail.com, or call 205-352-8803.