HOME AT CEDAR SPRINGS FARM

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STORY BY BRITTANY SMITH & PHOTOS BY JAKE ARTHUR

Wholesome goodness with every click of the mouse is what one will find when visiting Gina Abernathy’s lifestyle blog, Home at Cedar Springs Farm. A second-grade teacher in Alexander City, Abernathy turned full-time blogger and shares everything from what it’s like to live on a real farm to budget tricks, happiness challenges and recipes. Although she refers to Home at Cedar Springs Farm as a lifestyle blog, the recipes that she shares there have blown up and become quite the hit. People love recreating her farm fixin’s, and Abernathy, who owns Abernathy Farm Supply with her husband, Jim Ed, enjoys sharing these family-friendly, easy-to-create recipes with the world.

“When I first started my blog, I did not expect for it to grow as much as it has. I just thought my family and friends would see it, but it has really grown, and now it is all over the world. People here in the U.S. read it, but I also have people in Germany and Austria reading it. I have people in Russia and Poland and Vietnam reading it. I have people in the U.K. and South Africa who read it, and they email me and ask questions about certain recipes. My southern cooking recipes are really popular, and they’ll say, ‘hey, I don’t have this ingredient in my country. Is there anything that I can substitute to make this recipe work for my family and me?’ And we work together and try to figure out something that will work that they can buy at their market so that they can create the

recipe for their family.” Abernathy said she started the blog because everyone she knows, including herself, has a drawer full of recipes, and she decided to document the ones she has in a more organized way. “In my kitchen, I have a recipe drawer. It is a large drawer with cutouts, note cards, post-it notes, scrap pieces of paper and even some coloring book pages where I’ve jotted down recipes from family and friends, and the drawer is just overflowing,” Abernathy said. “So I thought about starting a blog as a way to document my recipes and put them in one place so that I, and my family members and friends, could click on and find the recipe they were looking for easily. It was initially a way to organize my recipes.” Abernathy said that she has recipes from her motherin-law, her mother, the grandparents, friends, and sisters, and they range anywhere from potato salad to caramel cakes. She even has recipes for dips and quick, easy snacks. Farm and Food Facing Page: Cedar Springs Farm is a full service farm complete with cows, horses, sheep, pigs, geese, chickens, ducks, donkeys, goats, 2 cats, 5 dogs and its very own blog; “I have all kinds of recipes in that drawer, and hopefully, one day, Above: Gina Abernathy is an online teacher, fulltime blogger I’ll get around to and the new food columnist for Lake Martin Living. documenting them all on the blog,” Abernathy said. In order for a recipe to make it on Abernathy’s blog, it has to get two thumbs up from her family, she said. “Nothing goes on the blog unless I’ve made it, shared it with my family and I’ve tasted it,” Abernathy said. “It has to be good and get two

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alexcityoutlook.com 256-234-4281 thumbs up from everyone I’ve shared it with.”

But Abernathy’s recipes are not limited to those in her drawer. Because Cedar Springs Farm is a full-service farm, she uses the greenhouse to her advantage.

“Every year, we plant tomatoes, squash, zucchini, cucumbers and other vegetables, and every year, I try to create new recipes from the vegetables that we grow.”

Abernathy said they also own a feed and seed store where they sell to small farmers, large farmers, hobby farmers and those who just want to grow their own garden.

While these ventures have all been successful, Abernathy has recently decided to add yet another text block to her resume. She has agreed to share her knowledge, love of family, food and farm with Lake Martin Living magazine.

As of October, she will take on the role of Lake Martin Living’s food columnist. Abernathy will share recipes that she has never shared before and create a few new ones for readers, as well. While she will continue to nurture and grow the following on her blog, Abernathy will simultaneously write and create tutorials for Lake Martin Living.

In the meantime, please enjoy The Best Banana Nut Bread recipe that she has shared with us on page 43.

Unconditional Moments

Abernathy enjoys the simple life.