Crystal Grobe and Alex Chakur have opened the Dirty Cowboy Farm and Mercantile south of De Soto, a small farm that also serves as a nursery and houses a shop where eggs, baked goods, homemade soap and other products are sold.
The family-operated business, at 13577 Hwy. E, opened on May 6. Its hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday through Sunday.
The couple moved to the 3-acre property a year and a half ago, said Grobe, who is a manager at the De Soto Walmart.
She said she grew up on a farm and has always had a garden, and Chakur has run a landscape design business for 25 years.
For a couple of years, they’d talked about opening a business to sell beard oil and homemade soaps.
“It turned into, ‘Let’s add the farm into it and give people a different place to come to,’” she said.
The two have goats, and the males, Cheech and Chong, are separated from the females. There are a few chickens, a donkey, a bunny and a “rogue turkey,” Grobe said.
She said the farm is also home to two Kunekune pigs named Chewie and Charlotte who know one trick – to sit. They like to sit for a treat and love getting hosed down on a hot day.
“They are not pets,” Grobe said. “They are livestock, but they are our family and we give them love. We take care of them to the best of our ability.”
She wants to show the community what a working farm is like and that a farm doesn’t have to be large to be sustainable.
“You can do a lot with a small piece of land,” Grobe said. “We try to be sustainable. We grow our own plants.”
The rabbits and pigs are raised for meat. The goats are raised for milk. The chickens are raised for eggs.
She said their 4-year-old granddaughter, Adaline McKinnon, is a big reason the two opened the business because they want to provide a good life for her.
Adaline has named several of the animals including Groot, the Great Pyrenees who serves as the guardian of the goats.
In the tiny mercantile shop, they sell farm-fresh eggs and baked goods like cookies, bread or cinnamon rolls. They also make and sell soap, lotion bars, beard oil and fruit preserves. A few knickknacks from other small local businesses are sold there, too.
Outside are plants, which also are sold. Most of the flowers, all pollinator plants, come from another family-owned grower, but the vegetables, herbs and other produce come from the Dirty Cowboy Farm. This year, they grew about 3,000 tomato plants plus 1,000 pepper and cucumber plants. In the fall, they will have pumpkins and mums.
Grobe said the business is definitely more than a store. She doesn’t mind if people come out and don’t buy anything, as long as it’s during business hours. She said community members may bring snacks and beverages, hang out under a tree and watch the animals.
Events coming up
She and Chakur plan to hold events ranging from evening story times with children to adult date-night activities.
“Evening is the best time to be here,” Grobe said.
They are hosting Burgers, Band and Beers from 6-11 p.m. Saturday, June 24, with entertainment by Kyle Ray from Jeremiah Johnson Band and Friends. The event will feature a farm-to-table dinner at 7 p.m. with an appetizer, salad and dessert. The main course is a farm-fed beef gourmet burger, onion rings and gourmet mac and cheese. The cost is $65 per person and reservations are needed.
Grobe said eventually she’d like to host bigger events, like movie nights and vendor and food truck events.
She said she appreciates the community’s support so far.
“We’ve received some really great feedback,” Grobe said. “People enjoy what we are trying to do here.”
