Lexington, KY - It's not really a bakery, but they do have daily made-from-scratch muffins and cakes, and it's not really a diner, though customers can get a bowl of soup beans accompanied by a county ham biscuit everyday at lunch. And it's not exactly an arts and craft school, but you could enroll in a number of interesting seasonal classes: basket weaving, knitting, playing the mandolin, canning or home-brewing craft beer, to name a few examples.
The Homestead, a hybrid general store with countrified standards crossed with hipster sensibilities, is a lot of things - quaintly fitting any type of commercial definition isn't one of them. Oh yeah, they also plan to host bluegrass concerts once the owners, husband and wife Mike and Megan Smith, get the stage set up in the barn behind the shop.
"You know how you can have subtitles on things," Mike said, discussing ways in which the couple could brand The Homestead, "well, this place has like 12."
"It's a 'slash store,'" Megan clarified. "It's a country store, slash bakery, slash homesteading school, slash coffee joint, slash occasional diner. I don't want to pigeon hole ourselves into one thing. I think if we diversify enough and bring in money from different ways, then we'll be successful."
Located at the intersection of County Road 1927 (Todds Road) and Combs Ferry Road between Lexington and Winchester, the destination mercantile is more of a general interest store than a general store. Along with a changing daily menu and a few permanent staples, their growing list of inventory includes a sundry of local and Kentucky Proud food items on the shelves, as well as antiques and wares from regional artists and craftspeople on consignment. The store celebrated their grand opening on May 31.
The idea for opening a store started when the Smiths were married over a decade ago; the idea for opening this type of store has been an evolving concept ever since.
"When we got married, we always said we were going to open a coffee shop, because, you know, 13 years ago everybody wanted to have a coffee shop. That's what you do if you're a cool couple, you open a coffee shop," Megan said. "It's been on the backburner all this time, and the idea has kind of developed. I feel like what we're doing now is a culmination of all our interests."
To put it mildly, the Smiths are consummate hobbyists, and before The Homestead, their kitchen, garden and garage were laboratories for domestic and culinary experimentation, the fruits of which Megan has described in her monthly column for this magazine, as well as her daily blog, ittysmitty.com. And the trait runs strong in the family - the Smiths' oldest son, Canaan, is an 8-year-old entrepreneur who makes handmade marshmallows for the The Marshmallows Company, a business that he owns and operates.
In fact, the Smiths' search for a commercial kitchen to rent for Canaan's company in the fall of last year led them to the future location of The Homestead, which sits on a large swath of land owned by Brookview Farm (Brookview's grass-fed beef products are also available at the store). They thought the decrepit, over 100-year-old former post office had potential, and after listening to the Smiths' vision, the building's owner, Douglas Owens, did too. Drastic, sweeping and vital improvements were made: vaulted ceilings, refinished floors, new walls, new electrical wiring, new plumbing and insulation. In February, they started using the space solely as a commercial kitchen, but each day the family was out there, The Homestead would continue to materialize in their imagination - there was a lot of space, and they had a lot of ideas.
"The longer we were out here, we were like, yeah, we need to do this, let's just go for it. What have we got to lose, except a lot of money, but whatever," Megan said, in jest.
Sort of. Mike was laid off from his job as a pharmaceutical salesman late last year, and the couple has been overly cautious in their entrepreneurial endeavor - they haven't taken out any business loans, maxed out any credit cards or plunged into their savings. While The Homestead was a culmination of the family's dreams and interests, there was also a financial impetus behind the project, namely the ability to generate income without being at the mercy of corporate interests.
This push toward self-sufficiency is also a guiding principle behind many aspects of The Homestead. The classes promote it by teaching students how to do things themselves, and all the wares in the store are being sold by artists and craftspeople who are after the same thing as the Smiths - the freedom to be judged, and rewarded, based on talent and hard work.
"I think the success of it is going to be determined by the work we put into it," Megan said. "If we're willing to put in the work, hopefully it'll show for itself."