Welcome to Stone Hollow Farmstead, a family-owned farm outside Birmingham, Alabama. Founded by Deborah Stone, the estate started as a passion project. Thirty years in, it’s become Deborah’s life’s work.
It all started in 1999. After 10 years of running a successful spa, Deborah was ready for a change. She dreamed of giving her daughters a simple, wholesome childhood in the countryside, like the one she’d had. So she sold the spa and moved her family—husband Russell, daughters Alexandra and Fallon, and their horses—to rural Harpersville.
It is still a wholesome and sustainable place, but operations at the Stone family farm are anything but simple. What started as a breeding and training center for European Hanoverian horses is now home to several family businesses, producing cheese, honey, specialty foods, botanicals, cosmetic extracts, cosmeceuticals and horses. As much as possible, ingredients for Stone Hollow’s food and skincare products come directly from the farm.
Everyone contributes at Stone Hollow Farmstead. Goats roam the pastures and make milk for cheese, bees provide honey for multiple culinary uses, flowers, herbs and seeds get dried and used as ingredients, and grasses that feed the goats eventually transform into pretty packaging for gift boxes. The Stone family pitches in, too. Now grown, Deborah’s daughter Alexandra is the farm’s creative director, contributing to branding, visual display, and marketing strategies.
Giftagram had the pleasure of talking with founder Deborah Stone about Stone Hollow Farmstead and gifting:
Giftagram: What makes Stone Hollow Farmstead products such great and unique gifts?
Deborah Stone: What I love first and foremost, is that most of our gifts revolve around the kitchen, which is the lifeblood of the home. Most people enjoy an enriched dining experience, and our products can help give meals and drinks that extra push to make a meal special.
We love that our products are a gift that can be used many times over and in a way that is both practical and memorable! It is an added benefit that in addition to enjoying the product, you are supporting a sustainable family-owned farmstead.
Giftagram: What is your favorite Stone Hollow Farmstead product to gift?
Deborah: The Culinary Connoisseur Gift Box is a personal favorite, because I have always been a little daring in the kitchen. This gift box highlights some of our most unique offerings from late spring that can be used in a myriad of ways.
The wooden branded gift box is filled with hay and dried flowers from our farm, and hosts three wonderful products—Dill Blossom Vinegar, Wild Violet Jelly, and Nasturtium Jelly. These complex springtime concoctions can be the base for salad dressings, cocktails and glazes. And then, of course, the jellies can be used as a condiment for baked goods. This box invites the courageous kitchen hobbyist to play and try new things to enhance their dishes.
Giftagram: We love Stone Hollow Farmstead’s commitment to sustainability. Why is using a grass-based system important?
Deborah: There are so many benefits to raising livestock in this humane way. It allows them free range of the land to eat grass and forage, and makes sure they have plenty of room so they are never consuming where they also expend. We also make sure that there are several species present grazing when possible, to control undesirable parasitic activity that is prevalent on larger corporate farms.
Giftagram: What does it mean to you to run this farm with your family?
Deborah: Oftentimes the old ways are the best ways, and I have found that true with my own practice. I grew up on a farm and then sought a life and education outside of that initial upbringing, but the sweet song of the earth and the promise of a fulfilling life called me back to farming and I am grateful to get to do this alongside my family.
Giftagram: What goes into curating your beautiful gift boxes?
Deborah: First, we let the land tell us what we have to offer and what falls into abundance so we can highlight the best of each season! Then my daughter Alexandra, co-owner and creative director, works to put together a complete vision for each one so it feels balanced. We seek out like-minded partners to help round out each box—local ceramists for mugs, carved wooden spoons, etc.
Unique Stone Hollow gifts for client and team gifting
Considering Stone Hollow for your corporate gifting program? The perfect gift for your team and clients - know that when you do, you support a family and an ecosystem steeped in tradition. Here are some Giftagram favorites from Stone Hollow:
Indulge their inner foodie with The Culinary Connoisseur, a thoughtful gift idea for adventurous home cooks. Dill Blossom Vinegar is light and fragrant, perfect for deglazing a pan or adding interest to mild fish dishes. Floral and peppery Nasturtium Jelly works anywhere a traditional jelly does and is also delicious as a glaze for ham or as a sweet counterpoint for savory meat sandwiches. Finally, Wild Violet Jelly is delicate, sweet and floral. With notes of blueberry and raspberry, it’s a delightful topping for yogurt or fresh-baked scones.
Toast the mixology maven in your life with this trio of mouthwatering cocktail syrups. Whether they are cocktail connoisseurs or enjoy styling their soda water with a dash of pizzaz, there's a syrup here for them. Rose Geranium Syrup is light-bodied and fruity, infused with organic flowers and herbs. Try it in champagne-based cocktails, with soda water, salad dressings, or yogurt. Steeped with rum, Drunken Pear Syrup encompasses the best of fall’s flavours. Use it to enhance an Old Fashioned cocktail or liven up a bowl of vanilla ice cream. Jalapeño Syrup is an enticing blend of sweet and spicy, adding kick to homemade margaritas and serving as a versatile base for meat marinades, salad dressings and more. This set includes a wooden cocktail spoon, so they'll be stirring up masterpieces
(and raising a glass in your honour) in no time!
Looking for the perfect gift to "spill the tea" with your clients or employees? This set includes a brass tea strainer and a handmade clay mug by Watercourse Clay. At night, they can fill their mug with a relaxing Good Nite Chamomile Tea, a soothing blend of farm-grown chamomile, lemon verbena and rose hips. In the morning, an invigorating splash of Stone Hollow’s award-winning Strawberry Rose Drinking Vinegar will start their day on a bright note. It’s also a beautiful addition to complex salad dressings and marinades and promises to add intrigue to tequila, rum, vodka and gin-based cocktails.
Shake up their brunch game with Scary Mary Mix, a bold Bloody Mary base blended with Cholula hot sauce, pepper pulp, and tamarind. Pickled Hot Peppers make a tasty garnish for the classic morning cocktail, and are also tasty on breakfast burritos, nachos, and more. Meanwhile, Infused Salt adds flavor to any drink or dish. With the included wooden picker—perfect for scooping extra portions of pickled peppers—they'll have everything they need for a spicy brunch.
Experience the Giftagram Difference
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