((TRT: 06:26))
((Topic Banner: Family’s Secret Recipe))
((Reporter: Faiza Elmasry))
((Camera/Editor: Mike Burke))
((Map: Leesburg, Virginia))
((Main characters: 1 female, 2 male))
((NATS))
((Avis Renshaw
Farmer and Bakery Owner, Mom’s Apple Pie))
Our bakery is known as Mom's Apple Pie Company, and we make pies. We make really genuine pies with a lot of fruit and not too much sugar.
((NATS: Avis Renshaw))
Which ones are we picking? The purple ones?
((Avis Renshaw
Farmer and Bakery Owner, Mom’s Apple Pie))
We are a truly farm-to-table bakery in that we make it all from scratch.
((NATS))
((Avis Renshaw
Farmer and Bakery Owner, Mom’s Apple Pie))
When we were younger, our farming business did not succeed. It was in the late 70s, and as a means to stay on our feet, we started baking pies with a friend of mine who had started making a few pies on weekends and selling them to our farm market. And she said, “Why don't we do this together?” And so, we started doing this together. And she lost interest and moved on with her husband and we stayed doing that.
((NATS))
((Steven Cox
Farm & Bakery Co-Owner, Mom’s Apple Pie))
We got really efficient. My wife could make a pie in a matter of seconds, and I could peel a bushel of apples in eight minutes. Actually, within a year or two, we supplied one farm market with 900 real pies in one day. Of course, that took working around the clock.
((NATS))
((Avis Renshaw
Farmer and Bakery Owner, Mom’s Apple Pie))
I've always wanted to be a part of a farming community and be part of growing food. I met my husband when I was a teenager working at a farm market that he and his brother co-owned. And I very much enjoyed that job, both in the farm market and in the fields, picking produce. So, I’ve liked the concept of this very much also because it's a steady life.
((NATS))
((Avis Renshaw
Farmer and Bakery Owner, Mom’s Apple Pie))
We bought this farm in 1997, and we're on the banks of the Potomac right across from Maryland. It's a somewhat a historic location in that during the Civil War, the Confederate troops marched through the end of our farm across the Potomac to Antietam [National Battlefield].
((NATS: Steven Cox))
There’s some orange pumpkins.
((Avis Renshaw
Farmer and Bakery Owner, Mom’s Apple Pie))
At this point in my career, I am really driven by the social need of farms. I try to work to educate people on the importance of farms. I belong to Farm Bureau. I belong to a couple of rural economic groups here in our county in Loudoun. And we are working really hard to let people know how important it is to save properties like this one from being developed and to utilize the land for the benefit of our neighbors in the form of really good food.
((NATS))
((Steven Cox
Farm & Bakery Co-Owner, Mom’s Apple Pie))
The Community Supported Agriculture, the CSAs, seem to provide a means to capture a certain market of people that still want to cook. Even though the population is, maybe, five times greater in this area than it was then, the number of people that want to cook isn't.
((NATS))
((Tyson Cox
Farm Manager and Head Baker, Mom’s Apple Pie))
I’m Tyson Cox. I am Avis and Steve's son. Most of the year, I am the farm manager, and that is mostly with the rotation of crops, prepping fields, planting and organizing what produce we need throughout the year for our CSA.
((NATS))
((Avis Renshaw
Farmer and Bakery Owner, Mom’s Apple Pie))
We didn't think that he would do that. He wasn't too happy about doing that as a teenager. It took him away from his friends a lot of times and it was hard work. But ultimately, he ended up deciding that this might be a really great thing for him to do.
He works with his dad, and we have all the commensurate joys and terrors of farm family and an intergenerational business that we are working through. And for the most part we still love each other. It's sort of interesting.
((NATS))
((Tyson Cox
Farm Manager and Head Baker, Mom’s Apple Pie))
It's pretty good. It's got its challenges. You know, sometimes I just want to yell at them. And sometimes I do yell at them. But all in all, it's, I wouldn't trade it for anything. (I’m) incredibly lucky for all the sacrifices they've made in buying this farm and keeping their family business going.
((NATS))
((Tyson Cox
Farm manager and Head Baker, Mom’s Apple Pie))
As we go into the latter half of the year, October, November and December, I transition from that into, you could say, head baker.
((NATS))
((Avis Renshaw
Farmer and Bakery Owner, Mom’s Apple Pie))
Even though it's called Mom's Apple Pie Company, we do many more than just apple pie flavors. We do blackberries and raspberries and strawberry rhubarb pie, all of which we grow on the farm. We also make quiches that we use our own fresh farm eggs for.
((NATS))
((Avis Renshaw
Farmer and Bakery Owner, Mom’s Apple Pie))
We're about to harvest all the corn for our corn quiche, which we also incorporate fresh sage and bell peppers and onions that we grow here on the farm.
((NATS))
((Avis Renshaw
Farmer and Bakery Owner, Mom’s Apple Pie))
This is my daughter Ansa, who's usually in the office managing all of the important affairs that none of the rest of us want to do. But once in a while, she's in the kitchen when we need her. And her forte is wrapping. And she's the one that usually ends up overnight wrapping the pies so that they're ready to go in the morning when the truck shows up. ((NATS: Tyson Cox))
Try the yellow kind? This is your grandpa’s favorite.
((NATS))
((Tyson Cox
Farm Manager and Head Baker, Mom’s Apple Pie))
I have a 10 month old now and, you know, I guess it'd be really nice to farm with him when he grows up.
((NATS))
((Avis Renshaw
Farmer and Bakery Owner, Mom’s Apple Pie))
I certainly didn't expect to be in the business for 40 years, but it ended up marrying nicely with the farming business.
((NATS))
((Tyson Cox
Farm Manager and Head Baker, Mom’s Apple Pie))
It's authentic. You know, nothing we do is that crazy. It's a really simple recipe. You know, I think our apple pies got seven ingredients, but it's using really high-quality butter and making all butter crust and baking them fresh every day. So, a lot of it is just doing something simple very well.
((NATS))
((Avis Renshaw
Farmer and Bakery Owner, Mom’s Apple Pie))
We're all still looking for the secrets of staying happy. Nothing is more important than the relationship that you have with your family.
((NATS: Tyson Cox))
Oh my gosh. It’s so good.
((Avis Renshaw
Farmer and Bakery Owner, Mom’s Apple Pie))
And making sure to retain that at all costs is really important for the business and for the family.
((NATS))
