Two cows lead to new family business

CAMDEN TWP. — Judy and Jim Dostall decided years ago to raise their own beef and brought home two cows. Those two cows led to a small herd, a passel of pigs, 96 chickens and a booming little hobby farm right outside Oberlin. Now they can add to their job titles shopkeepers after opening Dostall's Country Store on Dec. 5. "We ain't putzing around up here," Judy Dostall said with a laugh. "We built the store, a 24-foot by 24-foot building, by ourselves with a few friends, and we walk right across the driveway to the store, so it's very, very convenient." They started selling farm-raised beef, pork and chicken in 1999 while both worked jobs off the farm, raised two girls and coached youth sports. Jim Dostall quit his full-time job in 2013 as a utility engineer and took part-time work as a subcontractor to keep up with the farm and Judy works full-time in health care accounting. Both girls are grown and college graduates now, but the demand for their products kept growing. They talked about adding on a small retail business over the years, but the need became apparent when COVID-19 hit in the spring. Meatpacking plants throughout the U.S. were closed due to coronavirus and meat started getting scarce in stores while shoppers were being urged to support local businesses. "I was at work and my phone was blowing up with people ordering meat. I said 'Jim, it's time. Our bulk sales are up all the way through to next August. It's time we pull the trigger," she said. "We had a guy come all the way from Pittsburgh for pork." Open four days a week until they know what to expect, business already has been brisk. The store sells all its meat products grown on the farm, fresh eggs, and jams and jellies Judy makes. In the summer they will add their fresh garden produce. They also have six local vendors selling their wares, everything from honey and beeswax lotions to rabbit and lamb meat, refinished antique furniture, baked goods, skincare products, wine glasses, primitive wooden trinkets and a wide range of organic granola. One benefit of buying straight from the 4-acre farm is that consumers know what goes into their meat. "We're proud of our products," she said. "We've got no hormones, no steroids, no antibiotics. We've got very clean animals and that's what people are looking for. They want to know where their meat comes from. If they ask us how we run things, we'll take them right out and show them what we feed them, where they live, how they grow. We're an open book." They have a loyal customer base, with some customers coming back for 20 years. They are looking to add a few more vendors, maybe a specialty line of rubs and sauces for meats and a line of coffee. It's a far cry from when they initially decided to grow their own beef after their daughter begged them to visit a friend's farm and loved visiting the cattle. "All this started with two cows," she said. Contact Rini Jeffers at ctnews@chroniclet.com.