Stone Family Farm/Heather Stone Jewelry
Whether growing plants or making jewelry with recycled materials, Heather Stone’s goal is to have a positive impact on people and the planet.
Since starting their first season as vendors at Mount Shasta Farmers’ Market this spring, Heather, her husband Skylar and young son Alijah haven’t missed a Monday setting up the Stone Family Farm/Heather Stone Jewelry booth on E. Castle Street.
Heather said inspiration for their businesses came from her grandmother, a backpacking trip around the country, and a distaste for GMO seeds.
Stone Family Farm began as a homesteading endeavor in 2019 in Hammond Ranch, growing vegetables, herbs and fruits and raising chickens, ducks, pigs, goats and fish. “My grandmother had a beautiful homestead and I want to bring that knowledge and sovereignty that has been lost back to this generation and ones to follow,” Heather said.
They started selling at MSFM because the farm was producing more plant starts, veggies and other food than they could use. But things changed the last two years, and their focus shifted to plant starts. The change has been good: “It has been so fulfilling to hear stories from my customers of the joy of watching their plants grow that they got from me and getting the experience of eating food from it,” Heather said. “It feels like I’m making more of a difference in people’s lives than selling them food directly.”
That fits with her goals of helping people become more self-reliant and helping “preserve the biodiversity of crops by using only non-GMO, rare heirloom seeds in organic soil -- that is ultra-important to me.”
Heather began making jewelry as a hobby 15 years ago and turned it into a business that supports the family. It started while she was backpacking the country. “I would sell jewelry out of a suitcase to make enough to eat that day,” she said. “I would rock-hound my own crystals and stones while camping in the mountains in various states.”
Now she uses “all vintage gems as a way to ethically source materials by recycling. I also use all upcycled scrap leather, recycled and vintage metals, and recycled compostable packaging. I use mostly ‘60s - ‘70s nature-inspired charms like leaves, flowers, birds, bees, butterflies, fruits, moons, suns, stars.”
Before joining the Farmers’ Market, she had been a vendor at dozens of local festivals and craft fairs, while selling on her Etsy shop, website, and in several local shops.
