Snead's farm started from a simple idea. Emmitt Snead was 6 he had some chickens of his own. After a while he had enough eggs to start selling the extras. He filled his bicycle baskets and went through Fredericksburg selling fresh eggs to the locals. By the time he was 10 he would run mules, train the vines and pick weeds in his father and grandfather's 1 acre gardens. Emmitt's payment would be the leftover produce that the family didn't eat, freeze or can. He added the extra asparagus, strawberries and whatever else was in season to the egg route. At age 13 the bike wasn't big enough for the produce so Emmitt's father let him use a tractor to deliver everything. The next move was into an old 50s station wagon with all the seats flattened out to hold the corn, tomatoes and still more eggs.

While Emmitt was in college the egg route changed into wholesale selling of vegetables to restaurants in DC during the summer. After college he bought a small farm and could sell items from a roadside stand. This was mostly a hobby that he continued while starting to farm grains like soybeans, corn and barley. He was farming 1200 acres on 7 farms in 3 counties but his real passion was still for the vegetable stand.

In 1980 he bought the farm most of Fredericksburg is familiar with as being Snead's Asparagus Farm. He opened another roadside stand and sold through it and to supermarkets for a while. As business got better and better at the stand he could finally sell 100% of his produce without having to truck it anywhere.

When one of our events take place anyone can come down to the farm and walk around. Maybe take the little that crosses the creek and swing on the zipline. You can walk to the pumpkin patch or see the sunflower field. You can head on over to the chicken coop or look at the horses and cows. The farm is a real farm that makes its money off of the land. Since it isn't packaged up to be pure entertainment you will find kids really enjoy seeing and being close to what happens on a working farm. As always walking around and petting the animals is free. There are several events here throughout the year that are a great time to visit. You can join our email list if you would like a notification of upcoming events.

Or main business is still the simple road side stand. Fresh-picked asparagus, sugar snap peas, grapes, raspberries, blackberries, sweet corn, watermelon, okra, tomatoes, squash, and zucchini are some of the vegetables you will find at the stand throughout the season. In the Fall you will find us selling pumpkins and gourds then on to and cut-your-own Christmas trees in the Winter.

Stop by when you can.


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