Sarah Olfelt (pictured at left) and her family stock their farm stand with baked goods, cut flower bouquets and more. The stand began in 2024 and is lovingly named Made on Manning as an ode to her Woodbury street. Photos: Sarah Newhouse Photography
A farm stand offers fresh-baked goods and flower bouquets.
Never in her wildest dreams did Sarah Olfelt think she would own and operate her own business. Then, two years ago, her passion for creating turned into Made on Manning, a full-fledged farm stand stocked with baked goods, cut flower bouquets and more.
It started in July 2024, when Sarah’s garden was overrun with flowers. “I was at the point where I couldn’t give away enough flowers,” she says. “I thought, ‘If I make a little stand, pull it to the end of the driveway, then people will stop and want to buy a bouquet.’ It was something simple.” Over time, she began stocking the farm stand, located at her home on Manning Avenue, with baked and canned goods, such as homemade jams and jellies. “It quickly became bigger than I ever thought it would,” Sarah says. She started an Instagram account called Made on Manning—a nod to her Woodbury street—and the business took off.
Last summer, Sarah and her husband, Paul Olfelt, who met at New Life Academy as teenagers, opened the farm stand in June; it was their first full summer serving customers. “Now, I have this base of customers who will come weekly, and I’m still wondering, ‘How do I best serve them? What are they looking for?’” Sarah says. “This summer will be exciting because I’ve done this for over a year now.”
What started as cut flower bouquets quickly grew into offering fresh-baked sourdough bread. (“I have found that people really love sourdough, so that’s a staple,” Sarah says.) and seasonal offerings, such as raspberry scones or apple hand pies. On Friday mornings, Sarah wakes up between 3 and 4 a.m. to start baking. The farm stand is full of goodies by 8:30 a.m., and then it opens at 9 a.m. “I have cars parked and lining up around that time,” she says. “I make so much—my kitchen is covered, my tables and counters are covered—and in two hours [the stand is] empty.”
Sarah homeschools their four children and notes that they all, including Paul, love to help get the farm stand up and running. “For summer, we typically do take a break [from homeschooling], but the amount they’re doing, learning and participating in is more than I was learning on summer break,” Sarah says. “Here I am doing grams, weights, measurements and multiplication, and I have my fifth grader check my math for me.” Even their youngest, at 4, helps put stickers on the bags—making Made on Manning a full-fledged family affair. “Everyone has a part. They feel proud of their contributing factors, especially when you can find something to give them ownership in,” she says.
Although Sarah doesn’t put out the farm stand in winter, she offers monthly pick-ups and even hosted a Makers Market on her property this past holiday season. “We have an 1800s barn that is beautifully built … We’ve hosted backyard weddings for family members and even our class reunion. We turned that space into a place where we can do that,” she says. “So I always had in the back of my mind [an idea] to fill the space with like-minded small businesses who create things with their hands.” Hundreds of shoppers attended the two-day market, which showcased 14 locally owned small businesses. “It was a beautiful display of faith and trust, and a willingness to try this out,” Sarah says of the business owners. “And the community had a beautiful response in showing up and being respectful and kind, being on our property.”
Made on Manning is a full-fledged family affair for Paul and Sarah Olfelt and their children. “Everyone has a part. They feel proud of their contributing factors, especially when you can find something to give them ownership in,” Sarah says of her children assisting in the business.
Over the next few months, Sarah will once again put out the farm stand and offer all kinds of baked goods and bouquets. She will also be mindful of slowing down and continuing to create with love. “It’s easy to say that I can make more the next week and keep making more, but it’s also a quick way to lead to burnout and not enjoy what I’m doing anymore,” she says. “There’s something special in the slowness of it, and not ramping up production and giving more and more.”
Sourdough is a staple at the Made on Manning farm stand, where it is available alongside other baked items such as scones or hand pies.
However, Sarah also knows that the future of Made on Manning is endless—and she doesn’t quite know where it will go. Whether her children will be homeschooled or not plays a large role, as Sarah says she is mom first and foremost, and therefore the business structure could change year over year. “Knowing I’m already living in something that I thought wouldn’t exist, knowing where I started and where I already am, and where the Lord could take this, is a huge, infinite possibility,” she says. “It feels like I’m at the beginning of it and figuring out what it is and could be. The potential seems incredible.”
Sara Olfelt also creates seasonal offerings.
Made on Manning
Instagram: @made_on_manning
