Before the Brand: Growing for Others
Up until 2015, all of the popcorn Lonny grew was under contract to a large processor. The quality was always there—clean fields, careful harvest, consistent popping—but the crop disappeared into a system where we never saw where it landed. For a family that cares about stewardship and community, it felt a little disappointing to send it all away.
“We knew the popcorn was special. We just wanted people to know whose hands grew it.”
The Bet on Ourselves
That year, Nate convinced Lonny to plant a couple of acres outside any contract. We treated it like an experiment with heart: research the right varieties, plant with care, and see if we could sell popcorn under our own label. That was the spark—Free Day Popcorn was born.
Choosing Seed, Not Just Acres
We pored over options and picked varieties for flavor, flake style, and reliability in our climate—aiming for both tender butterfly flakes and sturdier mushroom puffs.
Taking Home our first harvest of popcorn from the processor!
The First Harvest: 12,000 Pounds & a Two-Hour Drive
When harvest came in, we had 12,000 pounds of popcorn and no warehouse. So we did what small farms do: made a plan and got to work.
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Cleaning & packaging: We drove two hours to a facility that could clean and bag the crop to our standards.
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“Warehouse” (aka the basement): Pallets came home and were stored in our basement, stacked neatly and labeled.
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Selling it slow & steady: Over the next year, we sold kernels online and direct to local theaters and kettle corn vendors—one invoice, one conversation at a time.
“Our fulfillment center was a basement. Our quality control was family.”
Growing the Acres (and the Timeline)
That first year proved the model. We planted 15 acres the following season—and we’ve steadily increased our popcorn acres since then. With more fields and more customers, harvest now takes weeks—not minutes—but our passion for popcorn and careful stewardship hasn’t changed a bit.
From Basement to Barn to Town
As we grew, so did our spaces:
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2018: Lonny built a new shop on the farm to serve as our warehouse. It carried us through big milestones—but eventually we outgrew it.
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2023: We built our own warehouse in town. On rainy days, getting semis down gravel roads was a challenge. The in-town location lets us load trucks in almost any weather and makes pickups easier for partners and customers.
What We Learned Early On
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Quality is the difference. Clean processing and proper moisture make our popcorn stand out.
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Story matters. People love knowing exactly where their kernels are grown.
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Small wins add up. A handful of loyal theaters and kettle corn vendors created real momentum.
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Logistics are teachable. We learned by doing (and re-doing) until the processes matched our standards.
What’s Next (2026 & Beyond)
We’re planning to open a small shop in town in 2026 so folks can stop by to purchase popcorn and popping supplies locally. It’s one more step toward making Free Day Popcorn easier to find—and one more way to keep our story close to home.
Why We Still Do It This Way
Free Day began because we wanted to see the crop through—from seed selection to the bowl on your table. That hasn’t changed. We still believe in traceability, careful drying, and packaging that keeps kernels at their best. And we still believe the people who grow your food should be close enough to tell you the story.
Thank You
Those early customers—neighbors, theaters, kettle corn vendors, and online shoppers—helped us prove a small, family brand could work on fewer acres. We’re grateful you chose a farm you can name and a story you can share.
Here’s to the next chapter—still small, still careful, and still popping.
— Stacey & Nate Freitag
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