Schoolhouse Farms, Ohio – Gourmet Popcorns, Oils and Grains

About Us

MEET THE MAKERS

Vaughn Davis

Partner, Grower

Vaughn was born in Celina, OH and later graduated from Troy High School (OH) and helped his father and grandfather back in Rockford on weekends and school vacations. He is a chemical engineer, attended Vanderbilt University, and has a rich family history in both agriculture and education. Vaughn is passionate about history, railroads, music, college football (Geaux Tigers!), and the Boston Bruins.

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Beth Cole

Partner, Manager

Beth grew up in Bethel, Vermont and summered on Long Sands Beach in York, Maine – ultimately moving permanently to the Seacoast in 1996. She played varsity softball (Lefty!) in high school and worked at York’s Wild Kingdom in the summer. Beth has spent most of her career in customer service and the hospitality industry. You’ll likely see Beth enjoying the great outdoors and all New England has to offer from hiking to camping to being on the water. She also appreciates live music and all Boston sports teams – Go B’sss!

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Hoja flotante

OUR STORY

1862

The local Dublin Township schoolboard acquired a half-acre of land and built the one room Frysinger School, which began functioning during the Civil War.

FUN FACT

1971

Lowell Davis, Vaughn’s father, acquired the Ross Road property and the Frysinger School. The derelict school building was surrounded by large oak trees and several old barns – one dating to 1900.

FUN FACT
semilla flotante
semilla flotante

2001

After Vaughn moved back to the United States from the UK, he met Beth as she worked in the local chiropractic office.

2010

Restoration of the Frysinger School began by repairing the building to highlight the original oak floors and wainscoting.

FUN FACT

2010

Vaughn and Beth crossed paths again and realized they had a shared passion for birdwatching.

2016

SchoolHouse Farms was officially created from a 15-year friendship, a shared love of bird watching and Vaughn’s passion for agriculture. Black oil sunflowers were the first crop, used to make birdseed.

FUN FACT

2020

We outgrew Beth’s basement and expanded our New England operations to an old 1872 mill building in Somersworth, NH. We utilize convection ovens, dehydrators, scales and bag sealers for all products under five pounds.

2021

SchoolHouse Farms ventured into growing lavender and now offers 7+ lavender-related products.

Vaughn Davis

Vaughn was born in Celina, OH and later graduated from Troy High School (OH) and helped his father and grandfather back in Rockford on weekends and school vacations. He is a chemical engineer, attended Vanderbilt University, and has a rich family history in both agriculture and education. Vaughn is passionate about history, railroads, music, college football (Geaux Tigers!), and the Boston Bruins.

Moving to York, Maine from Oxford, England in early 2001, he continued his work on the north shore of Boston. After a long career in engineering and specialized instrumentation, he returned to agriculture in 2016 growing sunflowers and popcorn and working with his friend, Beth. Vaughn loves to travel and explore the natural world around us.

Over the next several years, Vaughn developed markets in both distillation and heirloom corn working with distilleries from Ohio to Maine and New England restaurants.

Drop Vaughn an email anytime, he’d be happy to hear from you!

Beth Cole

Beth grew up in Bethel, Vermont and summered on Long Sands Beach in York, Maine – ultimately moving permanently to the Seacoast in 1996. She played varsity softball (Lefty!) in high school and worked at York’s Wild Kingdom in the summer. Beth has spent most of her career in customer service and the hospitality industry. You’ll likely see Beth enjoying the great outdoors and all New England has to offer from hiking to camping to being on the water. She also appreciates live music and all Boston sports teams – Go B’sss!
As an avid bird watcher, Beth has probably fed tons of black oil birdseed to our feathered friends over the years. As such, Beth was a big influence in the initial launch of our black oil sunflowers to the bird food market back in 2016. Later, these fields became the site of our annual Bloom Festival in Ohio, and we now offer multiple birdseed blends. Our infused sunflower oils and roasted sunflower kernels are all produced by Beth. She developed the first lavender products in 2023 for the Bloom Festival. Along with managing the Somersworth Mill and all online business, she keeps Farmer Vaughn on track and organized as best anyone can.

Vaughn’s great grandmother, Cecil Rickard, attended the school in the early 20th century and the building eventually ceased to be utilized as a school in 1939 as the United States approached World War 2.

Lowell started growing popcorn in the 1990’s on a large scale so it was only fitting that SchoolHouse Farms would also grow popcorn.

Vaughn hopes to eventually turn the Frysinger School into an event hall and an educational center where customers can learn more about sunflowers and the items produced by Schoolhouse Farms.

The operation started with Vaughn’s great grandfather’s Clipper Grain Cleaner and Beth’s keen eyesight to clean the popcorn by hand.