Johnson’s Milling & Feed, Inc. looks exactly the way a milling and feed place looked years ago.  Outside it has a simple, honest, hardworking appearance with its weathered wood siding, galvanized tin roof, and graveled parking lot.  The wall of the covered loading dock, which runs along the front side of the building, is adorned with colorful advertising signs proclaiming many of the brands and goods available.  On one side of the building you will find the “Plant World”.  Each spring the area fills with all types of annual and perennial bedding plants, hanging baskets, bushes, and decorative garden and lawn ornaments.  In late summer, the fall and winter plants begin arriving to allow customers the best selection.

Inside the store, you’ll find a wide variety of “on-the-shelf” items.  Animal supplies like pet treats, de-wormers, shampoos, nutritional supplements, horse brushes, hoof picks, halters, dog collars, and more fill the inside area; alongside items like pesticides, herbicides, livestock medications, and other veterinary products. The warehouse is packed full of feed for pets to livestock, bedding shavings, chemicals, fertilize, products for field, lawns, and gardens, and more!  Several days a week the hammermill (a major piece of equipment that’s needed to grind grains into livestock feed) is grinding out Johnson’s Milling & Feed, Inc. feeds made fresh for hogs, chickens, and cattle.

Some things come and go according to the season.  In winter there’s a big bin of rubber boots of all sizes.  By spring they’re nearly gone, to make space for the “seed bench” where you’ll find containers of bulk vegetable seeds ready to be carefully weighed out by hand and sold by the ounce or pound.  Spring is also the time when there’s dozens of fuzzy chicks in brooders in the back room called “The Chicken Wing”.  A nearby sign clearly states these chicks are not sold individually.  That’s to remind folks that these cute things quickly turn into full-grown chickens and shouldn’t be purchased on impulse as pets for kids.  But kids of all ages are welcomed to come in to watch them scurry about.

So, who exactly runs this business?  Jeff and Donna Johnson, working side-by-side in marriage and business, assist customers with products for their farms, livestock, pets, homes, and more.  Their love for the Lord is what keeps them together.  God has richly blessed them with a wonderful family and a great group of work family, too! Ethan, Kelsey, Julianna, Anthony, Samuel, Jermy, Jaxon, and Shepherd  are ready very conscientious, willing to learn new things, and trustworthy.

Jeff, who has an Associate’s Degree in agriculture business from Catawba Valley Community College, worked as an assistant manager for a large agricultural and farm supply company.  Unfortunately the company folded,

leaving Jeff with the dream of working as a family to provide a farm store with products and services for the Alexander County and surrounding communities.  He approached Donna and his parents, Ross and Lorene about opening their own mill and feed store.  They were all in.  So, they purchased the former company’s hammer mill, built a building on a couple acres of Ross’s land, moved in the hammer mill,and went at it.  The business incorporated in 1986 with the family members, which also includes Ross and Lorene’s daughter Tina and her husband, Hugh, as shareholders.

For years, three generations worked side by side to keep the place going.  The key players were Ross, who was the head of the family and was referred to as the “head honcho”, his wife Lorene, their son Jeff, Jeff’s wife Donna, and Jeff and Donna’s sons, Bradley and Justin.

As the years have passed, God has called Bradley and Justin on to other employment, Ross is now in heaven, and Lorene is now retired.  But the family tradition still lives on with co-workers who are like family and some of Jeff and Donna’s grandchildren pitching in when needed.

The Johnsons know that their customers are the reason they remain after 40 years in business. Jeff and Donna feel honored that the community has support their family business all these years!   The feel blessed by God to work with some of the very best co-workers and serve the best customers in North Carolina!