The Farmhouse: Two Great Tastes
By Rick Dakan
120 SARASOTA SCENE | MARCH 2018
on the town
a historic building on Manatee Avenue, who was urging them
to open a retail location for their furniture. “Only 5% of our
business came from Florida at that time,” Steven explains. They
weren’t sure a storefront would be worth it for them. Then they
remembered the donuts. After a couple months of going back
and forth, Nancie’s dad was the one who pushed them to go for
it. “Do the donuts,” he said. And do they ever do the donuts.
Made fresh to order, The Farmhouse serves small cake donuts
that are perfectly cooked so that the crust has a nice little
crunch, but the inside is warm and soft. For me, who loves a
great cake donut, that might be enough, but there’s so much
more. At the counter, customers receive a menu where they can
choose from a list of nearly twenty different specialty donuts or
create their own combo. These playful and decadent creations
have farm-inspired names that perfectly complement the store’s
southern design aesthetic.
The Sweet Squealing Pig has maple, bacon, and a sprinkle of
salt. That last sprinkle of salt exemplifies the attention to detail
and flavor that The Farmhouse rightfully prides itself on. The
extra seasoning makes the donut come alive in the mouth in a
way that many bacon and maple donuts miss. Other favorites
include The Cotton Gin (vanilla icing with a cotton candy
topping), The Fancy Cowboy (vanilla icing with Fruity Pebbles
“Ever had sausage gravy donuts?”
No, I hadn’t. I’d never even considered such a thing. Those
words just didn’t go together in my mind. But I was already in an
intriguing place of business that successfully combines two unusual
elements that seem unrelated, so I said yes. I tell you what, the
sausage gravy donuts at The Farmhouse are really good, just like
everything else I tried in the Bradenton donut and decor store.
Steven and Nancie Sheardown opened The Farmhouse just last
year, and already it’s become a local institution in downtown
Bradenton. Steven started his custom furniture business, SDS
Designs, over seven years ago, and Nancie is an Acupuncturist
Physician. Natives to the Sarasota-Bradenton area, they’ve traveled
the country selling furniture and SDS has had its creations showcased
at Disney World, on the Animal Planet show “Insane Pools: Off
the Deep End,” and in House Beautiful magazine. They’ve had
tremendous success, and none of it had anything to do with donuts.
“It all started when we were travelling in North Carolina, selling
furniture,” Nancie explains. “We saw a donut shop selling freshto
order donuts, and they were so good, we said we wanted to
do it ourselves.” At the time it was just an idea, without any
concrete plans to realize it anytime soon. They had hands more
than full as it was. Then they were approached by the owner of