our community magazine: 2025 feature
Fithian Folk inspires local lifestyle changes
STORY AND PHOTOS
BY CAROL ROEHM of THE COMMERCIAL-NEWS
After spending nearly a decade in California, Danville native Sunny Strader returned to Vermilion County last year with a newfound appreciation for her hometown and a new way of living.
"I went there to work for a woman filmmaker, but I really wanted to do my own documentaries and projects, she said about living in Los Angeles for eight years.
"I got the whole LA experience. I got to see the stars and celebrities, and that was fun.
"There was a time when I thought I would never come back," she said. "But living in a place so different than where I grew up gave me a new appreciation for here."
Since returning to the Danville area, Strader said it has been encouraging to see her generation and others breathe new life into her hometown.
"It's cool to see people I grew up with moving back and investing in the com-munity, she said. "It gives me hope for the future of this community."
Last summer, Strader returned to Vermilion County and settled on a farm near Fithian where she and her husband, Brian Austin, embrace the "slow living" way of life with their dachshund chihuahua mix Fortune, cats Aldous and Pegasus, white rabbit Socrates, and 16 chickens that lay colorful eggs.
The couple said they had been talking for a few years about leaving Los Angeles and their fast-paced lifestyle.
"My whole work life was in the film industry," Austin said. "During COVID, a lot of the tax incentives for the film industry ended and a lot of work left California." Before returning to Vermilion County, the couple spent a year in a cabin in Joshua Tree, Calif., which is located in the desert about 130 miles east of Los Angeles. The remote cabin was situated at the end of a 3-mile-long road.
"I loved living in the desert. It was rural and primed us for living this kind of life" Strader said. "We grew our own food and were living more sustainably.
"We went from living in a very metro situation to the complete opposite," she added. "We were there for a year, but it was a pit stop.
During their time in the desert, the couple practiced "slow living," which sometimes is referred to as homesteading. "Slow living is about slowing down and living more intentionally and sustainably, Strader explained.
"We wanted to grow our own food and have animals," Austin, a Cincinnati native, said." We learned new skillsets that we have since developed."
They admitted, though, that growing food in the desert was challenging, which led them to consider relocating to the Midwest for its rich soil.
"Being in California gave me a better appreciation for everything in the natural world in Illinois," Strader said.
Austin agreed. "The biodiversity here is shocking to us." Earlier this year, the couple started Fithian Folk where they create natural and handmade products that they sell at the Danville Farmers' Market and online at fithianfolk.com. In mid-August, the couple will open a farmstand on their property just off U.S. 150, east of Fithian.
Austin bakes sourdough bread and hand-roasts coffee beans, while Strader forages for herbs and medicinal mushrooms that she uses to create her tea blends and tinctures.
"I've been baking sourdough for one-and-a-half years, and it requires daily upkeep of the starter," he said. "Sunny's family gifted me a 25-year-old starter, and I've felt obliged to keep it alive."
Each Thursday morning, Austin starts the process for the dozen sourdough bread loaves he brings to the Danville Farmers Market on Saturday mornings.
"It is a 36- to 48-hour process to make one loaf, he said. "I can only bake one at a time, so I can only make 12 loaves to take to the farmers' market.
"I want the freshest bread possible, so I bake on Friday afternoon," he said. "I don't want to sell day-old bread. We usually sell out of bread in the first two hours of the farmers' market."
Austin bakes three different varieties of sourdough loaves: classic, forage and java. The classic loaf consists of organic flour, salt and water. The forage loaf includes nettles that Strader forages in Vermilion County. The java loaf is encrusted with his hand-roasted coffee grounds, molasses and water.
"Coffee is the main focus for me, but bread is what I like to share," he said.
While living in Joshua Tree, Austin worked as a barista at a coffee shop and learned about roasting green coffee beans.
"I was there at 5 a.m. when they were roasting the beans, so I asked the roasters questions," he said.
After watching a video online of a Japanese filmmaker recording himself methodically hand-roasting coffee beans in a small metal drum roaster with a hand crank over an open flame, Austin started saving money to purchase a Japanese roaster from the filmmaker. That Japanese roaster now sits atop a burner stand from a turkey fryer that is fueled by a portable propane tank inside a barn at the Fithian Folk property.
"I had to teach myself how to do it" he said of using the hand-cranked roaster."I also researched countries of origin for the best beans."
Green organic coffee beans from Ethiopia are hand-roasted for Fithian Folk's medium roast coffee, and green organic coffee beans from Nicaragua are hand-roasted for their dark roast coffee.
"I'm working on different blends" he added. "When I figure out the right ratio, I will name them."
While it takes Austin 9 to 12 minutes to hand-roast a batch of coffee beans, he insists it's not about the roasting time as much as it is about the beans and the heat.
"Green coffee beans crack when they're roasted, so you listen for the crack and then there's a second crack when you know they're done, he explained.
Fithian Folk's coffee has garnered interest locally and online. "I want the coffee to be the freshest when I sell it," he said. "I want it to be no more than two days old.
"We usually sell out of it at the Danville Farmers' Market, and we sell the coffee on our website," Austin said. "We've shipped coffee to San Francisco, Brooklyn, and 14 states."
Strader considers herself a "folk herbalist."
"I thought we were going to be growing vegetables, but I'm more into herbs and medicinal mushrooms," she said. "My herbal practice is mostly for women"" she said. "Herbal medicine is the original natural remedy, and it’s wholesome.
Because all of the herbs are grown or foraged locally by Strader — and not produced commercially — she believes her teas and tinctures are more potent in their medicine.
Stinging nettle, a "powerhouse herb" chock-full of iron and Vitamin K, grows in an old bookcase lying flat on the ground in Strader's backyard. When a drop of the herb extract tincture is placed under the tongue daily, it is believed to provide energy, nourish adrenals and kidney function, and support the body through periods of stress and disease.
A double-extraction method is used to create tinctures of medicinal mushrooms, such as turkey tail and reishi that Strader forages in Oakwood.
The first extraction entails using grain alcohol to extract the beneficial constituents from the mushrooms. During the second extraction, Strader boils the mushrooms in water for six to eight hours.
"There is a difference between edible and medicinal mushrooms, she said. "Some people are scared of it because they don't know what it is, but none of it is psychedelic."
Other tinctures in her home apothecary include mullein for lung and respiratory support and wild lettuce for pain management and sleep.
The couple said they have been pleasantly surprised by how well they have been received at the Danville Farmers' Market and elsewhere locally.
"Being in California is a whole different way of life, and I wasn't sure how it would be received here," Strader said. "But people are saying, I see what you're doing, and I support and value what you're doing."
At a recent Danville Farmers Market, customer Laura Cox from Henning called Fithian Folk one of her favorite vendors.
"I'm into all natural, and I'm a budding herbalist myself, she said. "I'm recovering from a head injury, and the farmers market has been a life saver."
Another Fithian Folk customer, Kim Henry, also a Henning resident, said, "I did buy some of their coffee. I love their whole philosophy."
Fithian Folk will continue to participate at the Danville Farmers Market and winter markets, and will attend the Muncie Acorn Festival, the Ogden Classic Car Show, and a mini yoga retreat at Willow Barn.
In addition to the opening the farm stand on their property, the couple hopes to offer educational workshops on slow living, plants, and fungus.
"Were not trying to sell products" Strader said. "Were trying to inspire a more mindful way of living."
