Michelle Wetherbee is a face and name familiar to Northeast Georgians. She taught marketing at Piedmont University (formerly Piedmont College) in Demorest and once ran a successful catering business in Clarkesville.
She was an integral part of Now Habersham in its early days before following her heart to Hartwell. It is in this lakeside town on the edge of Northeast Georgia where Wetherbee returned to her family and culinary roots.
Wetherbee is the mastermind baker/entrepreneur behind the local favorite and statewide treasure, The Nutty Sister. Operating out of her downtown Hartwell storefront, The Farmers Daughter, Wetherbee has amassed a customer base across the United States, all from reviving and revamping recipes that had been in her family for generations.
It started in South Georgia
Wetherbee got her start selling her signature Southern Pecan Cheese Squares at the 2017 Mistletoe Market in Cairo, Georgia.
“Well, it was a hit,” she says. “I would get calls every day asking for more stock even after I had just delivered more.”
Wetherbee attributes a lot of her success to her family. She grew up on a pecan farm in South Georgia run by her father but is now operated by her younger brother, Putt. The pecans from that farm have found their way into the Wetherbee family meals for the past century and are now found in The Nutty Sister’s goods that evolved from years of studying, perfecting, and improving her grandmother Gingo’s recipes.
“Food is in my DNA; on my mother’s side, I come from a long line of well-known cooks,” says Wetherbee. “My father was a very well-regarded chef who sold vegetables and learned and taught people how to cook and use the vegetables.”
Community matters
For Wetherbee, the importance of a strong community network cannot be understated. From her Farmer’s Daughter storefront in downtown Hartwell, you can find products from owner-operated businesses all over the state.
Partnering with and supporting local businesses is a pillar of The Nutty Sister’s identity and helps communities thrive. Wetherbee works with Hartwell’s Main Street program to support small business development and historic preservation in her community.
“I think something the pandemic taught us is that community is still very, very important,” she says. “When you’re stuck at home, can’t go anywhere, your neighbors become really important. If you get sick, or God forbid something happens to you, community is who holds you up and takes care of you.”
Seven years and counting
Michelle Wetherbee is going into her 7th year of owning and operating The Nutty Sister and The Farmer’s Daughter with big goals for the new year. She is working on four new products to release this year and has set her sights on the 2024 Flavor of Georgia Contest, where she will go against food-makers across the state to be the Flavor of Georgia.
If you’d like to check out The Nutty Sister or The Farmer’s Daughter, you can visit them at 30 South Carolina Street in Hartwell or visit them online at TheNuttySister.com and The Farmer’s Daughter on Facebook.
