Little Willow Mercantile: Michaela Smith’s New Old-Fashioned Store

Story, photos and recipes by Cynthia Nobles 

Even as a child, Michaela Smith dreamed of owning a country-style mercantile store. That dream came true in August 2024, when she opened her “organic, clean, and all-natural as possible” Little Willow Mercantile in DeRidder’s Historic Downtown District.  
            
Michaela, her husband, Eric, and their four young children are Mennonites. Eric, who works at a logging company, comes from a close-knit Mennonite community that settled in Beauregard Parish in the early 1930s. Michaela hails from another Mennonite congregation in North Georgia, and she moved to DeRidder when she was eighteen.
            
“Our family lives on a farm,” Michaela says of the couple’s simple lifestyle. “We raise horses, goats, pigs, chickens, and grass-fed cattle. We butcher our own meat and collect eggs from the chickens. Our twin girls are 8 years old, and our boys are 3 and 5, and they all help.” 
            
It was on this farm that Michala first started selling organic grains. “Around 2018-19 we realized how unhealthy some conventional foods are, as well as the things we put on our skin. I did some research and I learned, for example, that your body needs the nutrition from the kernel in wheat. I started ordering organic grains, and then cheeses and herbs. Much of it was in bulk, and I would split large orders with friends at church.”

Her next move was to make a business out of selling organic products. “At first, I sold from a building in my backyard. I had lots of customers. I also have a half-mile driveway that gets muddy when it rains, and I hated making those customers drive through that. So I opened a stand-alone store.”
            
Today, Little Willow Mercantile operates in a spacious old department store building that had been empty for two years, and which Michaela’s family refurbished. She fashions her charming store’s inventory on her and her extended family’s no-frills way of living. 

“I started by selling basic healthy food items to make your own health foods,” she said. “Now I am constantly adding new products.” 
            
Part museum and part store, Little Willow’s building takes you back to a time when most stores had soaring dark ceilings and well-worn wood floors. An antique seed case holds a variety of dried beans.

Aisles and walls are neatly lined with jars and bulk canisters of sweets, dried herbs, loose teas, vinegars, local honey, homemade elderberry syrup, and homemade vanilla, things perfect for filling the gift baskets Michaela can make and ship. 

​On the side of an antique cash register stands crates of local sweet potatoes and cartons of yard eggs. In the middle of the store are huge sacks of the wheat and corn that Michaela grinds into flour to order. Close to the grains is that “new” favorite cooking oil of the health-conscious — tallow.

The store does have a display refrigerator that holds perishables, such as a wide variety of organic cheeses made by members of a Mennonite church in Wisconsin. Michaela is also researching requirements for selling raw milk from her own cattle and goats, and she is waiting on delivery of a freezer that will allow her to sell local hormone-free beef.

“Dry goods” include hand-made quilts, locally-made crafts and pottery, and homemade goat soaps and candles. Michaela makes lip balms and moisturizers from tallow. A centerpiece table holds toys that don’t run on batteries or computer chips. Polished wood-trimmed display cases hold just about everything else imaginable from early last century. 

The store has three full-time and three part-time employees. Some are family members. Michaela especially points out her grandfather, who roasts her organic coffee beans, and her grandmother, Karen Giesbrecht, who takes charge of a handsome display of cotton and linen dress fabrics and notions. 

​Not surprisingly, two of Little Willow’s best-selling items are freshly-milled flour and cornmeal. If customers need ideas for using their whole grains, Michaela sells a cookbook titled Prairie Flour, which she co-authored.  

​“Business has been very good,” she said of her growing endeavor. “Customers drive two and three hours to get here.”

If you like the idea of buying organic and minimally processed foods and shopping like it’s 1900, it certainly is worth the trip to Little Willow Mercantile in DeRidder. The address is 109 South Washington Street. You can also follow the store on Facebook. 
 
 
 
Italian Pizza 
Makes 2 (10-inch) pizzas
(Adapted from recipe Italian Pizza Crust in Prairie Flour cookbook, by Lori Decker, Karla Nightingale, and Michaela Smith)
 
1 cup warm water (98-100°)
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
2½ cups fresh-milled hard white wheat flour (regular whole wheat, all-purpose, and 00 pizza flours also work)
3 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
¾ teaspoon Italian seasoning
½ teaspoon dried basil
½ teaspoon dried oregano
¼ teaspoon dried thyme
4 tablespoons cornmeal, divided
 
Toppings: Anything you like — marinara sauce and thinly sliced cheeses, cured meats, and veggies, such as olives, mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, spinach, jalapeno peppers, and fresh basil
 
1. Make crusts by combining in a small bowl the water, yeast, and sugar. Set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, add flour, oil, salt, Italian seasoning, basil, oregano, and thyme. Drizzle in yeast water and use the dough hook on low speed to combine ingredients. Increase mixer speed to medium and knead until dough is a stretchy ball, 8 minutes. (You can also do this by hand.) Place the dough ball inside a large oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
3. When ready to bake, set the oven to 425°F and heat pizza stones, 2 cast iron skillets, or any heavy-bottomed baking pan you have. When oven is ready, evenly sprinkle 2 tablespoons cornmeal each on 2 regular (room-temperature) pizza pans or the bottoms of large sheet pans. Divide the dough in 2 and use your fingers to stretch the pieces into the sizes you want. Layer on the toppings. 
4. Slide pizzas onto the hot stones or pans in the oven and bake until edges are brown and cheese is bubbly, 10-15 minutes. Serve immediately.
 
 
 
Herbed Cheese Crackers
Makes 32
 
1¼ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt, plus more for sprinkling
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
½ cup softened butter
2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
4 teaspoons minced fresh herbs, such as rosemary, sage, or oregano (or 2 teaspoons dried)
 
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. In a bowl, stir together the flour, ½ teaspoon salt, and cayenne. Set aside. 
2. In a large bowl, use medium mixer speed to beat butter until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the cheese and beat 1 minute. Add the flour mixture and the herbs and beat using low speed until you see small uniform clumps. Use your hands to work the dough into a ball.
3. Lightly dust a sheet of wax paper with flour and roll the dough into a ¼-inch-thick rectangle. Use a knife to cut the dough into 32 square-ish pieces, or whatever size or shape you want. Pierce each square with a fork 3 times and sprinkle lightly with salt.
4. Place crackers an inch apart on the baking sheets and bake until lightly brown, about 20-25 minutes. (Check after 15 minutes to be sure bottoms are not burning.) Cool completely on a rack. Store in an airtight container. To re-crisp crackers, bake 5 minutes in a preheated 350°F oven.
 
 
Oatmeal Walnut Cookies
Makes 3 dozen
(Adapted from Prairie Flour cookbook, by Lori Decker, Karla Nightingale, and Michaela Smith)
 
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup brown sugar, tightly packed
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups fresh-milled hard red wheat flour (or substitute store-bought whole wheat flour)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups chocolate chips
1½ cups rolled oats
¾ cup chopped walnuts
 
1. Preheat oven to 350°F and grease 2 cookie sheets. In a stand mixer with paddle attachment, cream butter using medium-high speed 2 minutes. Add brown sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 1 more minute. Beat in eggs, then add vanilla and beat until very light and fluffy, about another minute.
2. Turn mixer speed to low and slowly add flour, salt, and baking soda. Mix until just combined. Add the chocolate chips, oats, and walnuts and beat until just combined.
3. Scoop heaping tablespoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheets, leaving 1 inch between balls of dough. Bake until brown around the edges (or however brown you like your cookies), 13-15 minutes. Store in an airtight container up to 5 days. These cookies freeze well.