We are Austin & Abby, we currently keep a small flock of finnsheep for wool, meat, and as breeding stock on leased land. We both have been working on a no-till intensive market garden style farm for the past 3 seasons. We are beginning to look for land of our own to steward for both grazing and our own market garden.
Preferred location: Branch, Calhoun, Cass, Genesee, Hillsdale, Jackson, Kalamazoo, Lapeer, Lenawee, Livingston, Macomb, Monroe, Oakland, St. Clair, St. Joseph, Washtenaw, Wayne
Desired Transitional Agreement: Farm Seeker/Farm Owner Partnership, Lease, Lease to buy, Sale, Working arrangement with future partner
Dec 31, 2024
Desired Acreage
- 5-10 Acres
- 11-25 Acres
Desired Infrastructure
Desired Land Usage
Goals, Values, Vision
We have been under the tutelage of wonderful farmers for a few years now and are looking to set off on our own. We want to have a market garden that specializes in greens and year round growing. We also raise grassfed sheep for wool and meat. We have been acquiring all the tools, materials, and skills to start our own farm and are ready to go - requiring only a water source to move forward.
Austin grew up gardening with his grandparents who produced a majority of the family's food in a 1 acre Ruth Stout style garden, he began helping with hay and picking apples at age 10 on his uncle's farm - eventually operating the tractor and doing the trellising and grafting in the orchard. After high school he left home working a variety of jobs until settling into a career in electronics specializing in audio visual technology. He lost his job during covid and really dove back into gardening, selling the excess vegetables at his local farmer's market and he brought in two sheep to help with invasive species removal and fertility. This grew and he found himself needing more pasture space and wanting to learn more about market farming. he found a job on a farm with a fallow pasture, where he met Abby. He holds a journeyman's card, a cdl, and is a cst (certified technology specialist) and has professional experience with carpentry, cooking, and operating heavy machinery.
Abby grew up in a family with a rich farming history dating back over 175 years. She was in 4H and showed lambs, receiving grand champion her final year. She attended OSU on scholarship and has a BS in Community Leadership - an agriculture degree geared towards connecting the wider community to agriculture. After school she started working at a farm as the farm educator who spearheaded many initiatives and programs to teach the community about nature and agriculture.
Together we hold the knowledge, skills, and tools of not just how to farm, but why. We feel drawn to this work and have the momentum to help farmers aging out of the field continue their operation, or to start on our own from scratch. We love the idea of lease to own, with a solid contract to protect the interest of the property owner and us, as it would allow us to stretch our budget and get started sooner. We are open to buying or a standard lease as well; if the terms and land make sense.
Farming Status
Current Farming Status
Full Time, Current active business plan
Farm Experience/Education
Farm employee, Farm internship/apprenticeship, Formal agricultural education
Farming Plans and Practices
Farming Method
Organic Practices
We currently produce a wide array of food and textile products - currently mostly by hand but are not opposed to using technology or machinery where needed (we own both a small tractor and a BCS that we'd like to see get more use).
We have been working at a no till intensive market garden - we aim to mimic most of their practices while changing some to increase productivity and yield. The farm we are employed at produces mostly nightshades and storage crops outdoors during the summer and grows greens year round in unheated high tunnels. We grow microgreens, herbs, and mushrooms indoors year round, separate from the farm we are employed at. We have become dedicated to trying to close the loop with our amendments as much as possible learning to make our own custom composts and compost teas.
We rotationally graze our 10 sheep (8 ewes and 2 rams) using portable electric fencing, we lamb every spring - resulting in 16-24 lambs that we sell or slaughter. We do our own slaughtering and do not currently sell our meat because it is not USDA certified but if we were able to grow our herd would love to offer that as a product. This year with the closure of Zilinger's wool mill we have been learning to process our own wool, finding roving and felt sheets to be the easiest entrypoint for us in terms of product offerings. We also sell naturally tanned sheepskin rugs from our market lambs.
