LiberTea Farms

Our vision for LiberTea Farms is to establish a diversified, multigenerational family farm in Livingston County, Michigan. Our long-term goal is to own and operate a larger farm where our family can put down permanent roots, responsibly work the land, grow our agricultural businesses, and build something that can eventually be passed on to future generations.

At this stage, we are seeking an opportunity that will allow us to establish and actively manage a working farm while gaining hands-on farm management experience. While we need a minimum of 2 usable acres, we are very open to significantly more acreage and would welcome an opportunity that could grow with us. If the right opportunity arose to begin on a larger farm now and develop our operation there over time, we would absolutely be interested.

Farmer housing is important to us because we are looking for a property where our family can live while actively operating and developing the farm. Reliable high-speed internet access is also essential. In addition to operating our existing businesses online, we are documenting our family's “Mobile Home to Farm” journey through social media and online content. We want to share the real process of becoming beginning farmers—from agricultural education and searching for land to developing infrastructure, growing crops, raising animals, and eventually establishing our permanent family farm. We hope that documenting this journey will help build our farm businesses while also encouraging and educating others who have a desire to pursue agriculture, food production, and a more self-sufficient way of life.

We plan to begin with a manageable combination of vegetables, culinary and herbal crops, specialty crops, and laying hens, using organic practices whenever practical and focusing on healthy soil and responsible stewardship of the land. As our experience, infrastructure, and operation grow, we hope to incorporate goats, bees and honey production, fruit and perennial crops, and expanded herb and tea production.

A significant part of our long-term agricultural vision is developing farm-grown herbal teas and tea products. We are interested in learning which herbs, flowers, fruits, botanicals, and tea-related crops can be successfully grown in Michigan and incorporating those ingredients into products made from what we grow on the farm. Eventually, we would also like to explore tea production itself where Michigan growing conditions and our property allow. Beekeeping and honey production would complement our crops, pollinator habitat, herbal products, and future tea and beverage production.

Our agricultural operation is intended to become the foundation for several complementary family businesses. LiberTea Homestead, our existing handcrafted-product business, has given us experience with product development and production, inventory management, farmers markets, direct-to-consumer sales, customer service, e-commerce, marketing, and building a small business from the ground up. As the farm develops, we would like to incorporate appropriate farm-grown ingredients into our products and create a stronger connection between the land and what we produce.

Our long-term plans also include LiberTea Reserves, our specialty tea and beverage business. Our vision is to eventually serve beverages featuring teas, herbs, fruits, honey, and other ingredients grown or produced through LiberTea Farms whenever possible. We want customers to be able to experience a genuine farm-to-cup connection, where ingredients we have planted, tended, harvested, dried, blended, or produced on our farm become part of the beverages we serve.

We understand that this vision will take time, and we are not expecting to build everything at once. We want to develop the farm responsibly and in stages according to the land, available infrastructure, finances, and experience we gain along the way. During this beginning stage, we want to develop practical experience in crop planning and production, livestock care, soil management, recordkeeping, budgeting, farm infrastructure, marketing, and the day-to-day management and decision-making involved in operating a working farm.

I am actively building my agricultural knowledge through Michigan State University Extension, including participation in webinars through the First Generation Farmer Program, and I intend to continue pursuing agricultural education as we develop the farm. We are also very open to mentorship and would value an opportunity to learn from an experienced farmer or landowner. There is tremendous value in learning from someone with years of practical experience caring for land, raising livestock, growing crops, operating equipment, solving problems, and managing a successful agricultural operation.

At the same time, we bring an entrepreneurial skill set to farming. Our experience operating a small business has taught us about production, budgeting, inventory, branding, marketing, customer relationships, farmers markets, e-commerce, and direct-to-consumer sales. We believe those skills will be valuable as we learn the agricultural side and develop multiple income streams that can help make LiberTea Farms financially sustainable.

Our Christian faith is central to our family and our businesses. We value faith, family, honesty, hard work, responsible stewardship, community, and caring well for the land and animals entrusted to us. We want to be good stewards of any property we are given the opportunity to farm and to build a positive and respectful relationship with the landowner and surrounding community.

We are open to leasing, long-term leasing, lease-to-own, purchasing, mentorship, or the right farm-transition opportunity. While we are willing to begin with a smaller property as we establish our farming experience, our ultimate goal is to settle permanently on a larger farm. We would especially welcome connecting with an established farmer or landowner who is interested in helping beginning farmers learn, grow, or potentially transition into greater responsibility for a farm over time.

Ultimately, we are not simply looking for a rural home with enough acreage for a garden and a few chickens. We are intentionally working toward becoming established farmers and building LiberTea Farms into a sustainable, diversified family agricultural operation. Our “Mobile Home to Farm” journey represents exactly that: starting where we are, learning, working, building responsibly, and taking the necessary steps toward the farm we hope to establish for our family and future generations.

We hope to connect with a farmer or landowner who sees that long-term vision and is willing to give a beginning farm family the opportunity to responsibly work and care for the land, gain practical experience, learn from others, grow our operation, and take meaningful steps toward establishing our permanent family farm.