MEET OUR FARMERS
SEELEY
FARM
Seeley Farm,
established in 2012, is a certified organic farm that specializes in growing a variety
of salad greens alongside a diverse range of vegetables, herbs, and flowers.
The farm is owned and operated by Mark Nowak and Alex Cacciari who bought the
30 acre farm after traveling and working for farms across the U.S. and other
countries.
The farm name
“Seeley” comes from the name of a family who owned one of the farms both Alex
and Mark worked for in New York state which was a 120 acre sheep farm. It is
here where they found their love for the lifestyle of farming and continued on
to Michigan where they farmed at Tillian Farm Development Center until moving
to their own farm.
Pictured above is Mike and Kathy Fusilier inside one of their greenhouse spaces
Fusilier family farms, a 6th generation owned farm,
is a whopping 220 acres that effectively utilizes its large scale by the means
of growing, raising, and selling food in multiple types of systems. Their
primary focus is diverse vegetable field production. The farm also includes
livestock management, hoop house/ greenhouse production, and an on site farmer’s
market.
The Fusiliers are a family owned business, hence
their farm name, and have included their children and their spouses in on
working and managing the farm alongside operating the several farmers markets
they attend and own. The farm also runs
a CSA.
Campbell’s Local Harvest is a 5th generation owned
farm and store market. The store offers a wide range of commodities including
annual/perennial plants, flowers, vegetables, fruit, garden starts, crafts,
soaps, and other various products.
Campbell’s can be considered as a “food hub” as it
allocates produce from other farms, growers, and producers but also grows their
own vegetables on a large farm located minutes outside the Imlay City.
Sharon, pictured above, working diligently inside her hoop houses
Setting up support trellis for her tomato plants.
Sharkar Farms, “pronounced Share-care”, is a
diversified vegetable farm with 12 acres in production established in 1999.
Sharon Ostrowski is the owner and operator of the
farm and has made it a family-run business by including her children and
husband on to the everyday tasks of the farm.
Sharon grows produce like tomatoes, greens, and herbs well into the winter time with help from her season extension houses (aka Hoop Houses). She offers her produce at several markets and through a CSA. She also likes to experiment and grow things in different methods like growing lettuce hydroponically.
Sharon, pictured above, working diligently inside
her hoop houses
Setting up support trellis for her tomato plants.
WE THE PEOPLE GROWERS ASSOCIATION
Farmer Melvin standing
in his beautiful brassica plot at his community farm site in Ypsilanti.
We the Peoples Grower Association is led by Melvin
Parson; an empowering individual who is using his vision to create a social
enterprise that develops job employment for men and women returning home from
incarceration.
Melvin is a community driven individual working
behind his motivating force of gardening and farming to inspire his local
neighborhood and other individuals as to what growing food has to offer.
Melvin has been farming at a quarter acre plot
behind a community church in a local Ypsilanti neighborhood. He sells his
produce to local restaurants and wholesale buyers.
Look out for Melvin during the 2018 growing season!
The year is going to be an exciting one as he recently acquired an elementary
school with a surrounding 10 acres of land previously that was shut down by the
school district. Parson’s vision for the property is for it to become an
educational world class urban farm! Good Luck Farmer Melvin!
Volunteers visit the Growing Hope
Urban Farm to lend a helping hand with some weeding
Growing Hope, a non-profit organization, began in
2003 after previously being The Perry Learning Garden. Growing Hope and its
previous leaders were apart of a small movement inside the city which strived
to create awareness about growing local food to the community of Ypsilanti.
The organization is also noted for its educational
opportunity, community empowerment, and a tangible place for volunteers to work
on an urban farm. It is worth checking out their website for more information
on the vast work the organization sets out to do!
The farm also offers CSA shares and distributes
through local restaurants, farmers markets, and wholesale buyers.
RADICLE ROOTS COMMUNITY FARM
TILIAN
FARM DEVELOPMENT CENTER, ANN ARBOR, MI
Ryan gives a tour of his farm
Ryan Padgett is the sole proprietor of Radical Roots Community Farm and is a beginning farmer. He has been farming at the Tilan Farm Development Center (an incubator farm) for 4 years and has familiarized himself with growing in a local agriculture setting as he as farmed in various states across the U.S. as a WWOOF ‘er.
Ryan grows a diverse range of heirloom vegetables
including greens, tomatoes, cabbage, watermelons, etc. He practices
regenerative growing methods by removing the need to fertilize or spray his
crops and instead uses vermicompost which is worm castings from food
waste/municipal waste such as leaves and makes use of rotating crops and using
cover crops to bring nutrients back into the soil.
OLD CITY ACRES
ROMULUS,
MI
Alexander gives a friend a tour of his farm.
This diverse
urban veggie farm is an eye-brow raiser, operated and owned by Alexander Ball.
Alexander is a beginning farmer in his first few years of growing food for the
local Romulus community. His farm began in 2013, and has grown in various
sites. Good news arrived for Alexander recently and he no longer will be
jumping from land to land on lease contracts in due part to now being an
official land owner! There he will have his first chance to build sustained
fertility and produce more vegetables for his markets. Alexander grows various
types of vegetables. Tomatoes, cucumbers, spinach, greens are just a handful of
what he grows.
Alexander focuses on sustaining local agriculture in the
surrounding communities of his farm. He likes to put his growing methods beyond
organic making sure his produce exceeds expectations to not only be visually
appealing but also nutrient rich for his buyers and supporters alike.
STONE COOP FARM
BRIGHTON,
MI
Joannee and Daniel load up
tomatoes for Grow Eastern Market
Joannee Debruhl owns and operates Stone Coop Farm which is USDA certified organic. She takes pride in her farm as it is noted for its beauty and organic vegetables. She began her farming ventures working for Gleaner’s Community Food Bank where she found the inspiration for farming. She followed that inspiration and went on to graduate from the Michigan State Organic Farmer Training Program. Soon after, Joannee got the ball rolling and started the farm with her partners in November of 2010.
Stone Coop grows various diverse organic vegetables and fruit
crops such as Michigan kiwis, pears, brambles, summer squash, tomatoes,
cucumbers, potatoes, greens, herbs, and many more!
Joannee takes pride in her work providing her surrounding
community with organic food. She works
to fight food waste and help educate her members/buyers on ways they can
effectively fight food waste by example like proper storage techniques. Their
growing practices involve NO sprays or pesticide use instead they maintain
their marketability with methods that involve using compost, crop rotation, and
careful observation and removal. Joannee also enjoys hosting various events and
fundraisers in her historic barn, and offering tours and counsel.
GARDEN FORT
SOUTH
LYON, MI
Lindsay and his wife at the
South Lyon Farmer’s Market
Lindsay Steele is the operator and owner of Garden Fort
Farm. Lindsay and his wife live on a beautiful hillside overlooking the valley
that sits below his wife’s childhood home that happens to be a historic
farmhouse. They both have previous experience in farming and decided it seemed
too perfect of a place to start their own new family farm. This year marks the
third growing season for Garden Fort.
Lindsay grows diverse vegetables
including anything from heirloom varieties to micro-greens. Lindsay recently
finished converting unused garage space into a working greenhouse/production
house. Inside he fills most of the space with his micro-greens! He also
includes growing carrots, tomatoes, greens, etc.
They like to refer to their growing practices as “moreganic” instead of organic! They want to make sure their growing practices overachieve the poorer standards one might find as an organic grower by implying no use of organically certified pesticides.