Our family farm was started in 1994 with 200 acres in the rugged Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Jarrod knew from a young age that he wanted to farm for a living. At age 11 he bought his first tractor, a non-running Farmall H from the Pelkie Co-op. Over the next couple of years, he unfroze the engine, disassembled the transmission, and replaced broken gears to get it running again. Jarrod quickly recognized that dairy farming could offer him the opportunity to realize his dream of making farming his sole livelihood in the future and sought out opportunities to help him learn the business. At age 12, he volunteered to help a neighbor milk cows for the entire summer, riding his bike between his parents’ beef farm and the dairy farm up the road. He remembers the first cow that he milked like it was yesterday- she had a black and white ‘picture frame’ on her side which made it easy for him to proudly point her out to his parents out in the fields as they drove by. By age 13, he was getting up at 3am to help with the 4am morning milking at a different neighbor’s dairy seven miles away. Shortly thereafter he bought his own dairy cows. In 1994, he bought his own 200 acre farm. For 13 years, he operated a dairy farm and sold the milk to Jilbert’s Creamery in Marquette, Michigan.

In 2008, Jarrod transitioned the farm into a pure black Angus cattle farm beginning with Angus heifers from his parents’ U.P. farm, slowly increasing the herd size from 15 to around 100 brood cows. All of the mother cows on our farm are black Angus, born and bred in the U.P. We carefully select our bulls for gentle temperaments and well-muscled builds, within the  Angus, Hereford, and Shorthorn breeds. We are able to increase the genetic diversity of our herd through this crossing and build stronger calves and decrease production losses associated with straight genetic lines.

We continually strive to perfect our farming practices in the harsh and gorgeous U.P. We follow best practices for grazing management and regenerative agriculture. We rotate our cows at least twice daily through our pastures. When not moving cattle between pastures or checking fences, we make hay and silage during the summer months. If it’s a good year, we also harvest grain!

Jarrod is very proud to say that he has never held an off-farm job. Farming is what he loves and his entire livelihood. He knows the land like the back of his hand, and each individual cow by the swirl of hair on its forehead.

Anne was raised on one of the oldest certified organic farms in Pennsylvania where her family operates a vegetable and orchard Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) and hard cider business. In 2013, her family was honored to be the recipients of the Sustainable Agriculture Leadership Award given annually by the Pennsylvania Association of Sustainable Agriculture (PASA) in recognition of efforts as leaders in sustainable agriculture for over 50 years. Anne is a biologist who returned to the land to farm. Staying true to her roots, she has a (large) garden that allows her to over-fill the freezers and cupboards with veggies, fruit, and jams! During the summer she can almost always be found with dirt beneath her nails in the garden.

Needless to say, a love of farming and caring for the land runs deep in our veins. We firmly believe that it is up to each of us to be good stewards of our land, waters, and woods for future generations to come.