Our Story
We are Rob, Cheryl and Matthew of The Wegener Farm. 2020 was a year of transition and learning for our family. The death of our fourteen year old daughter, a global pandemic and empty grocery store shelves made us think in new ways about health (physical, mental, and spiritual) and about food. We were reminded that there is no more precious gift than health, and no more important factor in health than what we eat. In 2021 we embarked on a new mission... to provide our community with nutrient-dense fresh food that is locally and sustainably raised. The Wegener Farm was born.
About Our Farm
In the fall of 2020 we purchased 18 acres in Tyrone township with little more than a vision. I fell in love with property instantly, particularly with the rolling hills, the low wetlands, the abundant wildlife, and the mature fruit trees. Joan, the lady that we purchased it from, was the matriarch of a family that has since gone its way. The history of this place is told by the old pole barn with tell-tale knaw marks on the wood, the nesting boxes and old chicken run, the pig shed with concrete troughs poured in the floor, old bee keeping equipment around the place, and the old, rusty chisel plow in the side woods. Joan and her family had owned this place since it was built, but it had not been a working farm in many decades. Now we are bringing it back to life!
I feel a sense of responsibility to this land, and I have a deep feeling of peace whenever I am on it. We plan to keep the history, and give it a new coat of paint. We are renovating the old farm house with the hope of moving in this summer, we we will also renovate the old barn and the pig shed. There are modern additions in the form of a high-tech greenhouse (by a company called Nifty Hoops in Ann Arbor), complete with Automated climate control, irrigation, and the Qlipr system from the Netherlands (About Pellikaan | Pellikaanq.com) for trellising. There is also a new shed to store farm equipment and to host my woodworking shop (more to come).
In 2021 was such a tremendously successful year that we decided to double down in 2022. We added a second, larger greenhouse and nearly tripled the size of our outdoor space. This, plus application of lessons learned should take our 2022 production to about five times as much as we produced in 2021 and we will need it! Our CSA membership has also expanded from 10 to 50.
In addition, we received our USDA Organic certification from MOSA this year for our vegetable and micro green operations. Note: we elected not to certify out eggs, because doing so would have required us to cull nearly 200 birds simply for paperwork reasons. That just didn't feel right. We have always gone beyond organic, and those of you who visit the farm can see this first hand, but this certification helps those who don't know us have confidence that we are growing their food in a natural way.
To keep up with us as we relentlessly pursue our mission to feed our community with locally produced, delicious and nutrient dense food produced in a sustainable way, join our community below.
The Farm in Full Swing
Matthew breaks ground for our outside field blocks
Hoop house by Nifty Hoops in Ann Arbor, Mi