Building a New Farm

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posted on

July 30, 2024

VIDEO is Below the story

Erin and I met Atlee and Anna Keim five years ago , shortly after they purchased their land in Holmes County. At that time, Atlee worked full-time as a commercial construction foreman. Their dreams, however, were always centered around becoming full-time farmers. The only problem was that the financial realities of a startup farm would not allow Atlee to quit his off-farm construction work.

As with anything Erin and I set out to accomplish, we always ask - "what is the long-term picture?". When we began our "old-school organic" vegetables production partnership with the Keim's, we had our sights set on what lie ahead. First, Atlee needed to be on the farm full-time. Two years ago, the combination of their bulk dairy operation and the vegetables business allowed him to farm full-time for seven months. The other five months he made ends meet by taking part-time construction jobs.
Erin and I approached Atlee and Anna with the idea of creating a raw milk herd share. If it was successful, there was an opportunity to make their full-time farming enterprise financially sustainable for the long-term. The financial picture did change, and it changed dramatically after the first year operating the Keim Family Raw Milk Herd Share. Rather than selling their organic, grass-fed milk on the commodity market, it was being distributed directly to families across northeast Ohio. Atlee and Anna were now receiving 100% of the value for their milk.

An unforeseen "by-product" of the herd share led to Atlee working here on our land through the winter of 2023 and spring of 2024. ZOE Farms had a massive list of construction and land maintenance projects that needed completed through the winter of 2023 and spring of 2024. Atlee was the foreman on all of them. He is the reason The FireHouse is what it is. Atlee is the reason we have a new brooder barn that sets the foundation of our entire pasture-raised chicken production enterprise.

There is one thing Atlee does NOT do -- drive. From Thanksgiving 2023 through Easter 2024, Atlee and I spent six hours a week in the truck together. I became what is jokingly called a "Yoder Toter" - a driver for the Amish. While most of those hours were spent working out the details of our construction projects, we would also dream about our families. Sierrah and Morgan are full-time farmers. ZOE Farms is their career. Atlee and Anna want this for their five children, so we spent a fair amount of those driving hours talking about the possibilities pastured poultry production may open up.

We ran a few "trial" flocks this spring to test two critical parameters: 1.) Will the Keim Family enjoy raising chickens on their land? 2.) Will the financial picture work for both the Keim family as well as the Schnabel family? This brings the story to the video you see here today. The answer is "YES" - to both. What you see in this video is a dream becoming a reality. Another farm is being built - and you are a part of it. I hope you find this meaningful -- because it is.

I will continue this story in an article next week. It is important to show you the positive ecological impact these birds are playing in the I also want to explain why we chose the production model of the moveable coops.

A Subject in Regenerative Farming Not Discussed

There are two struggles in regenerative farming. One is visible. The other is hidden. The visible struggle is obvious. Small farms like ours compete against companies with enormous marketing budgets, national distribution, investor backing, and public relations teams. A company like Vital Farms has a market capitalization measured in billions of dollars. They buy placement in grocery stores across the country, dominate advertising channels, and repeat carefully crafted messages nationally until they become accepted as truth. For years, terms like "pasture-raised" have been used because chickens were actually being raised in green, abundant pastures. Corporations like Vital Farms practice something entirely different. These details matter. Definitions matter. Transparency matters. Yet large companies have enormous resources to shape public perception. That is the visible fight. It's the proverbial “David versus Goliath” story everyone recognizes. Vital farms packs 50,000 birds in a barn with some doors open on the sides. They call it "pasture raised". They are trading off of the good will created by farms like us who DO IT FOR REAL. The hidden struggle, however, is far more important. Farming is heavily dependent on debt. Equipment, land, livestock and operation loans. Production seasons are financed and insured. Interest and insurance payments become significant cost centers. These payment schedules create a difficult reality - many farms spend a significant portion of their energy servicing financial obligations. Farming becomes less and less about stewarding land and animals and more about generating enough cash flow to satisfy lenders. This pressure, without doubt, changes behavior. It changes the way decisions are made and what priorities are highest. When debt becomes large enough, nearly everything becomes secondary to the repayment schedule. Erin and I recognized this hard reality early on. We decided that if we were serious about building a truly regenerative farm, it needed to be a financially regenerative farm as well. That meant refusing to finance our operations. No investors. No shareholders. No operating loans. No one sits at a table across from us explaining why we should relax our standards to improve profitability or efficiency. It has taken us three years to finish this structure without debt. We planned to construct the bare necessities first, then we prioritized the biggest needs as money became available. It is now fully functioning with ZERO debt. If we have a slow season, we simply slow down rather than cutting corners to pay loans To be clear - this decision has never been easy. Every year, peak production season is May through October, and we barely scrape by. We’ve nearly lost everything – several times. In many obvious ways, it has made our journey significantly harder. Growth is slower when you don't borrow your way forward. Infrastructure takes longer to build. New projects take patience. Expansion happens only when the resources actually exist. But there is a tradeoff that we found to be worth everything. Freedom. Freedom to tell the truth. Freedom to make decisions that align with our mission rather than someone else's financial model. Freedom to reject shortcuts. Freedom to say no. Investing in soil biology, grazing systems, animal welfare, local processing, and employees in alignment with our mission takes years. We remain free to serve the people who matter most. Our patrons. That is our secret weapon. Not marketing. Not venture capital. Not investor funding. Our patrons. Our relationship with our patrons remains rock solid because they provide the financial freedom for us to pursue our mission without distraction. Every food dollar entrusted to our care directly funds the farm itself. Food money pays to keep our mission going and growing, not servicing debt. Our patrons have become our shareholders. They may not own a piece of the business, but they make the business possible. Their support allows us to remain financially independent. We realized a valuable truth early -- the relationship between our farm and our patrons forms the symbiotic financial backbone of truly regenerative farming. As we invest in better stewardship, our patrons receive better food. As our patrons continued supporting the farm, we can invest in the resources to become better stewards. We strengthen one another. The cycle continues. It’s regenerative finance serving regenerative farming. This relationship has created something highly resilient. A farm that answers to no investors. No shareholders. No bankers. We are free to serve our mission and the One who has called us forward into discovering the riches of a food production design centered on healing rather than exploitation. A special thank you to all of our patrons who make this possible. ❤️🙏 Dustin and Erin

Bigger Than Growth

We could make a living if the farm was a fraction of its current size. We are not chasing growth for growth’s sake. We are not trying to become a national brand. We are not looking for outside investors. We are not building this business so that one day....

The Foundation of Regenerative Farming

Every characteristic that makes food desirable—flavor, aroma, texture, color, and nutrition—begins with sunlight. Plants are nature’s solar collectors. Through photosynthesis, they convert solar energy into sugars, proteins, fats, antioxidants, and countless other compounds that ultimately become the building blocks of every grazing animal on earth.

Building a New Farm

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