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I am currently enrolled in the Organic Farming Training Program (OFTP) via the MSU Extension.

I come from a family of farmers but I didn’t grow up on a farm at all. As things shifted (as families sometimes do), the farming fell away 10 years before I was born & in just one generation there was a gap. No real roots or connection to my family heritage, just a hole where the farm was.

Maybe this explains the big mystery around why I love heavy machinery so much?!? (IYKYK)


Recently, while talking about my farm stand aspirations, I found out my mother once ran her very own farm stand as a teenager! Now, At 36, I’m jumping head first into farming. Like a calling- It feels like a secret backdoor to my timeline and who I always could’ve been. The connection to food and nature and the living collective that I was never taught to notice finally shouting so loud that I had to pivot and listen.

I’ve been hobby farming in Lansing since 2015. I found it as a way to recover from a lifetime battle with the cult of diet culture. During my early farming days on an Eastside Garden Project lot, I realized how important growing food was to me & for my recovery.
I was PASSIONATE.

I loved watching our seeds mature into real crops.

I loved being able to do something well.

As an adult with a professional customer service offering, I also realized how much happier I was when I made time to be in my garden, working the Earth and just being there, completing my tasks.

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This Spring, as I work through the OFTP, I’m learning about site plans and thinking about my growing space as a whole- what community needs we can fill with what we share and how to best utilize what we’ve got goin on!

In doing so, we updated our growing space on the city lot we live at in Lansing, Michigan and are excited to see what we can offer to our direct community from our backyard in the coming years!

PLANS:

This year will be spent opening myself up to learning from so many farmers, experts, growers and Earth Lovers alike.

I’ll be diving deeper into my love of growing & sharing food and art.

Maybe I will drop a recipe or two! Whatever I get into, the season overall will be spent focusing on building a community where I engage with folks on a deeper level around growing and eating and making art with what we find in our garden. My healing process around food and meals started with my elbows deep in the soil! I’d love for everyone to feel that magic.

For 2024, I hope to share the progress of the space and what we are building!

Find me on insta! @TheChillOutTentDotNet

2024 BIG GOALS:
-FINISH THE GREENHOUSE + INSIDE BUILDOUT
-BUILD THE HONESTY STAND (front yard farm stand with free shelf)
-GROW CROP INTENDED (learn from experience, take notes)
-BOUQUET MAKING
-NEW DECK
-CHICKEN COOP

2025 GOALS:
-OPEN KALE MOUNTAIN FARMSTAND
-GET CHICKENS (so exciting!)
-HOST 1 CLASS AND A COUPLE OF COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Check back often for more up-to-date info and offerings!