About Our Farm & Philosophy

The idea behind Schooner Farms was to take our little 20 acre corner of the world and expand our use of it by raising chemical free pick your own raspberries and blackberries in 2009. We already had a natural pond and lake management company, Inspired By Nature, established at the site. The focus of Inspired By Nature is to encourage pond owners to care for the water resources naturally. We do not use any synthetic chemistry at all on our farm. This notion of land stewardship and conservation was really the incentive of trudging forward into the berries. honey and now a CSA.

In 2010 we also began a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) garden. The response has been tremendous. We have had the opporunity to meet so many wonderful and like minded people. Naturally, we picked a rough year weather wise to begin but it ought to make the future garden season seem less difficult! In 2010 Schooner Farms CSA grew food for 60 families. In 2012 we had expanded our memebrship to 80. Our goal to keep the "Community" in our CSA program means that we do not wish to be like a subscription produce farm. We want to keep the "Community" in our CSA. We want you to know the farmer growing your food, we want you to feel like you are a part of our farm and to do that we chose to limit our membership to 30 in 2013. Along with our produce we also have 10 beehives that we harvest raw honey from for sale. Our three ponds are managed naturally and a full of healthy fish. The ponds provide the irrigation to our fields.

Our goal is to be able to offer classes on a variety of topics, such as: beekeeping, canning, organic gardening, nature crafts, land ethics and much more. We both enjoy learning and sharing with others - that connection to like minded people is something we cherish. 

If you are in Weston, Oh please stop in! We'd love to show you around the farm!

 

Schooner Farms & Inspired By Nature from above

 

News and blog

Thanks for a WONDERFUL 2016 Season

Posted by Don Schooner or Becky White - Schooner :: Tuesday, September 27 :: 10:12am

I always get a little sad when our final week arrives. We enjoy seeing you on a weekly basis and will miss our conversations. When we started the CSA years ago, we had no idea where this journey would take us. Every year is unique in it’s own way but similar in others. 2016 was a hot dry year but we had a wonderful harvest through the summer. 

 

Our garden staff and volunteers were amazing! Schooner and I cannot thank our crew enough for all their hard work and determination. 90 degree plus days out in the gardens were tough. The farm always attracts amazing people and this season was no different, whether it is staff, volunteers, members, visitors or just someone stopping by to see what we do. Schooner and I are very grateful for these interactions, these crossing of paths - you just never know where these connections may lead. 

 

On behalf of everyone at Schooner Farms I wish to say THANK YOU for being a member of the 2016 CSA. We appreciate your support and could not do what we do without you. Thanks you! 

 

 

Here’s the thing…

 

Here at the farm we love experimenting, learning, failing, succeeding, discovering and enjoying every day as it comes. We firmly believe there is something to learn everyday. Schooner and I both say we have not “worked” for many years. I think this is why the farm has a positive vibration and we experience all sorts of weird, wild and fabulous stuff. Truly. We do. 

 

Our goal is to leave the farm better than we found it. We want to make a difference on our little 20 acres of sunshine. Our goal is to create a place where people can come to learn about and be in awe of what the land has to offer. The simple act of picking an apple, or pulling a carrot out of the ground is something everyone should have the opportunity to experience. Our goal and legacy is to create a permaculture “Food Forest” where a wide variety of food can be grown abundantly. Food growing in harmony with nature - imagine that! Our food forest will have dozens of different apple trees, pear, plum, peach, nuts, grapes,  berries, herbs, perennial vegetables and many other plants. Obviously, this is a HUGE undertaking and will take several years to come to fruition. Once it is established, you will be able to ride through the forest and harvest a wide variety of produce. We also plan to expand on the berries. We added 300 blueberry plants this year and will add another 300 next. Red Raspberries will return to the farm along with a few other types of berries. 2017 will see us trying out about 10 types garlic for wholesale and retail clients. 

 

As you can see - we have pretty lofty plans. We love being diverse and having the ability to try new things. We have had to make a difficult decision in order to facilitate our goals. We are going to take a break from the CSA for a few years. We don’t have enough time or staff to do all the things we want and need to do. Schooner and I are both 47 and want to be able to see the food forest become a reality and see people enjoy it.  Despite Schooner’s boyish looks, we ain’t getting any younger. In a few years, once the food forest is producing we will revamp the CSA idea and create a new program designed around the berries and food forest. Granted, this is 4 or 5 years down the road but in the grand scheme of things 4 or 5 years is nothing compared to leaving our farm with a strong land ethic and a gateway for people to discover how amazing nature is. Not to mention, where their food comes from and how it can be grown without synthetics.  Our farm is not the norm and we like it that way.  Long after we are gone, we hope the farm continues to make people shake their heads and say, “what do they do there?” 

 

Thank you for being part of the journey. Many of you have been with us since the beginning. The CSA has been such a blessing to our lives. We have had the opportunity to meet so many wonderful people and make new friends. We will miss our weekly interactions but hope you will still come out to the farm for berries, classes, events or just to visit and see what is happening. We have always told our CSA members - you are part of this farm and we mean that. 

 

The Staff at Schooner Farms

 

 

Honey Harvest Cancelled

Posted by Don Schooner or Becky White - Schooner :: Wednesday, August 24 :: 7:32am

Sadly, we have had to cancel our Honey Harvest Class due to lack of participants. 

Honey Harvest!

Posted by Don Schooner or Becky White - Schooner :: Monday, August 22 :: 8:30am

HONEY HARVEST

 

Learn the harvesting process! Great class for new beekeepers!

Love Honey? So do we! Learn the ins and outs of harvesting honey - the various methods and some tricks of the trade from our fabulous beekeeper, Mike Soboleski. See what goes into extracting honey.  Attendees will recieve a sample of cut comb honey. 

Class will be cancelled if less than eight participants sign up. Thank you for understanding. 

August 27th  from 9-1

$25.00

Sign up here -  

 

Summer Yoga Camp

Posted by Don Schooner or Becky White - Schooner :: Thursday, June 30 :: 8:26am

 

Yoga Summer Camp

Posted by Don Schooner or Becky White - Schooner :: Wednesday, June 8 :: 7:28am

Yoga Summer Camp!

Join Amanda for a two-week yoga immersion. We will explore, observe, and reflect as we practice poses and breath work each morning. Perfect for ALL levels, especially for those with zero experience to decades of practice. 

July 26 - 30

Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday 9-10 am

Wednesday and Friday  8-9 am 

 

$10 if you preregister or $15 at the door. Buy a 5 class YOGA SUMMER CAMP pass for $45. 

Come to ALL Summer Camp Classes and get entered to win one FREE class with Amanda. If you already have a pass we will keep track of it for you! 

 

 

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