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
Certified Naturally Grown
Posted by Don Schooner :: Wednesday, June 28 :: 10:00am
We are thrilled to be part if Certified Naturally Grown. Here's a bit about what CNG is:
Certified Naturally Grown (CNG) offers peer-review certification to farmers and beekeepers producing food for their local communities by working in harmony with nature, without relying on synthetic chemicals or GMOs.
Our standards are based on the highest ideals of the organic movement. Our approach is based on transparency, direct relationships and a firm belief in our ability to create something uniquely valuable by working together.
Our mission is to support our members by promoting sustainable agriculture through peer-review certification, grassroots networking, and advocacy.
If you're considering CNG certification for your farm, be prepared to feel a sense of ownership and and pride in carrying on the work of maintaining and building our grassroots initiative.
More than 750 farmers and beekeepers are Certified Naturally Grown. They are located in 48 states and four Canadian provinces.
Summer Solstice Yoga Event
Posted by Don Schooner :: Wednesday, June 14 :: 9:10am
Have we got a DAY of Sun Celebration for you! Amanda Rzicznek, our favorite ray of sunshine has put together a stellar plan for a full day of celebrating the sun.
Yoga ~ Meditation ~ Journaling
Culinary Herbs
JUNE 24th
9 am till 3 pm
$75 per person
Space limited to 15 participants
sign up here
Berries are ripe for the pickin'
Posted by Don Schooner :: Friday, June 9 :: 10:27am
U-Pick Hours
Mon-Fri 8:30 - 2
Sat. 9-12
Delicious, gorgeous, sun ripened gems!
CSA Information
Posted by Don Schooner :: Thursday, March 2 :: 6:18am
Boy, this weather has us itching to get out in the gardens! As many of you already know, we will not be doing the CSA for a few years. Not because we don't like it or it was unsuccessful but because we are moving in other directions. Diversity is very important to us and is part of our philosophy. Due to our diversity we simply can't do it all and do it well. So we had to take a hard look at where we want to be in 5 years.
Our main business is Inspired By Nature, a natural pond and lake restoration company. We have been helping pond owners in our region for 21 years. Land Stewardship and Land Ethics are central to our mission at the farm. Our gardening methods are unique and viewed as hokey by some but the proof is in the pudding and we have shown that. The hugelkultur mounds have proven themselves over and over. When you can grow food for 40 families in an 8o foot mound for 6 weeks - it speaks for itself. We like to do weird things. We love to learn and experiment. Don is passionate about permaculture and we want to create a permaculture food forest. The food forest will take several years of intense planning and planting to come to fruition. A food forest is permanent agriculture, where you have a wide variety of fruit trees, nuts, berries, perennial vegetables, herbs, annual vegetables, and more. The plantings are done in "guilds" where they support and benefit each other - companion planting. Over the course of a season due to the diversity one can harvest all sorts of wonderful food all grown naturally and truly experience seasonal eating. The food forest is our legacy to leave to our community. We desire future generations to be able to experience picking fruit fresh off the vine, to learn that you do not need to use copious amounts of synthetic chemistry to grow food.
To create the food forest will require a great deal of time and we have always told people - we are NOT vegetable producers. We are more like a giant garden.We will also be expanding on our u-pick berries; strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and a few others. We will never be without a vegetable garden, only now we will just be sharing it with our staff and volunteers. There are several wonderful CSA's in our area that concentrate on vegetable production - this is what they do and they do it well. The funny thing about our fellow CSA Farmers is that we are friendly to each other, offer support and are don't have to be competitive with each other. What a beautiful thing! I will miss the CSA terribly. I love the weekly interactions with our members and honestly, our members have become like family to us. We are incredibly grateful to our members. Many of our CSA members were with us since the beginning seven seasons ago. How do you not miss that connection? Stop out and see us for u-pick berries, workshops or a tour of the farm. The lavender labyrinth is always a lovely walk or check out the serpent mound. We will have several events coming up over the season so stay tuned!
If you are interested in a local CSA, check out localharvest.org for CSA Farms in our region. There are more and more popping up all the time. A few that we are friends with are -
Shared Legacy - they have a drop off at the Perrysburg Farmer's Market
http://www.sharedlegacyfarms.com/
Friendship Farms - near Whitehouse - lovely people!
http://www.nilssonslandscape.com/FriendshipFarms.html
Rheims Farms - they have a drop off at the Downtown Farmer's Market.
http://funacres.net/
BBBbbbrrrrr...
Posted by Don Schooner :: Thursday, January 5 :: 9:35am
Looks like winter is upon us BUT that doesn't mean you can't still visit the farm! Amanda will be having a Winter Series for Yoga and Mike will be offering his beekeeping classes soon too! Schooner and I are plotting out a plan for 2017 - stay tuned!
Winter 2017 Beekeeping Classes
all classes begin at 9 and end around 1
$25/person each class
Feb. 11th - Beginners Beekeeping
March 11th - Beginners Beekeeping
March 18th - Advanced Beekeeping 1
April 15th - Advanced Beekeeping 2
Winter Saturday Series Yoga
all classes begin at 9 am
January 21st
February 18th
March 25th
April 22nd
to sign up click on square below
