ANN ARBOR – Husband and wife team Nate and Jill Lada founded certified organic Green Things Farm in spring 2011.
They met while studying at University of Michigan and had both independently developed an interest in growing food from an environmental perspective.
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"I grew up riding horses and working on horse farms and so I knew I liked working outside and with animals and doing farm work," explained Jill. "And when I went to college, I volunteered on some organic farms and so I got interested in it that way.
"He grew up visiting his grandparent’s farm in Wisconsin and farmed there for a summer. He came back from that experience and really wanted to start his own farm," she said.
The entrance to the farm on a stormy winter day (Photo: Meredith Bruckner)
Jill and Nate participated in local farming incubator Tilian for two years before buying their current land -- 64 acres of conserved farmland in north Ann Arbor on Nixon Road.
"(The land) didn’t have anything here," said Jill. "It was just a corn and soybean fields, so we’ve had to build everything -- so, putting in water lines and electric and a barn and hoop houses. The house was the last thing we built."
"We balance the work so that neither of us gets burned out from a particular tasks." - Nate Lada
The Ladas designed and built their eco-friendly home on the property with help from some friends in construction.
(Photo: Meredith Bruckner)
(Photo: Meredith Bruckner)
"(The house has) a solid concrete floor with radiant floor heating," said Jill. "It’s really effective. It's a passive solar design so we’re facing south and the way it is with the roof angle, in the summer it’s mostly shady in here and in the winter, it’s mostly sunny because the sun is lower in winter."
The home is impressive, with high ceilings and large windows overlooking acre upon acre of their farmland.
During the interview, the couple's young son, Graham, was feasting on Cheerios and letting out the occasional babble. He has become a fixture on their Instagram account and often makes appearances at Ann Arbor Farmers Market.
(Photo: Meredith Bruckner)
As for mom and dad, work on the farm is split evenly.
"Both of us, for the most part, can do everything on the farm," said Nate. "We tend to play to our own strengths and support each other and each other’s strengths. We give each other space to work on the production that we particularly enjoy.
"Jill finds extra special joy in growing flowers, so she manages pretty much all the flower stuff and I’m there in a supporting role. There are crops that I particularly appreciate growing and she leaves me to do those just because they’re things that I like and we support each other in our day-to-day chaotic lives. It’s a pretty equitable partnership and we try and maintain it that way," he said.
So which varieties of vegetables do they grow? According to Jill, anything you can expect to find in Michigan.
Jill Lada holds freshly picked radishes in one of the hoop houses (Photo: Meredith Bruckner)
"Tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, eggplants, salad greens, cooking greens, all the different kinds of root crops," she said. "Ginger is a specialty one that we do. We grow cut flowers for the market and for the flower grower’s cooperative. We’re experimenting with some berries and grains, like dry beans. We have 14 -- soon to be 20-something -- cows and 12 pigs. We’ve been raising pigs for quite a while now, and we raise meat chickens in the summer."
They sell their produce on Saturdays at Ann Arbor Farmers Market in Kerrytown and on Wednesdays in the lobby at St. Joe's hospital as part of a group Community Supported Agriculture with other local farmers.
Green Things Farm also offers its own CSA, which currently has around 70 members. In a CSA, members pay the farmer ahead of time and receive regular bundles of produce throughout the harvesting season. Some CSAs are year-round.
Cattle on Green Things Farm (Photo: Meredith Bruckner)
In the warmer months, Green Things Farm hosts a variety of family-friendly events, like farm dinners.
"Every week during the summer we do farm dinners with about 120 people," Jill said. "So we do about 10 of those. There’s music and a local chef makes food from the farm."
Locals have told us these dinners are a hit and a must-do event during the summer.
"We want to maintain the farm as a place where people want us to be," said Nate. "We don’t go anywhere when we’re working in the summer, so it’s fun to have people come visit. It’s fun to give people positive outdoor experiences and have a place where they feel welcome to come to."
Graham and the couple's dog, Otter, joined us on the tour of the grounds (Photo: Meredith Bruckner)
Be sure to visit the farm when the weather warms up and look out for its farm stand, where they'll sell produce on-site. It doesn't get more farm-to-table than that.
For more information and to learn more about Nate and Jill, visit their website.
Learn about becoming a CSA member of Green Things Farm here.