Blackbird Farms

To say it straight, Blackbird Farms grows food for people. Good, honest food, grown using only natural and sustainable practices. More specifically, we grow over a hundred varieties of vegetables on our sixteen-acre farm just north of Coopersville, Michigan. We sell most of these through our CSA, and the rest at the Sweetwater Local Foods Market in Muskegon. We are surely fresh and local, but, deeper than these buzzwords, the heart of what we do is health, remembering that health is, as Wendell Berryputs it, rooted in the concept of wholeness. To be healthy is to be whole. The word health belongs to a family of words, a listing of which will suggest how far the consideration of health must carry us: heal, whole, wholesome, hale, hallow, holy. So we trust that our calling is to care for green, growing things in a manner that generates health in the soil, in the environment, in human bodies, and in communities ecological, social, and cultural. Finally, we strive to do this work with a sense of hospitality, delight, and gratitude. So, in other words: Welcome. Enjoy. Thank you. After one stint in academia and another in construction, Greg wagered on his love of green, growing things and became an intern at Trillium Haven Farm, working his way up to farm manager after a few years. In 2012, he decided to set off on his own. He and his wife began searching for a suitable property in West Michigan that year and purchased what would become Blackbird Farms in early 2013. When he can, he writes, on this site as well as for other publications. The first farmer Greg ever met was his grandfather. He and Greg’s grandmother lived on a seventy-acre farm in northeastern Ohio. Growing up, he spent a great deal of time there, and even now that farm remains vivid in his mind’s eye. His grandfather’s name was Merle, which means “blackbird,” so, in a way, the farm is named after him. Also convenient is that the red-winged blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) is a native species seen often in the open fields near midwestern farmsteads. Several call this farm home.