Providence Homestead

“In him we have obtained an inheritance…” Sometimes in life, it’s impossible not to look around, and just stand in awe of how mightily the Lord works in our lives. Neither myself (Steven) or my wife (Elyse) grew up on a farm. My family has been “off the farm” for almost a hundred years, yet we feel that God chose us to farm and worked a miracle to bring us together, onto this farm. Reason and logic would tell us that it’s impossible, in 21st century America, to just start farming and milk a very small herd of Jersey cows for a living. Yet here we are, located just north of Orrville, defying the odds by using a beautiful old bank barn built in the 1830’s, milking in a four stanchion parlor built in the 1950’s, grazing our cows on lush green pastures, to provide the highest quality raw milk for our community of herd shareholders. We have done nothing to deserve the honor of stewarding such a beautiful farm or to provide for such an amazing community of shareholders, but we thank God for it all and give Him the glory. With gratitude in our hearts, we strive to work hard everyday to produce high quality, all-natural, 100% grass-fed, raw milk and to reconnect people with the cows, the land, the farmers and most importantly the Lord, who provides it all for our families’ health and well being. “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel… ‘I gave you a land on which you had not labored and cities that you had not built, and you dwell in them. You eat the fruit of vineyards and olive orchards that you did not plant. Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness.’ ” After almost a hundred years “off the farm,” in 2021 the Lord blessed our family with a beautiful farm to own and steward. Steven and Elyse Machamer own and operate Providence Homestead LLC. Believing cows produce the healthiest milk when eating only nutrient dense pasture and hay, their Jersey herd can be seen grazing lush pastures and happily laying outside chewing their cud on the corner of Five Points Rd and Crown Hill Rd, just north of Orrville. Join our story by visiting and allowing our family to provide healthy raw milk for your family’s table. My name is Steven Machamer. I have always loved being outside, enjoying God’s creation. After high school I started working part time for a beautiful and historic small dairy, owned and operated by Irvin Gresser; it was there and then that I fell in love with the simple but hard life of being a dairy farmer. However, at the time, I faced the cold, hard reality that my family owned no farmland and had been “off the farm” since at least the 1920’s. With land prices ever soaring, I knew it would take a miracle if I were to be able to own a farm. Merriam-Webster defines “Providence” as “divine guidance or care.” That’s why in 2016, I created Providence Homestead LLC, with the hope that God’s divine intervention and guidance would bring our family back to a farm. In pursuit of learning more and gaining hands-on experience with grazing dairy cows, I signed up for the DGA (Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship) program. There were several farms I could have chosen to apprentice at, but unbeknownst to me, God nudged me to apprentice at Canal Junction Farm. It was there, on the wide open, flat plains of western Ohio, that I learned how to graze cows from a family that had been a 100% grass-fed raw milk dairy for over 20 years. It was also there, through the simple and peace filled lives of that farm family, that I found my need for our Savior and was baptized in the Junction Apostolic Christian Church. I am forever grateful for that farm family. My father, Tom Machamer, owned and operated a successful wholesale greenhouse since 1986. In 2021, partway through my almost two year apprenticeship, God was at work again; my father was able to sell his greenhouse business to Oakland Nurseries, from Columbus, Ohio. At the same time, my father approached Don and Laverne Zimmerly about buying their beautiful and historic fa