Today we’d like to introduce you to Cara Germain and Michael Zueger.
Cara and Michael, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Both of our paths led us to farm in different ways, but we didn’t realize it was what we wanted to pursue in life until we spent a season living and working on an organic farm.
Cara came out of college with a Biology degree unsure of what her passion was and unable to find a job in that field. She spent time volunteering in Costa Rica which sparked her interests in ecology and travel. Michael dove deeply into traditional lifestyle and nutrition in college on top of completing his degree in forestry and ecology. Farming combines many interests for him including ecology, building and tinkering, healthy lifestyle and food, being outside, frugality and hands-in-the-dirt labor.
Four years ago, while living in the Pacific Northwest with conservation jobs, we joined a farm share (CSA) program and volunteered 5 hours a week to help pay for our weekly produce. Joining a CSA changed our mindset and opened us up to a world of organic, local food and small farms that feed and foster communities. Our work was seasonal potentially leaving the entire winter off, so we decided to go to Hawaii and work trade on a farm in exchange for room and board (WWOOFing). It was a great experience and we saw first-hand how small farms can make an impact on their communities in such an important and intimate way.
After that, we knew we wanted to pursue farming more in-depth any way we could. Much of our free-time involved exploring the outdoors, working with food, research, attending conferences and living the simple life. Michael continued to work seasonally for the Forest Service while Cara worked on farms and waited tables. We spent our winters interning on different farms and finally made the big decision to move back East where Cara grew up.
We packed our small adventure car and trekked across country waving goodbye to the majestic West Coast. Before jumping into a farm of our own we knew it made good sense to spend a full season working together on a successful farm that followed our values and the practices we wanted to implement. We joined the Maine Organic Farming and Gardening Association’s (MOFGA) apprenticeship program for a full season. It was an excellent and necessary learning experience to be immersed in the hardships as well as the pleasures of farming.
After that and spending a winter on Eliot Coleman’s Four Season Farm, we were ready to dive into our own farming venture and do our part to provide locally grown, quality produce and insights to our own community. We have been so fortunate (as well as proactive) to work with pioneering mentors in this field. Manifesting, being open and seizing opportunities with consistent steps towards a dream went a long way here.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Surprisingly yes, actually. There have certainly been challenges and stresses as expected, but for our first year we are feeling positive and wanting to grow more next year. Access to land is a big concern when it comes to farming especially when you’re young with little capital.
We were unsure of where we’d be farming this year and while we were planning to start our own farm in Massachusetts we were 4+ hours north in Maine apprenticing full time. We’d drive down some weekends after a Saturday harvest to meet with landowners and rush back to Maine for harvest early Monday mornings.
We ended up planting our garlic crop in Cara’s grandparent’s backyard since we were still on the lookout for land. After all the searching and uncertainty, we found a little piece of paradise to lease in Brookfield, MA.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Free Living Farm emerged from our desire to be a source of healthy, local vegetables and herbs. We grow all our vegetables from non-GMO seed and follow organic standards at a minimum with our approach to food cultivation.
We believe all crops must be grown in and harvested from active soil containing “free-living” organisms. We choose to practice regenerative methods of farming that build soil structure and biology, mineralize the soil and encourage biodiversity without relying on synthetic fertilizers/pesticides/herbicides that deplete and poison the land.
Biologically active soils attached to the earth provide the evolutionary relationship plants thrive on, resulting in deeply nutritious food/medicine. We know that health is rooted largely in what one consumes daily so we strive to grow the best produce we can to cultivate community nourishment, empowerment and ecology.
We grow a diversity of mixed vegetables, herbs and cut flowers on a ½ acre of land. We have a mix of heirloom and hybrid varieties opening people to food that you may not find on the grocery store shelves. We see food as a source of nutrition, health and medicine and wanted to incorporate medicinal food and herbs into our farm plan.
We run a CSA program with pick-up locations in Auburn, Worcester and on the farm. CSA or “Community Supported Agriculture” is a locally based economic model of agriculture and food distribution. CSA programs build relationships between the farmer and the community connecting people to where their food is grown. CSA members become “invested” in the farm and in turn benefit weekly with a “share” of the freshest produce that is available.
In addition to our CSA, we attend a weekly farmers market in Sturbridge, MA on the common. It’s the Market’s first year and it’s been quite successful so we feel so lucky to be a part of it. The market runs every Sunday from 10-2pm June-October. We also sell to Tip Top Country Store, a natural food store 5 minutes down the road from us in Brookfield as well as a local food distributor.
Our favorite and most exciting crop to watch grow this season has been our ginger and turmeric. We’re almost ready to harvest it and can’t wait to share these beautiful and potently medicinal roots that take us back to our ohana in Hawaii.
We’re known with our customers for having clean, vibrant produce that is artfully arranged. We’re proud of our commitment to soil health and balancing, biodiversity/ecology, and beautiful, nutritious produce. We’re excited to take part in this movement of valuing and supporting the matrix of locally made and sourced products/food and knowing where they come from!
What were you like growing up?
Cara was a care free social butterfly. Always on the go from school to soccer to friends, life didn’t really seem to slow down. She never in a million years imagined herself digging in the dirt for a living (and loving it!).
Michael was a friendly and free-spirited growing up in a very small rural Midwestern town surrounded mostly by corn and soybeans. He took interest in roaming/adventuring in the countryside with his few close friends, playing guitar and drums (dreaming of being back in the 80s metal scene), fishing the Mississippi River and working with his hands and tools.
Contact Info:
- Email: freelivingfarm@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/freelivingfarm/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/freelivingfarm/
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