BUTLER, Ohio – Richland County is home to a farm that is training a new generation of farmers by getting their hands dirty – not with chemicals or modern farm equipment but with antique hand tools and hard work.

Brokaw’s Farm & Market is a working and teaching farm run by Michelle Garnsey and her husband, John Brokaw. The farm employs high school and college student interns, along with seasonal help, on its no-spray, teaching farm. “I’m the business owner, and my husband helps a lot,” Garnsey said. “I always bounce ideas off of him. He has a full-time off-farm job – he helps when he can, but it’s mostly me and the student interns, and the few adults we hire each year to help manage the student interns.”

The farm has its roots in personal health. “My husband and I both had health issues that made us rethink what we were eating,” she said. “We wanted to grow our own food, as clean as possible.” That meant going beyond “organic” – using compost from their own chickens, rotating crops, and relying on manual labor and old-school tools instead of chemicals or machinery.

Michelle and John moved onto the 5-acre property in 2010 to homestead and grow their own food. “We started small and added a little more each year – more gardens, more projects,” Garnsey said. It wasn’t until the pandemic hit in 2020 that their private homestead caught the attention of people. “People just started pulling into the driveway, asking if we sold food,” she said. “We realized there was a real need.”

Initially, they sold fruits and vegetables from their porch. By 2022, porch sales morphed into a full-fledged small business.

In addition to the acreage Brokaw Farm is on, Garnsey rents 5 acres from a local farmer, allowing for up to 7 or 8 acres for production – though today, “it’s probably more like 4-4 ½ acres,” she said. “It’s enough to keep us busy from before sunrise to well after sunset, especially since we do everything by hand.”

During the pandemic, Garnsey left her job in education – she has a background in instructional design for online learning – to hike the Appalachian Trail. She funded her venture by working on small farms and hostels, learning about livestock, crops, and the realities of farming. When she returned, she brought that experience home, committing to replace the grocery store with what she could grow on the farm.

What sets Brokaw Farm & Market apart is its commitment to teaching. In 2024, Garnsey launched a paid internship program for local high school and college students. The goal is simple: “Most young people interested in farming aren’t born into it, and the start-up costs are overwhelming,” she said. “We want to show them that you don’t need to inherit land or take on debt to get started. You can farm a backyard, or borrow or rent land.”

The program’s a hit – this past year, 193 students applied for just 12 spots. Some interns arrive through word of mouth, others via partnerships with local organizations like Catalyst Life Services, which helps youth ages 14-18 gain workplace experience. Interns get more than just farming: they’re trained in job basics (from how to call off work to what to wear in the fields), paid a fair wage, and encouraged to explore what aspects of farming excite them most. If they discover that market vegetables and chickens aren’t their thing, Garnsey helps them find placements at other farms – sometimes in dairy or horse operations.

The internship typically lasts the summer, but flexibility is key. “If a student realizes after a few weeks that it’s not for them, that’s okay. We want this to be a positive learning experience, not a chore,” she said.

Brokaw Farm & Market produces a variety of annual and perennial crops, including orchard fruits, berries, salad greens, tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, kohlrabi, and edible flowers. “We started out trying to replace the grocery store and grew a bit of everything,” Garnsey said. Now, they adjust each season to what interns want to learn and what the community needs. “Local markets have plenty of bakers and flower growers, but not enough fruits and vegetables – that’s where we focus,” she said.

Eventually, Garnsey would like to make the farm completely sustainable and regenerative. “We want to eventually get to the point where we don’t bring in any off-farm inputs,” she said. Examples include egg-laying chickens providing not just eggs but essential fertilizer for their compost, growing bamboo to serve as eventual trellising materials, and different types of plants that could be used as attachments. “We’re eventually trying to get it to where it’s all very old-fashioned, all the inputs come from the farm, and there’s no off-farm inputs – we’re not there yet, but we’re working toward it,” she said.

After primarily selling produce at farmers markets and off their front porch, the farm now boasts a dedicated store. “I cleared out my yard shed and we dragged it around to the front of the property and refinished the inside, added air conditioning, heat, and a refrigerator,” she said. “It’s a big step up from selling off the porch.”

Sales in the store and at farmers markets feature fresh produce from Brokaw Farm as well as products made by local farmers. “We want to create a network, so farmers don’t feel isolated,” Garnsey said. Interns get exposure to other farm operations through volunteer days, and Brokaw Farm’s store sells products from these partner farms, taking only a small commission to help cover intern wages.

“One farmer invited us to their corn festival this year, and we sold our products there,” she said. “One of them does honey, so we sell their honey at our farm store. One of them makes jams and jellies, so we sell their jams and jellies at our farm store and farmers markets. We’re really trying to connect farmers in the area so they don’t feel so isolated.”

Another partnership emerged with a local Amish woman who owns her own FDA-inspected, licensed commercial cannery. “We partnered with her last year and sent some extra crops there and had her can them,” Garnsey said. “Then we had those available to sell at our farmers’ markets.”

Currently, the Brokaw Farm & Market store is open Saturdays and Sundays, 9 am - 6 pm. Porch pick up and private shopping appointments are also available upon request.