By CELESTE BAUMGARTNER
Ohio Correspondent

BROOKVILLE, Ohio — Mulberry Creek Farm is a family garden and farm where Gail and Glenn Stevens-Shourds are working toward sustainable agricultural practices with both garden and livestock.
In 2008, the OSU New and Small Farm College helped them get started in both their agricultural enterprises. They have a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, and they are dedicated to heritage breed preservation.

Glenn had been a dairy farmer until the mid-1990s. Gail had never farmed. They knew they wanted to develop a CSA and work with heritage breeds, but were looking for ideas on how to proceed
“We attended the class in 2008,” Glenn said. “We had decided at that point that we were going to do a CSA and thought we probably should get some information.”

Gail wanted ideas on how to do the bookkeeping and manage the website.

“It helped us in a lot of ways, the education and being able to connect with people and having resources to support us. We had an idea what we were doing, but the college enhanced it.

Not being raised in this area, the simple things of, where do you buy chicken feed, to more complicated, basic farm management. It provided a wealth of information.”

What led them to the idea of a CSA was that they had been growing vegetables and people kept asking if they had any extra. They gave away a lot.

They grew extra for a test market and eventually invited people to become CSA members.

“We hoped for 15 members and got 16,” Glenn said. We felt quite successful with it.”

They liked being able to provide locally-grown produce, which they believe builds community and develops the sustainability of agriculture as well, Glenn said. They are the only CSA in the area which continues year-round.

In addition, they have six heritage chicken breeds: Dominiques, Rhode Island Reds, Leghorns (brown), White Rocks, and Dark Cornish. They also have rare-breed turkeys and ducks.
The poultry is pasture-raised. The couple hatches the eggs and sells chicks, as well as adults and processed birds. They have a dedication to heritage breeds in part because they think modern agriculture has taken a turn that is not positive; Glenn called it “Walmart agriculture – bigger and faster.”

They looked for alternatives.

Now they target a rare-breed animal, try to locate it and then develop breeding stock. That project expanded recently when their Mulefoot sow (these pigs have a solid rather than a split hoof – like a mule’s) Luna, gave birth to eight piglets.

Their entire project got bigger when Glenn was injured in March and was unable to return to work.

“We scrambled a little and did some expanding,” Glenn said.
Expansion will continue as the couple hopes to soon add goats, sheep and honeybee products to their mix.

For information on Mulberry Creek Farm visit www.mulberrycreekcsa.com

For further details on the New and Small Farm College call Tony Nye at the Clinton County Extension Office, 937-382-0901 or e-mail nye.1@osu.edu

Advance registration is required, since classes fill early.