Sustainable farming is more than a buzzword; for several local farmers, it’s a way of life and the key to the future. Sustainable farming focuses on long-term ecological health and providing healthy food. Quite simply, it focuses both on the present and the future. Several farms throughout the Greater Cincinnati area are bringing these values to local restaurants, markets and consumers, and are working to sustain the environment for years to come.
Sustainable farming is not without its challenges, and it’s only getting harder. Climate change and extreme weather can impact product yields and throw new curveballs for farmers. In trying to avoid herbicides and pesticides, farmers have to find creative methods to repel pests and harmful weeds. And, of course, for poultry farmers, trying to avoid and work around the bird flu is a major obstacle. Treating livestock humanely is also of the utmost importance, which means no corners can be cut. Cincinnati-area sustainable farmers employ a number of creative, eco-friendly ways to produce delicious and healthy produce and take care of the Earth.
Brushy Fork Family Farm
Brushy Fork Family Farm in Bethel, one of the suppliers for Findlay Market staple ETC Produce & Provisions, specializes in sustainably farmed chickens and eggs.
“All of our chickens are in open-air barns and have pasture access. They’re not confined at all,” said Terence Schlueter, who owns Brushy Fork. “They actually get to be real chickens and run all over the place. We feed a non-GMO (genetically modified organism) corn and soybean ration.”
Sustainably farming poultry in the age of the bird flu is both crucial and more difficult, according to Schlueter. The problems lie in the parent stock of birds. Egg production is a multi-tiered endeavor.
“There’s parent stock that produces the offspring,” Schlueter explained. “The offspring produce the table eggs. The parent stock are the ones that have been affected by the bird flu, and the parent stocks take approximately 26 weeks to replace. The offspring of those take an additional 18-20 weeks before they start laying in full production. So when the parent stock is affected by the bird flu, it creates almost a year-long problem. And then there’s not enough parent stock, either commercially or locally, to sustain the bird.”
Brushy Fork Family Farm did acquire some parent stock recently, and they are in the process of producing replacement hens. In an age of uncertainty and shortages, purchasing local and being independent of commercial companies is more important than ever to Brushy Fork Family Farms.
Weathertree Farm & Market
Located in Hamilton, Weathertree Farm & Market has been bringing fresh, local produce to the masses through their farm store and farm box program, a 27-week subscription program that allows participants to receive a weekly variety of produce grown at Weathertree Farm. The owners, Wes and Mindy Flach, have a background in Christian ministry and working with people in recovery from addiction. Their faith informs their sustainable farming and their call to care for the Earth.
“I believe in leaving the land as good as we find it or even better,” Wes Flach said. “Humans don’t have to be a blight on nature. We are a part of nature and if we learn to play our part, we can work together with nature to produce even more abundance. It’s not simple, nor easy, but it is the right way to do things and the only way that can actually sustain us into the future.”
Flach has been farming for five years and selling produce for almost three years. Weathertree Farm & Market produces organic produce, pasture-raised eggs, forest-raised pork, seedlings and cut flowers. The Flachs make sure to treat their livestock in a humane manner from the beginning of their lives to the end, rotating them around to fresh ground to make sure they are able to “root and peck like they were created to do” and then butcher them in a humane way.
To sustainably grow produce, first and foremost, the Flachs focus on soil health, avoiding herbicides, harmful chemicals and synthetic fertilizers, and only using a select few organic pesticides.
“We employ these using an approach called Integrated Pest Management, which focuses on using a variety of methods to limit pest damage to crops,” Wes Flach said. “On our farm, our first line of defense is soil health and ecosystem balance. Next, we exclude pests whenever possible by using floating row cover and insect netting. We practice crop rotation to keep pest levels manageable in order to avoid spraying anything. Only if after all of that we are still experiencing significant levels of pest damage will we consider using an organic-approved biological pesticide like BT (bacillus thuringiensis).”
The Flachs try to pay employees well and charge a reasonable, fitting price for their goods so that their time and expenses are covered. They also promote and work with other artisans and farmers.
Wes Flach said, “Without our neighbors, we cannot be sustainable farmers.”
Our Harvest
Our Harvest, with locations in Morrow and College Hill, believes all residents of the Greater Cincinnati area deserve healthy, accessible food grown by fairly compensated workers. The team behind the farm co-op seeks to honor both land and labor.
Sustainable farming is important to Our Harvest for the health of the planet and of its inhabitants. “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food,” worker-owners Steve Dienger and Timothy Burns said in a joint emailed statement. “Our culture has become so focused on convenience and consumption, so busy, it’s difficult for people to care about the quality of the food, to know where their food comes from. But when we know, when we can recreate that relationship, that connection, that trust with who is growing our food, food becomes especially nourishing, powerful, and life-sustaining.”
Open since 2012, Our Harvest produces over 35 different types of vegetables and 90 varieties of produce. Products offered include tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, winter squash, collard greens, turnips, carrots, cauliflower, basil, cilantro and many more.
Our Harvest practices sustainable farming methods such as crop rotation, composting, rotating chickens to build up the organic matter in the soil, avoiding synthetic fertilizer and holistic pesticide methods with minimal spraying, even then they only use organic sprays. Instead, Our Harvest uses a holistic approach to pest management by attracting predators of pests, leaving things like wasps’ nests alone as long as they don’t pose a danger to employees, and isolating and eliminating plants with a pest problem so the problem can’t spread.
Sustainable farming is not easy. Climate change and extreme weather events pose a threat. Our Harvest uses minimal fossil fuels, which causes more reliance on human power. This is a labor-intensive and costly process.
Carriage House Farm
Established in 1855, Carriage House Farm, located in North Bend, has been owned by the same family for five generations. Carriage House Farm focuses on the production of regional varieties and seasonal crops, grains and fresh honey.
Before the pandemic, Carriage House Farm supplied produce to about 75 local restaurants. After COVID-19 hit and rocked the food and beverage industry, Carriage House Farm turned primarily to a retail-based business model. Carriage House Farms hosts on-site dinners, a food truck called Chloe’s Eatery that uses ingredients from the farm and an on-farm market. Located on the grounds of Carriage House Farm is The Lost Bridge Beverage Company, an alcoholic beverage company co-owned by Carriage House Farm farm manager Richard Stewart that uses ingredients sourced from the farm in their beverages, which include beer, wine, hard seltzers and craft cocktails.
Although Carriage House Farm is not completely chemical pesticide-free, they try to use as little as possible, focusing on methods such as trap crops and beneficial predatory insects. For Carriage House Farm, sustainable farming is about connecting to the earth and their roots, as well as maintaining soil health, a priority at Carriage House Farm. Carriage House Farm, helmed by Stewart, aims to be a steward of the land, not just a business.
This story is featured in CityBeat’s April 2 print edition.
This article appears in Apr 2-8, 2025.