These are the people who work hard to ensure you have access to nutritious, safe food you can feel good about!
Alan and Mary, along with their daughter Kate and son-in-law Doug, own and operate the farm located in Clay City, Indiana. Kate is the seventh generation of Yegerlehners to manage the farm, and Doug helps however he can when his off-farm job allows. Kate now manages and/or oversees the daily care of the animals. This includes milking cows, moving fences for grazing rotations, feeding and moving chickens in the eggmobiles on pasture, egg collection/washing/packaging, and pig and broiler pasture moves when they are in season.
Alan and Mary also have two sons, Luke (married to Lauren) and Jess (married to Brittany), who live and work off farm, and three energetic grandchildren, Eli, Lucy, and Adeline, who keep everyone on their toes!
Although they now make their home in Indiana, Jennifer was born and raised in the Central Valley of California and Paul was born and raised in Liverpool, England. They met and married in Santa Barbara County and lived and worked there for ten years. Then they moved to California’s Central Valley which is where the vast amount of the world’s almond supply is grown. It may be surprising for some to know that California is one of the biggest agricultural producers in the United States. So they were surrounded by dairy, produce, and orchards of nuts, peaches, cherries, and olives.
Growing up and living in and around agriculture deepened the passion for Paul and Jennifer.They lived in central California up until 2015 when they decided to pack up and move to Indiana to have their own homestead with their animals. It was not an easy task driving 2,254 miles in two trucks; each of them pulling a fully loaded trailer. The cross-country move took a lot of planning and organization. They have found it worth the effort to make it to Indiana with all their beloved animals. Their chickens even laid them fresh eggs along their journey! Their long envisioned homestead, now christened Autumn Leaf Ranch, to the south of the town of Clay City was a welcome sight and took years of work and time to achieve.
Paul and Jennifer are blessed to have found the Farm Connection on the north side of the town of Clay City. It is a great place to be; a true multi-generational working family farm. The Farm Connection has a wonderful grass-based dairy and pasture raised, non-GMO fed chickens which produce healthier eggs. The best thing about the Farm Connection is that they are a lovely family. Paul and Jennifer enjoy helping out there. Paul helps with wrapping butter every week and starting this year plans to be part of the butter-making team as well. Helping make ice cream, occasionally milking cows, and going with the Yegerlehners to market deliveries are some of the fun tasks. Jennifer is coming on board this year full-time as well, and with another enthusiastic farmer around, Farm Connection will be able to grow our own broilers and pigs again too!
Paul and Jennifer are developing their own first generation homestead in the Martz area which is to the south of Clay City and working toward raising and growing more of their own food. Their newest addition to their homestead is their St. Croix Hair Sheep which fit in well with their horses, pony, ducks, turkeys, chickens, guinea hens, dogs, and cats. Their chickens are pasture raised, fed non-GMO feed, and produce large brown healthy eggs. Paul and Jennifer are gearing up to have a market garden on the farm this year to add to the Farm Connection’s great selection of products.
Paul and Jennifer Doyle are involved in a lot of what happens at Farm Connection. Jennifer is a full-time employee, and she does everything from milking cows to feeding chickens and pigs to running the store. Paul makes and helps wrap butter, and he is undertaking a sizeable garden project this year here on the farm. They also have their own small farm with sheep, chickens, ducks, produce and more!
Jackie's homemade sourdough cinnamon rolls!
Local honey produced by Dooley Farm near Rockville, Indiana. To extend the bees' pollinating season, they travel south to Georgia for a few weeks over the winter.
Jackie enjoys learning about the healing potential of many herbs, and she crafts herbal skin salves to naturally address certain issues.
Family-owned small business in Terre Haute, Indiana that makes authentic sourdough breads and other delicious baked goods. If you haven't tried Marta and daughter Amelia's goodies, don't wait any longer!
HK&T Pretty Soap is dedicated to providing high-quality, handcrafted goat milk soap to our customers. Our soaps are made with natural ingredients and are free from harsh chemicals, making them suitable for all skin types. Our goat milk supply comes from our own, very loved goats, here in Indiana. We take pride in offering a product that promotes healthy, nourished skin and knowing where our ingredients come from.
Free range duck eggs produced locally by Darrel and Chelcee Jones and family.
We are Ryan, Tracy and Miles McHenry and together we are McHenry Farms. Ryan and Tracy are both from Clay City, but now live on the edge of Darlington, Indiana. We started McHenry Farms in 2020 because our maple syrup harvest was abundant and we wanted to share with the community, so we set off to the local farmers market to sell our syrup. Now we are known locally for our maple syrup and it's something we look forward to producing each year.
Fast forward to 2024 and we are now learning to ferment kraut and kombucha. We look forward to continuing to learn more about fermentation and bringing you quality fermented kraut and kombucha.
A little about us...Ryan is a Purdue graduate and works as an engineer at Caterpillar in Lafayette. Tracy taught Family and Consumer Sciences for 17 years before becoming a stay-at-home Mom to Miles. Miles is 18 months old and is full of energy and curiosity. We met Miles at 3 hours old and officially adopted him at 3 months old and have been loving on and snuggling with him ever since and we couldn't be happier. We also have three Golden Retrievers: Guiness, Shelby and Violet.
For Mike and Laura Gentry, an empty nest left time to resurrect a tradition started nearly 50 years ago by Laura’s mother. Having grown up helping care for a flock that grew to one hundred ewes, Laura was eager to get back to shepherding when Mike and she built their home in rural Owen County. Mike, having worked in agriculture earlier in life, began to share the dream. In 2012, beginning with just 8 hearty crossbred ewes, the journey began. Now each Spring a crop of Suffolk/Hampshire cross lambs descend upon the green pastures of their rural Freedom farm. The ewes are named after the sheep Laura remembers from her mother's flock of 100 ewes.
The abundance of grassland and their efforts fencing off several pastures for frequent rotation, made raising grass-fed lambs a natural choice. A careful plan of pasture rotation and organic fertilization allows the lambs to grow and thrive, providing you with a healthy source of lamb for your family’s dinner table. Now they are pleased to offer the same lamb enjoyed by their extended family (9 grandchildren now!) to yours!
Homemade jams and jellies made by Piper and her mama!
Pittman Farms is a family owned produce farm, with deep roots in our 150 year family history on our farm. We also provide a variety of products from all natural bug sprays to salves and more!
Maple syrup produced locally by the Foster family in southern Vigo county.
Small family-owned business from Centerpoint, Indiana. Deedra Rector makes delicious homemade noodles!
Here at the Farm Connection, we raise a herd of cattle which produce both 100% grass-fed dairy and beef. We have a flock of pastured laying hens, seasonally raise pastured pork, and this summer raised 500 Freedom Ranger meat chickens on pasture.
Katie Sandusky crafts luxurious tallow body butter and several soothing salves, along with other herbal products.
Ursula took over Pam Bernard's fermenting products business. She has a passion for developing high quality fermented foods to give your gut the help it needs!