Meet the Farmers
The origins of Storey Family Farm harken back to the summer of 2019, when Stephen met Raquel while the two were working on an organic vegetable farm in South Bend, Indiana. Their friendship grew into love, and they soon began dreaming of farming together for many years to come. At the time, Stephen was raising 600 chickens on rented land from Julian Farm with his brother, Richard. On the same pasture, they raised 20 cow-calf pairs. As part of the rental agreement and to continue his education on the complexities of regenerative pasture management, Stephen undertook 50 percent of the work caring for the cattle for eight months.
Fast forward to early 2021, when Stephen and Raquel set out with the initial goal of growing and preserving as much of their own food as possible. Over the course of the next couple of months, the community response to their efforts blew Stephen and Raquel away. They were bombarded with local interest in their little garden and soon recognized that the abundance of produce was much more than they could preserve and consume themselves. Storey Family Farm was born out of the desire to share the fruits of their labor with the local community, and they now produce an ever-growing offering of nutritionally dense produce, mushrooms, and pastured poultry. In the coming years, they hope to add fruit, cut flowers, herbs, dairy, beef, and pork.
For Storey Family Farm, community involvement is an important aspect of their farming philosophy. Having both attended college in South Bend, (Stephen at Holy Cross College and Raquel at the University of Notre Dame) Stephen and Raquel are well connected within South Bend’s academic community. They foster relationships at both universities to provide a unique avenue for regenerative farming education. Additionally, Raquel worked for three years with a youth leadership nonprofit in South Bend called Transformation Ministries, which primarily works with urban youth in South Bend. In Spring 2021, Stephen and Raquel presented on their farming philosophy and donated potted plants to local families at Transformation Ministries first annual health fair. Storey Family Farm plans to continue their community involvement by hosting events for local youth on the farm in coming years.
Regenerative & Sustainable Practices
Storey Family Farm is committed to improving the ecological and social well-being of their community and surrounding environment. They work to grow nutritionally-dense, ecologically-minded food that is accessible for people with low incomes and considers the entire ecosystem in their farming practices. Through their farming philosophy they are:
- Establishing beds using a deep compost mulch method in their market garden, with minimal tillage and extensive cover cropping to protect the vast microbiology supporting healthy plants.
- Farming without the use of any synthetic pesticides and finding natural fertility sources, such as compost, chicken manure, bone meal, and kelp meal.
- Rotationally grazing all of their livestock (currently broiler chickens, turkeys, and egg laying chickens) on pasture. The birds are fed organic, non-GMO feed from a local co-op and housed in infrastructure influenced by Polyface Farm legend, Joel Salatin.
- Supporting lower-income community members and striving to make their food as affordable and accessible as possible by working with government food assistance programs.
- Sustainably cultivating mushrooms and microgreens indoors with organic substrate materials sourced 80% in-state. When mushroom blocks and microgreen trays are spent they are added to compost piles, where they become some of the main drivers of the farm's soil fertility.
- Growing a diversity of seasonal produce (50+ varieties) and mushrooms, and incorporating perennial hedgerows as habitats for beneficial insects, birds, and small animals.
