Marty
Heller:
While I grew up on a traditional livestock
farm in southeast Michigan, it took a significant detour for me
to recognize that farming was something I loved. I got
a BS in chemical engineering from MSU, and continued on for a PhD,
also in chemical engineering, at the University of Colorado at
Boulder.
Disillusioned by
the pharmaceutical biotechnology industry I was now trained to
join, I traveled to India in 1998 and used some of my schoolin’ in
biotechnology to support campaigns against genetic engineering
in agriculture.
Upon returning to the U.S., I joined the Center
for Sustainable Systems at University of Michigan and on
the side, started a small market garden with a friend. In
2003, I took on farming full-time and started a small CSA. It
was a successful first season, but I quickly realized that it
was too much to manage alone. So I joined forces (and heartsJ)
with Michelle in Lansing, and found work with the C.S. Mott Group
for Sustainable Food Systems at MSU.
We’re now in the midst of a “year on,” taking
time before our next farming adventure. While I’m glad
that Michelle and I have taken this time to focus our intentions
and explore the world and our relationship, I’m excited to
get back to farming. I also love to cook and play music. These
two passions came together in a recent project that I was a part
of called Something
Fresh. If you haven’t heard this CD, check it out – 15
original songs by Michigan musicians, all accompanied by a recipe
featuring fresh food grown in Michigan!
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Michelle Ferrarese:
I grew up in the lower peninsula of
Michigan, spending many summers in the U.P. or northern lower Michigan. My
background is in botany and ecology, and the more time I spent
in the forests, fields, dunes, and bogs, the more I grew to love
this gorgeous glaciated landscape. Even though I’ve
moved away to both coasts and the southwest, I kept returning to
the Great Lakes.
My first full farming season was in
2000, when I worked outside of Boston for the Mass Audubon Society’s
Drumlin Farm. We started a small CSA there, I worked harder
than I ever had before, and realized I couldn’t imagine doing
anything else. I dropped out of graduate school and spent
the next two seasons back in Michigan, helping at Tantre Farm in
Chelsea. Most recently (2003-05) I helped to start and managed
the Student Organic Farm at MSU in East Lansing, while finishing
a master’s degree.
When I’m not in school or on a
bike, I also like to knit, cook, bake, read, write, learn the fiddle,
ice skate, sew, practice yoga, and spend time with good folks of
all ages and species.
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