Today we’d like to introduce you to Cori and Benjamin Rowley.
Hi Cori and Benjamin, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers?
We started restoring vintage axes and tools when we were living in downtown Columbus. We didn’t have space for the work, and our downstairs neighbors hated heading us working on leather goods at all hours. We borrowed some workspace from a friend in the Brewery District for a while, but we eventually decided we needed more room when had a baby. This led us to moving out to Canal Winchester, where we found a home full of character that sat on a little under 3 acres with a garage and outbuilding we could use for a woodshop. Shortly after moving out to Canal Winchester, we started gardening and started raising chickens — none of which had we ever really done before. These new hobbies eventually took off and soon our garden was 2,000 sq. ft. and we started calling our slice of property Yellowood Farm. We continued our axe business and our design careers and kept exploring growing food and flowers and chickens. Over the past few years, our axe business has transitioned from an outdoor brand to one sought after by axe throwers. During the pandemic, we made Yellowood Farm official and got a farm number so we could apply for grants to grow our operations. We also brought 4 wool sheep onto the farm, tore up our front yard and turned it into a flower field, started a Garden Exchange for the community, and bought our neighbors property which grew our farm to just under 5 acres. This expansion also brought us a new woodshop that we’ll be moving into at the end of July, a 1953 ranch kit home that we renovated and turned into an Airbnb and a second field for flowers.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Heck no. It’s been scary but rewarding. We’ve had moments where we didn’t know how we would continue. We’ve had moments were felt completely defeated. BUT — nothing worth having comes easy. Our big goal is to serve the community through food and wellness and we can’t lose sight of that, no matter how difficult the small farming road gets.
Struggles…
Learning that “beginning farmer” means 3 years or more of experience — which means we didn’t qualify for farm loans.
Learning that farms under 5 acres don’t get the same financial benefits as the bigger farms.
Learning that what we are trying to do is somewhat uncharted.
Our neighbors asked us to buy their property shortly after Benjamin was let go from LBrands.
Farming is expensive — even when you’re small.
Sometimes you plant things and they don’t grow, or something eats them — and you’ve lost money, time, energy…
We’re doing all of this while raising two beautiful kiddos who have their own goals and dreams and challenges.
Cori is still working a full-time job in her industry.
Running an Airbnb has its own unique challenges and worries.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
We are designers turned farmers, so that means we bring a creative problem-solving lens to farming.
We are hell-bent on making sure that agriculture is a safe space for all people.
Our hope is that through our work we can give access to farm-fresh food to people who couldn’t otherwise make it the Saturday farmers market or inspire someone to become a farmer who hadn’t considered farming as a future. We want to use our journey of struggle as a way to help inform, teach and champion for other who want to start as small farmers.
Here’s where we are headed:
Wellness workshops
Food resilience education
Mobile farmer’s market
Community Hoop House (large greenhouse that will grow food to give directly back to the community)
Cultural Focus Hoop House (working directly with communities whose traditional cuisine might not be catered to in the Midwest)
Experiences and events allowing central Ohioans to get away without going far away.
Garden experimentation experiences – teaching visitors how to grow no matter where they live
General store
What would you say has been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
We are allowed to be here.
Just because our parents weren’t farmers, and we live on less than 5 acres, doesn’t mean we can’t be farmers.
Pricing:
- Bouquet Buffets (Saturdays Summer-Autumn) Pay what you can – Self-serve
- Made-to-Order Bouquets — $20+
- The Farmstead (Farmstay Airbnb) – $165/night +
- Rent our farm table for an event – $170/2hrs +
- Bucket of flowers for pick-up (5-gallon bucket) – $35/ea. +$5 deposit for bucket
Contact Info:
- Website: www.yellowood.us
- Instagram: yellowood_farm
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yellowoodfarmandsupply
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCipyUg0jh1Iy_gQjlWDdXvA
Image Credits
Yellowood Farm x Supply
