Rising Stars: Meet Monique Bartolet of Carrollton, Ohio

Today we’d like to introduce you to Monique Bartolet.

Hi Monique , we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
My husband and I met later in life (in our 40’s) from very different backgrounds (he was a police officer working in the city and I’d always lived in the country). Our interest in where we’re at today started with us watching a documentary called Food, Inc. We started to realize how disconnected we’d become with our food and how the current way of life for our society was simply a fast track to aging and illness. When you step back and realize that the food companies and the pharmaceutical companies are hand in hand selling the cause and the cure you start to really wake up and take a hard look at what your future holds if you don’t take control now. So that’s what we did… we got married in 2014 and 2 days later went and bought 18 chicks from the hatchery to raise for eggs. We planted a garden and started canning a few things… all on one acre in a quiet neighborhood on the outskirts of town. We expanded over the years to have not only those 18 hens and a garden to adding 5 hogs and our first batch of 22 meat birds… at that point we were hooked. I had quit my job and went to work part time for Cindy at Anthony Petitti Organic greenhouse and learned all I could about organic gardening from one of the best in the business and over the next few years we set out to look for a place with enough land that we could do everything we wanted to do for ourselves, our friends and family and our community. After about 3 years of disappointment after disappointment, we finally found what we were looking for… it checked all the boxes and was perfect… like it was intended just for us. we put everything we had into purchasing our little 20-acre piece of heaven in Carroll County and now offer Chicken, pork, lamb and fresh turkey for Thanksgiving! We make soap from the lard of our pigs, elderberry syrup and hope to have seasonal produce in abundance. We are grateful to God every day for the opportunity to do this life as He intended and as nature intended.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Everything has a learning curve when you are in farming. The 3 year struggle to find the right place that we could afford had its ups and downs, but we trusted Gods plan. The normal ups and downs of the weather affect gardening and livestock sometimes resulting in loss of life. we’ve learned what works and doesn’t work, sometimes the hard way. We are in no way, ‘business people’ so we’ve struggled with marketing and getting our name out there and all the regulations that need to be followed to keep compliant.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
being in our late 50’s now, our past careers have been in the corporate world for me and in law enforcement for my Husband. He has served his country as a Navy Veteran and his community as a police officer for decades and had numerous accolades before retiring from that and now works as a CSO for the federal court system contracted through the Marshalls office. I worked for Goodyear Tire & Rubber, Diebold and Securitas before retiring and now run the farm full time. The goal is for him to retire in the next year or so and for us to do this together full time. What sets us apart from commercial farming is simply the life that we provide our animals and the principals we live by. They are all raised in their natural environment as much as possible and given a good life. We feed non=GMO feed and practice rotational grazing, our pigs enjoy being in the woods rooting for bugs, roots and nuts as they are meant to do. We organically raise all of our meat to be as healthy and nutritionally complete as possible. It’s hard work but one of the most rewarding things we’ve ever done.

What do you like and dislike about the city?
We are not city folk; we love being out in the country. Being out here in Carroll County was almost a culture shock even though we came from a fairly rural area. Life just slows down a little more around here. The people are all so welcoming and always friendly and helpful. If I had to list a dislike, it would be when you DO need to go to any of the bigger chain stores you have to plan a trip to a bigger town… which is usually at least a 30-minute drive.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.asintendedfarm.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61574750354343