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Growing up amid open spaces, much like those found in her native Rochester, Indiana, was always something former educator Vanessa Frias envisioned for her family. As luck would have it, a random Zillow search put a 35-acre property located in Cassopolis, Michigan, named Willowbrook Farms on her radar and it lit the spark for a big lifestyle change and the ideal of being among those farming in Michigan.
“We were not intentionally looking for land. We just happened to find it,” she shares. “Willowbrook Farms started as a blank slate [with] corn and soybeans rotated on it year after year,” describes Frias about the previous owners’ farming operation. “Cassopolis has a rich history of Black farmers. We knew that we could make a difference in farming and we wanted to bring back the roots that once were the foundation of [the town].”
So, the family packed up their home in Osceola, Indiana, and their adventure of farming in Michigan began. “We took the leap because we wanted to get back to the basics,” reveals Frias, a big advocate of healthy eating. “We really try to change the way we eat now so that we can live the best quality of life as we can. That’s when we decided to start our farm,” she says about purchasing the land she co-owns with her husband, Juan.
Farming in Michigan
The first-generation farmers started small: with four goats. “My husband and I purchased some goats, well, I kind of purchased some goats,” relates Frias about her humble beginnings while farming in Michigan.
“And our neighbor asked if he could use our goats for grazing on his property.” The goat quartet eventually evolved into a 60-goat herd as the couple became affiliate partners with Goats On The Go, a company that uses the animals to help curb overgrown brush and invasive species on farmland.
While working with their goats, the duo got a firsthand look at how successful farms functioned and ideas on how to evolve Willowbrook Farms—as a lifestyle and as a business—began to brew. While neither had any generational knowledge or experience in how to farm land, the couple approached their new adventure with an entrepreneurial mindset.
“My husband and I owned a barbershop; he’s a barber by trade. And we also owned an early learning center, [because] I’m a teacher by trade,” says Frias. As business owners, the couple understood that for a farm to succeed, everything has to serve a purpose. “To be completely honest with you, if you want your farm to work, it’s got to produce income,” she emphasizes about a key element of successful working farms.
Overcoming Challenges
With no generational examples to learn from, the duo faced hurdles including, lack of inherited knowledge and efficient equipment. “One of the things that we’ve had to do is work through trial and error,” admits Frias about farming in Michigan. “We’ve had to learn everything from a blank canvas.” But they overcame challenges by actively seeking out education from veterinarians as well as farming industry associations including the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Under the ownership of the Frias family since 2022, Willowbrook Farms thrives with free-range and pasture-raised livestock: goats, chickens, pigs, lambs, turkeys and cows. Dedicated to raising animals the natural way, the Frias family rear their animals without harmful chemicals, GMOs or antibiotics.
“We think of health as wealth, and we want to take care of our bodies now so that we don’t have to fall into [using] medications later in life. So we really try to change the way we eat now so that later we can live the best quality of life as we can,” she says about the core motivation behind the family’s commitment to natural farming, clean eating…and giving consumers choices in the foods they eat.
RELATED: FarmerJawn’s Christa Barfield Centers Community Health Through Regenerative Farming
A Purpose For Everything
“Everything has a purpose on our farm. If it doesn’t produce income to make our farm work, then we don’t keep it because farming is very expensive and you’ve got to be able to fund it,” she says about their sustainably-sourced meats, eggs, bone broth (and more) for sale online, at their onsite farm store, as well as at select farmers markets.
Likewise, Willowbrook Farms also offers educational activities and special events including, seasonal lavender picking, farm camp for kids, private tours as well as continuing to put their goat herd to work keeping the land well-manicured.
“[For] the agritourism part of our farm, the educational part of our farm, we have field trips and kids come out to the farm and learn about what it means to be a farmer and where our food comes from…We are bringing families together, in my opinion,” notes Frias about the role Willowbrook Farms plays by acting as an educational resource and a community hub.
A Historic Community
“Cassopolis was once part of the Underground Railroad. So it was pretty much a free community, and you can see that in the roots of the city. There used to be lots of brown and Black farmers in Cassopolis, but a lot of the land has been sold off to others due to varying situations. And, so, to bring that back to Cassopolis is pretty cool,” relates Frias about their community’s history.
“This country was built on the backs of brown and Black people,” reflects the farmer who gets satisfaction from “seeing that it is possible—that we can still do farming, that we are important, that we can make a difference in society.”
Beyond food production, Frias asserts farming in Michigan serves a greater purpose: to reclaim a legacy in American agriculture. “I have a deep connection to my ancestors and wanting to make them proud and moving out a dream that they couldn’t live out due to racial inequality. Our farm is based on the premise of faith and hard work and determination. The leap of faith came from our ancestors and knowing that we can do it.”
