Our dreams are coming to fruition!

Dear Friends and Family,

In response to consistent high demand, we have started this blog! Here you will be able to keep track of our progress as we move forward during this exciting and beautiful period of our lives.

For those who have not yet heard, it's official- we are now the owners of an incredible 68 acre farm just 4 miles from the beautiful shores of Lake Michigan, lined with hundreds of miles of protected sand beaches. Our farm is located near the town of Frankfort, MI, in rural Benzie County. It has a large timber frame barn (as pictured above) and a smaller wood shed as well.

We have begun the construction of a 35 foot diameter, 27-sided, wooden round structure, which will be our permanent home. For all of the math geeks and/or wordsmiths out there, the technical name for a 27-sided polygon is an: Icosikaiheptagon! This round house will be totally up to code, and have all the standard amenities (yep, hot running water and everything!). Our goal is to make it livable before the snow flies, or in other words, in time for our baby, who's due anytime between the end of November and the middle of December. One can never know with these things.......But, don't worry, we do have back-up plans for the birth place, just in case the house isn't quite birthing friendly yet.

In addition to starting a farm, bringing a child into the world, writing a book for Chelsea Green Publishing, creating business plans, working side jobs to make a living, and planning our wedding for next summer, we are doing our best to enjoy life and take advantage of living in one of the most beautiful spots on the planet. Our community here is steadily growing, as it seems almost daily we have been meeting interesting, wacky, down-to-earth, and wonderful friends. We truly believe that we have landed in the perfect place. The synchronicities have been endless, and have definitely brought us hope and joy in times of stress.

As you can tell, we have had quite the summer!

The Sacred Earth Initiative mission has not changed, but the focus has shifted slightly towards our own projects. Our farm will be an example of a highly diversified nature-garden on a large scale. We will be growing, propegating, and processing every nut, fruit, and berry that can survive in this climate (USDA Zone 6a). We aspire to start-up a medicinal herbs business, a perennial edible and medicinal plant nursery, house many farm animals such as goats, sheep, and poultry, and grow abundant vegetable gardens that will feed us (and whoever is living/staying/helping us)!

For this first blog entry we wish to express our abundant gratitude for all the amazing love and support you have shown us over the years, and for all that each one of you do to make our planet a more vibrant and habitable place. We realize that for most young couples who dream of starting a farm, purchasing land often seems like an intangible feat given our current economic state. We have been blessed with this opportunity, and for that we are endlessly grateful.

Below are a few pictures of the property. See the captions below for descriptions.

Peace, love, abundance, blessings, and HAPPY AUTUMN!

Eran, Steph, Baby, and Sheeba

Woodland Creek. The small creek running through our woods. It's nice that we have this water feature on our land. The Deer love it, as we've seen their tracks everytime we visit it.

The Walnut Grove. We are so blessed to have these valuable and beautiful trees. As soon as we have the resources,tools, and extra time, we will be culling the thin trees to make space for the nice sized ones. We will nurtutre these trees like our children.

Pristine Lake Michigan Beach. Our local beach is about a 7 minute drive away, and is almost always free of foot traffic. There are miles and miles to walk along, protected from development and loved by the locals and land stewards of the area.

Pregant Steph in natarajasana, about 22 weeks pregnant. July 24, about a week after we became official land owners.

Rolling Hills of Diversity. A view from one of the many ridges on our land, overlooking the rolling hills towards the east. Our land is blessed with contour, microclimates, and a diversity of flora and fauna. This was taken in May 2015.

Basket of Ramps (Wild Garlic/Onions) under a Black Cherry tree. Our land is made up of about 50 percent woods, and these woods are filled with wild edibles like ramps and mushrooms. We are excited to hold wild food foraging and plant identification classes in our woods, grow edible mushrooms on logs, track animals, and have many woodland adventures with our childrens, friends, and family!