OAK CREEK — "Are these a bunch of hippies living in a commune together? How do you respond to that?" I asked.
“Yes, kind of. But we wouldn't say it's a commune. We think it's more of a really intentional living situation. Like, we are all adults who take this really seriously. It's definitely not like a party house," Sara Krohn, the owner of the Village Farmstead in Oak Creek, said with a big smile.
Village Farmstead is a 14-acre farm about 15 minutes south of downtown Milwaukee. Four people live and work here basically full-time.
“No commute. Yeah, it's good work. I love growing food for people," Alex Stromski, a farmhand who has lived on the property for about a year, said.
Stromski volunteered on the farm for three years and then decided to move into the house on the property.
"After a few times of breaking bread, it just felt right, you know," he said.
The Village Farmstead started about nine years ago by Sara Krohn and her partner Sam.
“Community, food, changing the food system and eating well and having a good time while we're doing it," Krohn said.
The farm operates as a CSA, or community-supported agriculture. Customers subscribe year-round and receive a box of produce each week when fruits and vegetables are available. They grow produce like: zucchini, cucumber, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, broccoli, carrots, radishes, turnips, lettuce, peppers, eggplants, and more.
"We like to know how much we're growing. We don't like to have a product that's super perishable and not a plan for moving it out the door," she said.
Originally, the Village Farmstead started by selling at farmers' markets, but decided to scale by operating as a CSA.
They do everything by hand. There's almost no big machinery on the farm.
“We're not against mechanized farming by any means. We've just set our farm up to use hand tools," Krohn said.
This also helps them get volunteers working faster because they don't need to train them on heavy machinery.
Ultimately, the goal of the Village Farmstead is to grow good food and live with like-minded individuals in an intentional manner. The house they live in has three bedrooms. At one point, they had nine people living there.
“We make awesome food here. I feel like that's a huge perk. So we all have a night of the week we cook, and everybody gets to eat the food that you cooked for them," Krohn said.
They have chore rotations and make every decision as a group.
“So if somebody wants to have a friend over for dinner, they, like, tell the group before they do that," Krohn said.
There's also a group of weekly volunteers who don't live there.
“Get another way to zen out," Amanda John, who has been volunteering on the farm for about a year, said.
In return for her help, she gets a box of produce each week.
“Being in the dirt is something that I cherish, so that is something I wanted to reconnect with," she said.
That's a sentiment shared by everyone at Village Farmstead. That's why this live, work, and volunteer method works for them.
“We're also considering, like, if more people want to live here, how does that look to build maybe an outbuilding that has a couple of residences in it," Krohn said.
But before that, they are focused on finishing the harvest season. Learn more about Village Farmstead here.
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