Denney Farms, officially created in 2012 from a desire to be poor on our own terms and not those generated by the man. Maybe that’s what really happened but, in the beginning, it was a combination of many things. Where to begin? In a few short words…kids…nutrition…NPR…Micheal Pollan…..books…Joel Salatin.…more books…farm?

After we had one child and then another and then another on the way. Whew, we are a productive couple. We started to look at the food landscape, what most people consumed, and what we wanted for our growing family. We had planted gardens for most of the time we were together, and we knew that homegrown not only tasted better, but it was also better for us. One day while I was listening to NPR, they had an interview with Micheal Pollan. I believe it was for his book “In Defense of Food.” I grew up with a writer for a mother and I like to read well written verse. Micheal Pollan was well spoke and had interesting things to say. I haven’t read many books in my life. I normally only read when I want to learn something. His books were, for the most part, well written. After “In Defense of Food” I read “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” and then “Food Rules.” Along the way he wrote about working on Joel Salatin’s farm in an attempt to understand why a pasture raised red chicken costs so much more than a grocery store white chicken. Joel Salatin became a force within his own right. Nurturing Micheal’s understanding of the whole system and not just spouting off nonsense. Joel was a debate champion and after reading “You Can Farm” we decided to start farming. Soon after we realized why one of his other books is titled “Everything I want to do is Illegal.” Welcome to “stifled progress,” at least one good thing that Covid did was show the governing bodies the flaws in their systems.

This all leads us back to how Brittany’s Grandpa Larry had a produce business and he had kept wanting someone to take it over and no one would. He closed in 2005, right about the same time Brittany found me on MySpace and sent me “Hey.” There were a few years between that first “Hey” and our having a family to think about feeding. During that time, I got to know Merrilee and Larry. Larry liked to hunt and fish; we got along great. When I talked to him about the books, I had been reading Larry told me about the produce business he had closed years earlier and showed me his books. While the overall amount in dollars didn’t sound like much, the country had just gone through “the great reset” or something like that. Either way no one was fixing their toys. I was a motorcycle mechanic at the time. I worked at a shop that was “looking out for their employees” which means you didn’t get paid what you should have gotten paid. As a mechanic you HAD to keep moving. Doing all the work you could. They told us “Service is paying everyone’s salaries and keeping the lights on.” During this time the cost of health insurance kept going up. Working full time, a quarter of my check went to FICA, a quarter went to Insurance, and quarter went to my HSA account and what was left wasn’t much. At times like those you think “I can make more than this just horsing around in my yard.” We had already learned how to live cheaply, and I wasn’t afraid of failure. Failure is easy, success is much harder. After talking with Larry some more, while playing some Wii Bowling, we decided to seriously think about starting a farm. In 2011 I grew a garden on a “truck patch” scale while I was working full-time as a mechanic. We wholesaled some produce that first year, but the goal was to sell retail. In the spring of 2012, we worked and planted a garden. The plan was to hire someone to sell for us and it would start that way and IF it were successful, I would quit my job in 4 or so years. The day before our opening day our only employee decided work sounded laborious and quit. We had already put everything we had into this venture and we’re not ones to bail on an idea. The first day Brittany went and sold on the roadside in Rochester, and I went to work for my last day. I finished some projects, as to not leave extra work for others and at the days end, I gave my 2 seconds notice. Typically, when Brittany and I decide to do something, it has been thought through and the decision is final. Ok, sometimes it’s on a whim and works out. At the end of the first year with our retirement funds erased from existence, we had amassed $1,200 in profit. When asked what I thought about that, my quote was “I have never worked so hard for so little in all my life, nor have I ever been happier.” The next thing I was asked was “what will you do for money this winter?” I shrugged and pondered aloud “I’ll process deer.” The look on Larry and Brittany’s faces was priceless. “Will anyone bring you any deer?” another shrug “Probably.” Deer processing is our most profitable venture to date. I feel more shrugs coming on, we’ll see what comes of them.

Larry showed us the produce auction, and, in the spring, they have plug sales. My Mother Sally had a greenhouse she wasn’t using. It was a 12’x12’, and we stretched it out to 12’x24’ and went and bought some plugs to start plants early. Larry had always just bought his starts at local greenhouses. It didn’t take long, and we decided to try selling plants. Within a short time, we did well enough during deer season to be able to buy a used greenhouse frame for $1,000. I talked with the Amish about how to grow things better and learned about germination chambers. Once I built one of those, we stopped buying plugs and now we start our plants from seeds, or we root our own starts from mother plants we keep. The greenhouse portion of the business grows a little each year, hence the website you are visiting today.

We have sold produce all over the area. The list off the top of my head would go as follows. Rochester at Petunia’s, Warsaw at Autozone, Pierceton Farmer’s Market, Warsaw Downtown Farmer’s Market, Huntington Farmer’s Market, Wabash Farmer’s Market, Lessburg in the area that is now the parking lot for Dollar General, The Farmer’s Market at the Kosciusko Fairgrounds(I actually got kicked out before I set up but I tried), Brittany ran the North Manchester Farmer’s Market for 7 years or so, and currently we sell at The Winona Lake Farmer’s Market which is in the Miller Sunset Pavillion on Saturdays from 8am to 1pm from May through October. This online store was made so you can pre-order plants and once the weather is safe for planting, we will deliver plants to your door.