Humanely raised. Hand-crafted. Wholesome.
We are a small farm offering a wide range of products grown with care and compassion. We cherish our livestock and our land.
About Our Five Acre Homestead & Nellie's Knoll Creamery
Our Story
Our Mission
Our Story
Michele grew up on a "hobby" farm in Greene County, New York. Bert hails from "The Valley" - Waverly, New York.
Michele's mom took on a couple of goats - "hand me downs" from her Aunt Sally and Uncle Peter. Missy was a Saanen and Nanny was more Nubian as I recall. We also had a few, rabbits, chickens, horses, and an occasional beef co
Michele grew up on a "hobby" farm in Greene County, New York. Bert hails from "The Valley" - Waverly, New York.
Michele's mom took on a couple of goats - "hand me downs" from her Aunt Sally and Uncle Peter. Missy was a Saanen and Nanny was more Nubian as I recall. We also had a few, rabbits, chickens, horses, and an occasional beef cow.
Michele was a 4-H member and took agricultural education in high school becoming very active in the Greenville FFA. She earned degrees from SUNY Cobleskill and Cornell University and eventually became a high school agricultural sciences teacher. Fast forward - (skipping many life changing events) to 2010 ... Michele met Bert - both loved the outdoors and always wanted to be self-sufficient. Bert and his son Joshua raised meat and egg-laying chickens and an occasional hog.
Michele and Bert officially began farming in the summer of 2013 by raising flocks of Turkeys and egg-laying chickens in Newark Valley on five acres. Most was merely for their own freezer - or their extended family. Eventually they scaled up and added goats!
Right from the start, Their animals are raised humanely and are never fed animal bi-products. Chicken and goats are free-range and any supplemental food for birds and pigs consists of a local feed. They use as much of any animals that are processed, canning lard as well as stock from the chickens and turkeys.
In 2018, Bert and Michele purchased a piece of paradise - property once owned by the late Dr. Max Brunk, professor of agricultural economics at Cornell University. To him, it was known as "the Cabin" - to us - it is a piece of heaven and many dreams came true!
Our Farm
Our Mission
Our Story
We are still transforming "the Cabin" to a farm - we added pastures, a beautiful barn that will soon house a creamery. We have roughly 40 goats (the number changes with each birth and sale)...50 or so laying hens, 25 egg producing ducks, and a handful of guinea foul to keep the ticks in check. In September of 2019 we were blessed with t
We are still transforming "the Cabin" to a farm - we added pastures, a beautiful barn that will soon house a creamery. We have roughly 40 goats (the number changes with each birth and sale)...50 or so laying hens, 25 egg producing ducks, and a handful of guinea foul to keep the ticks in check. In September of 2019 we were blessed with two Kunekune sows - both were bred and just two weeks later, we joined the neighbors in the "grass fed pork" business. We also have Livestock Guardian Dogs - Great Pyrenees (Dixie, Roscoe, and Daisy).
Our Mission
Our Mission
Our Mission
Our mission is to provide our customers with a quality product that is wholesome and made in an environment that puts our animals' well-being first. We pride ourselves on being good stewards of the land. We see ourselves as life-long learners - that is we learn and choose what practices to adopt.
We farm and craft because we choose to.
Our mission is to provide our customers with a quality product that is wholesome and made in an environment that puts our animals' well-being first. We pride ourselves on being good stewards of the land. We see ourselves as life-long learners - that is we learn and choose what practices to adopt.
We farm and craft because we choose to. We enjoy what we do and are confident that it shows in our high quality products whether it is a dozen meticulously presented eggs or a bottle of soothing lotion.