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July 8, 2025Blue Rock Farmland Commons, Ohio
This film was produced for The Farmers Land Trust by BBC StoryWorks Commercial Productions as part of “Unearthing the Future”. The film shows how the Farmland Commons model is working to address farmland protection, transition, stewardship, and ownership, access, and tenure.
The Farmers Land Trust is actively fundraising to acquire Blue Rock Station, a 38-acre sustainability center located in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains in southeastern Ohio. It is the first earthship built east of the Mississippi River, and is a working example testing and demonstrating sustainable living concepts and options.
The Farmers Land Trust and Blue Rock Station and Farm have come together in collaboration, partnership, and trust with Women, Food and Agriculture Network and Women's Peace Power Foundation to manifest bold and innovative actions that create a new relationship and structure for land transition, ownership, access, tenure, and equity. This collaborative embraces shared goals of protecting and preserving agrarian food and living systems in a way that holds and caringly and purposefully transitions a unique and important model of regenerative agriculture and sustainable living to create next generation enterprise and partnership opportunities.
In southeastern Appalachian Ohio, Annie and Jay Warmke built Blue Rock Station Farm from the ground up. As time passed, they began to ask: what will happen to the future of this farm? This film follows the journey of how that question led to a powerful solution—the creation of the Blue Rock Farmland Commons. By partnering with The Farmers Land Trust, Women Food & Agriculture Network, and Women's Peace Power Foundation, they are transforming private land into a shared, community-held resource that ensures long-term affordable and secure access for farmers.
Blue Rock Farmland Commons Bylaws
Together with representatives from The Farmers Land Trust, Women's Peace Power Foundation, Women Food & Ag Network, and the landowner, Annie Warmke, these Bylaws were created to reflect the values of all organizations involved and to serve as the Governance structure of the Blue Rock Farmland Commons.
The Visionary Leaders & Landowners
For more than three decades, Annie and Jay Warmke have poured their hearts into Blue Rock Station, transforming it from a quiet patch of Appalachian hillside into a vibrant living classroom for sustainability, resilience, and joy. Together, they planted thousands of trees, welcomed tens of thousands of visitors, and cultivated a place where people could learn not just how to care for the earth, but how to find their place within it. Their stewardship has been deeply personal, rooted in curiosity, generosity, and an unwavering belief that another way of living is possible.
Now, as they transition their land into the Blue Rock Farmland Commons through a discounted bargain sale to The Farmers Land Trust, Annie and Jay are taking a hopeful step toward a future where land remains accessible, protected, and regenerative. Their choice to place Blue Rock Station into a commons model reflects both their courage and their commitment to the next generation of farmers and land stewards. By partnering with The Farmers Land Trust, they are ensuring that the land they nurtured so lovingly will continue to inspire, teach, and nourish long after their chapter on this hillside has closed.
The Next Generation
After decades of creating and stewarding Blue Rock Station, Annie and Jay Warmke are moving on to a new chapter, and are welcoming the next generation stewards of Blue Rock Station.
Sarah and Jason and their two children are aspiring first-generation land stewards grounded in a shared purpose of ecological regeneration, community building, and holistic living. With backgrounds in environmental advocacy, education, community organizing, brewing, and urban micro-farming, they bring a rich blend of experience and determination to their path forward.
Sarah is a dedicated educator and community organizer, serves as board president of the Sycamore Learning Cooperative, and leads numerous educational and cooperative initiatives. Jason, with a background in brewing and systems thinking, is passionate about ecological design, health, and soil stewardship.
Together, they envision cultivating a life at Blue Rock Station centered on small-scale market gardening, agroforestry, and regenerative livestock systems, while creating an intergenerational place of learning, healing, food production. Their commitment to land stewardship is deeply rooted in their family values, permaculture ethics, and a growing regional support network.
Meet the Blue Rock Farmland Commons Board of Directors
Mona Cook-Haught
Legal Counsel
Beth Makley
Women's Peace Power
Sarah Ricks
The Farmers Land Trust
Naomi Schalle
Women's Peace Power
Rachel Tayse
Women, Food & Ag Network
Sam Tannenbaum
Women, Food, and Ag Network
Kristina Villa
The Farmers Land Trust
This multigenerational work needs your support
Help transition this 38-acre sustainability center located in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains in southeastern Ohio into the Blue Rock Farmland Commons and to the next generation farm stewards.
Donations So Far
$27,838.67 raised of $315,400.00 (8.83%)
Recent Donors
- Nicole Hague $50.00
- Kathryn Wallisch $10.30
- Jessica and Todd Russell $100.00
- In honor of Erica $50.00
- Kershner Manz Charitable Fund $400.00
- In honor of Nurture Nest Haven Foundation $45.32
- In honor of Carole Langford $20.60
- The Christopher Reynolds Foundation $2,500.00
- David Eslinger $51.50
- Anonymous $100.00
- Fidelity Charitable Donor-Advised-Fund $450.00
- Ashleigh Flowers $20.60
- Kathryn Wallisch $10.30
- Lillie Read $20.60
- Eugene Beer $50.00
- Peter Healy $20.60
- In honor of Nurture Nest Haven Foundation $45.32
- Olga & Anthony Fruster $41.20
- Jason Eduardo Sandoval - Car Donation $436.59
- Full Scale Fitness $250.00
- Sam Sheets $20.00
- Bill Dautremont-Smith $300.00
- Appalachian Herb Company $257.50
- In honor of Annie Warmke $51.50
- Kathryn Wallisch $10.30
- Steven Stoll $103.00
- In memory of Isaac Wagner $103.00
- Dawn Sweeney Bardusch $100.00
- Anonymous $51.50
- In honor of Nurture Nest Haven Foundation $45.32
- Anonymous $103.00
- In memory of Geraldine Peck $51.50
- Kathryn Wallisch $10.30
- Goodfellow Productions $103.00
- In memory of Sylvia (Peters) Agler $103.00
- In honor of Kristina Villa $51.50
- Merkels Floral Studio $51.50
- Anonymous $103.00
- In honor of Kristina Villa $50.00
- James Getz $51.50
- In memory of Virginia Hassler $103.00
- In honor of Annie Warmke $100.00
- Anonymous $51.50
- In honor of Nurture Nest Haven Foundation $45.32
- Naomi Schalle $103.00
- Anonymous $20.60
- Cindy Yeager $20.00
- Michael Shumate $103.00
- Zach Mitchell $51.50
- Farooq Kperogi $50.00
- Molly Whitaker $20.60
- Rachel Swerske $20.00
- Kimberly Doyle $10.00
- Jessica Moffitt $10.00
- Urvi Thanki $103.00
- Laurie Sherman $20.00
- Rusty Orner $50.00
- Anonymous $50.00
- Roman Warmke $50.00
- Anonymous $103.00
- Susan King $77.25
- Laura Nein $50.00
- Foundation For Fermentation Fervor, Inc. $100.00
- Greg Pace $50.00
- Darby Weaver $20.60
- Kari Lindberg $20.60
- Kevin Murphy $500.00
- Anonymous $50.00
- Alita Kelly $20.00
- Elizabeth Bullard $103.00
- Julie Covert $51.50
- Anonymous $50.00
- Anonymous $515.00
- Lee Germeroth $50.00
- Rene Claire Sutton $30.00
- Reimagine Appalachia $20.60
- In honor of Carie Starr $30.90
- Rachel A Tannenbaum $51.50
- Charlotte Rossi $200.00
- Kitty Philips $51.50
- Tiffany Huddleston $206.00
- Danielle Herren $50.00
- Anonymous $50.00
- Liz Jones $54.00
- Susan J McDonald $50.00
- Sam & Celeste Tannenbaum $103.00
- John and Suzanne Howell $51.50
- Mark Krivchenia $51.50
- Romich Foundation $250.00
- Chris Ramsey $100.00
- David Panich $51.50
- Anonymous $51.50
- Anonymous $51.50
- Richard Dunfee $50.00
- Cathy Hughes $51.50
- Samuel and Celeste Tannenbaum $51.50
- Sophie Saltonstall $51.50
- Rick Walen $50.00
- Anonymous $20.60
- Kristina Villa $103.00
- Deborah Lukjanvos $100.00
- Chris and Kelcey Jacobs $50.00
- Emily Braman and Allen Sickling $51.50
- Laurel Hobden $20.00
- James Rossi & David Hinds $51.50
- Bruce $51.50
- Bruce $50.00
- Portia's Cafe $206.00
- Kevin Gross and Beth Makley $5,000.00
- Rachel Tayse & Chris Schwanekamp $50.00
- Madison Carpenter $20.60
- Mona Cook-Haught $103.00
- Romich Foundation $1,000.00
- Anonymous $51.50
- hope taft $50.00
- Susan King $20.60
- Elyse Perruchon and Feather Meadow Farm $515.00
- In Memory of George Stephen Howard $515.00
- In honor of Schuyler Dayle Raiford & Vernon Kimsey $515.00
- Anonymous $103.00
- Anonymous $77.25
- Sam Crowl Terry Kelleher $51.50
- john kiely $50.00
- Anonymous $10.30
- Kristina Villa $1.00
- Aleeyah Frye $1.00
- In memory of John and Helena Rudiak $51.50
- Anonymous $100.00
- Goat Stock - 2025 $450.00
- Sarah Corcoran $103.00
- Lace Lynch $200.00
- Roger Kalter $1,000.00
- Roger Kalter $500.00
- Kershner Manz Charitable Fund $700.00
- Women's Peacepower Foundation $5,000.00
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Central State University Webinar Series
In the Headlines
Living off the earth, and in an Earthship
Southern Ohio Sustainable Haven: Blue Rock Station
Mud, trash are Ohio eco-home's building blocks
Scenes From the Land
Regional Data
Franklin County
- 1, 319,000 metro
- median age 33.1
- 58% White
- 29% Black
- $60, 000 median HH
- 14.1% poverty
- OH avg $4,200/acre
- Muskingham Co. $5,200/acre
- $71,100 median HH
- $36,800 per capita
- 13.5% poverty
- 12.0% of residents
- 16.5% of children
- 210, 000 acres of cropland; livestock; specialty crops; major sectors manufacturing & healthcare.
- Appalacreshian‑heritage family farms; county fairs; growing farm‑to‑school cooperatives.
- Columbus metro sources from 300+ farms; 50+ farmers’ markets.
- Muskingum County’s National Road Museum has a Zane Grey area, honoring the author of Riders of the Purple Sage, whose books were made into movies and helped open the West to eastern readers.
