Written by Lenn Black

Blue Rock Station is a 38.2-acre sustainable living farm and education center near Philo, Ohio. It has served as a working model for eco-friendly living, offering workshops on green building, goat milking, and solar cooking, along with overnight stays in straw bale cabins.

Image courtesy of Blue Rock Station

Founded by Annie & Jay Warmke, its mission has been to focus on environmental sustainability, self-sufficiency, and reducing waste through reducing, reusing, and recycling.

Key features and offerings have included: (1) sustainable architecture, featuring an Earthship constructed from recycled materials and a plastic bottle greenhouse and a straw bale cabin; (2) workshops & education, providing hands-on learning and various sustainable living, farming, & alternative building techniques; and (3) tours & activities, where visitors can tour the facilities, take llama treks, and explore the 34-acre forested area.

The Earthship. Photo courtesy of Visit Zanesville

Farm Advisory Board

2020 saw the formation of the Blue Rock Station Farm Advisory Board (FAB) to provide input & support to Annie as she began to think about who would replace her as the farmer.

The Blue Rock Farmland Commons

Now, with the help of the Women’s Peacepower Foundation and The Farmer’s Land Trust, Blue Rock Station has transitioned to the Blue Rock Farmland Commons.

Annie & Jay Warmke have transformed a quiet patch of Appalachian hillside into a vibrant living classroom for sustainability, resilience, and joy. They’ve 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.

As they transition their land into the Blue Rock Farmland Commons through a discounted bargain sale to The Farmers Land Trust, Annie & Jay are taking a hopeful step toward a future where land remains accessible, protected, and regenerative. They are working to de-commodify the farm and make it possible for a new farmer to take over without debt. Please consider donating to the Blue Rock Farmland Commons to make that possible.

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 New Farm Family

A new farm family has settled in and is getting established on the land. Sarah & Jason Ricks 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.

The Ricks Family. Photo courtesy of Blue Rock Farmland Commons

Sarah is a dedicated educator & community organizer, serves as board president of the Sycamore Learning Cooperative, and leads numerous educational & cooperative initiatives. Jason, with a background in brewing & 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.

The Farmer’s Land Trust

The Farmer’s Land Trust focuses on creating & supporting Farmland Commons. Farmland Commons are community centered, democratically run, limited scope nonprofit entities created to hold title to lands, steward & manage those lands, and convey secure & affordable lease tenure to those who practice regenerative agriculture and ecological stewardship.

It accepts farmland donations and works to transact farmland into community ownership, with a focus on (1) protecting & preserving farmland, turn-key farms, and agrarian & food systems real estate; (2) creating multi-generational models of regenerative, organic, biodynamic, & chemical-free agriculture connected to community; (3) sharing the innovative & impactful Farmland Commons model through communications & outreach; (4) investing in soil regeneration, pollinator habitats, farm buildings, infrastructure, renewable energy, & carbon sequestration; (5) working to bring land & money to communities who have historically been excluded; and (6) finding & acquiring farms for beginning farmers that include next generation internship, apprenticeship, employment, layered enterprise, and partnership opportunities.

The Farmland Commons model applies the knowledge & experience gained from conservation land trusts & community land trusts to land ownership structures designed to achieve good stewardship, tenure, and equity. It builds on precedents set by conservation land trusts & community land trusts, both of which have gained influence in the US.

Rather than centering conservation or housing alone, Farmland Commons is rooted in cultivated & stewarded agrarian working lands, the lands that feed & connect us and create climate resiliency. The model is community-centered, placing equity & autonomy with farmers & local communities. In this way, it helps to reverse extractive & exploitative practices while returning wealth & health to both land & people.

The Women’s Peacepower Foundation

Women’s Peacepower Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit headquartered in Marietta, Ohio, founded in 1999. It focuses on empowering women & girls through educational & scientific programs, such as the League of Extraordinary Girl Scientists, to promote female leadership and dismantle gender-based barriers.

The League of Extraordinary Girl Scientists is a project of the Women’s Peacepower Foundation that operates local programs designed to pair young girls with accomplished female professionals. It hosts hands-on summer programs for 9th-grade girls.

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