Creating Your Own Ecosystem

Second-gen farmer Jane Lively on working the land and building community

By Rachel Pasche | May 31, 2025

According to the USDA, Michigan is home to around 44,000 farms, several of which are in the part of northern Michigan we call home. These farms comprise 9.4 million acres of land, all dedicated to providing fresh food for the state and country.

The Lively Farm sits on two acres near Empire and is run by 27-year-old Jane Lively. Jane is a second-generation farmer continuing the family legacy of running a farm, but adding some of their own touches.

Embracing the Learning Curve

Jane’s mom, Kelly, started Lively Gardens and Leelanau Flowers when her children were younger. The flower farm started as a half-acre of land with a variety of blooms, and both her kids spent springs seeding the soil, summers picking and weeding the rows, and falls sowing next year’s bulbs.

Kelly eventually retired from the flower farm business, but not before instilling a deep appreciation for the land and a curiosity for farming in her family. (Today, Kelly has also been growing flowers on the land again and is using her flower arranging skills to do weddings and other events.)

Despite growing up on a farm and spending much of their childhood digging in the dirt, Jane’s farming career truly began in high school with a summer job at Sweeter Song Farm in Cedar. The first year, they said, was magical, inspiring Jane to become a farmer. The second year, on the other hand, was not so great, and taught Jane that not every yield on the farm was a good one. Despite the less-than-ideal season, Jane wasn’t discouraged and was back on a farm again within a few years.

Their next foray into farming was a job at Meadowlark Farm, where Jane learned more about greenhouse farming and hoop houses before heading off to college. After returning from school, a life on a farm beckoned. Jane’s mother’s flower farm plot was still there, and Jane itched to return to working the land, so they leapt into the endeavor of turning the once-flower farm into a vegetable farm.

“I was doing everything by hand and learning as I went,” Jane says. “I thought four years of farmhand experience was sufficient, but I am definitely still learning. Despite the fact that I sometimes feel I don’t know what I’m doing, I keep doing it anyway. I keep trying new things and learning.”

Community Growth

Since Jane first started the Lively Farm eight years ago, the farm has expanded from its half-acre roots to two acres, which Jane rents from their parents. They mostly manage the farm by hand, using all organic practices and low-till and regenerative methods to sequester carbon and reduce soil erosion.

“Farming is very much intervening in nature and it takes a toll on the land, but it’s possible to do it well, and I’m learning how best to do it responsibly as I scale,” Jane explains.

Using the land responsibly is part of why Jane farms, as they have a vested interest in providing the community with healthy food and making fresh produce more accessible. Several local restaurants carry flowers and vegetables from the farm, but the Lively Farm also participates in CSAs, farmers’ markets, and other food programs.

The latter includes the Northwest Food Coalition, which purchases food from farms and then distributes it to food pantries throughout the 10-county region; the Migrant Resource Council, which provides food for migrant workers; the Empire Food Pantry; and Glen Lake Schools’ Blessings in a Backpack.

And then there are the programs Jane has implemented. The Community Supported Shares (CSS) and Food Assistance segments “are an opportunity for folks with the means to contribute to our effort to make food from our farm available to community members with less or no access.” In essence, members of the community can pool funds to offer farm-fresh produce to those who can’t afford it.

There’s also a Farm Membership, which allows the farm to be a source of “inspiration, information, and [a] gathering space.” A membership includes access to four concerts—the Lively Farm offers donation-ticketed, picnic-style shows from local artists throughout the warm months—a membership meal, five percent discount on all orders, and Lively Farm swag.

A Busy Season Ahead

This season, Jane has nine people coming onto the farm to help with the season, as well as some new tools to make some processes more efficient, like hoop houses and a pot transplanter. The crops grown on the farm rotate annually. This year’s lineup includes radishes, lettuce, mustard greens, pea shoots, potatoes, kale, cabbage, kohlrabi, carrots, beets, and flowers.

“It’s helpful for a small business like mine to have a variety of vegetables and produce; it keeps us busy year-round planting, seeding, growing, and selling,” Jane says.

Produce from the Lively Farm can be found at the Empire and Glen Arbor farmers’ markets and at the new Lively NeighborFood Market adjacent to the farm. Jane’s parents Jim and Kelly run that market, which opened in 2024 with the goal to “grow the local food economy right here in southwest Leelanau County. We want to support and highlight a connection between the customer and the farmer and improve access to locally grown, healthy food,” per their website.

The market operates on a consignment model, stocking goods from 30+ nearby farms and makers, including Jane, and giving 70 percent of sales right back to those farms. Through the addition of the market, Jane is able to sell Lively Farms produce year-round.

Farming as Activism

Jane, who uses the pronouns she/they, finds that working the land is a Venn Diagram of sorts for their core passions: farming, community, and building welcoming spaces for other queer folks.

“What I love most about this type of farming is that you’re creating your own ecosystem. I’m able to make a safe space for other queer people because I can; I can choose to make it whatever I want. In that way, I see farming as a sort of activism. Being able to welcome people in, regardless of who they are and how they identify, feels incredible. My family has been very supportive of me and my identity, and that’s allowed me to then say, why not make this a space where we can celebrate our queerness while getting the job done and growing food for the community.”

Learn more about the Lively Farm’s offerings at thelivelyfarm.com, and see what’s happening at the Lively NeighborHood Farm Market at livelyneighborfood.com.