Drive down a beautiful, country dirt road you will come upon a Centennial farm tucked under a canopy of Maple trees.  The residents are a family of six who are very passionate about working together and helping their community.

The Curtiss family has been farming for six generations in Winn, Mich.  Andrew Curtiss has lived within a quarter mile of where he grew up his entire life.  The farm consists of an acre and a half of vegetable gardens and about 600 acres of industrial farm crop.

Andrew spends most of his summer tending the gardens and preparing to take produce to the farmers market each Thursday in Mt. Pleasant.  He is hoping to expand next year and attend two more markets a week, in Midland and Alma.  In addition, the Curtiss’ sell Community Supported Agriculture boxes.  For a fee each participant gets a box of vegetables each week for twelve weeks.  This allows the Curtiss’ to have start-up money at the beginning of the season to cover costs of seeds and other expenses.

Andrew and his wife, Zanita, met in Mt. Pleasant while they both attended Central Michigan University and worked at a nursing home.  Zanita was originally from Metro Detroit and had never been exposed to the farm lifestyle.  “I was scared of the dark when I first moved to the country, “ said Zanita.  Life has changed for her, now she knows how to make many homemade meals, garden and hunt.  The Curtiss’ have four children ranging from one to eight: Shai, Micah, Alia and Jeremiah.

The Curtiss’ are a very close-knit family that does everything together and their faith plays an important role in their lives.  Andrew is a pastor at Potter’s House Family Worship in Mt. Pleasant, MI. 

The Curtiss family, eventually hope to convert to a 100 percent Organic, self-sustaining farm.