Restoring the Farm

Wren Meadow Farm is a family owned and operated micro-farm located in Clarkston, Michigan, which was established in 2019 by Paul and Kim Dannels; we're a Clarkston family serving the Clarkston community.

Although the founding of Wren Meadow Farm is recent, our property has a history in agriculture dating back nearly 200 years: Oakland County was one of Michigan's original agricultural hubs, and our property was used for farming and commercial apple production from the mid-1800s until early to mid-1900s. Many of the now ancient-looking apple trees can be found on our acreage and surrounding parcels , and the walk-behind and horse drawn farming implements on site harken to that pre-industrial era of small farming.

Our barn was built around 1887 by some of the earliest settlers of Independence Township; it was converted into a residence in the early 1970s, and significant disrepair necessitated the peeling back of interior ceilings and walls which exposed the original hand-hewn beams and logging-era timbers. Despite the fact that its restoration will be ongoing, it is once again supporting a farming operation.

A similar return to origins is taking place within our land. The initial market garden was planted in spring of 2020 and site preparation continues as we expand the growing area and scope of our offerings. Our beautiful wooded acreage, surrounded by the 1,285-acre Independence Oaks County Park, is part of the Clinton River Watershed; classified as wet-mesic prairie, the river floodplains created our rich, fertile soil which is ideally suited to farming.

Our hope for Wren Meadow Farm is that it will provide our customers with a direct farm-to-table relationship and an alternative to big agriculture, while at the same time improving the land and health of the environment in which we grow.