Hi, we’re Jim and Casey, owners of Cloudscape Hill Farmstead in Dowling!
It was our love of nature that united us, even before we were married. We both dreamed of a healthier and more self-sufficient life together in the country and, shortly after our wedding in late 2019, we were fortunate enough to acquire the property that has become Cloudscape Hill. We love living and working here with our three border collies!
The property needed a lot of love and the work began in spring 2020 when we brought a small flock of sheep in to help the fields and soil come back to life. We planted the first 10 fruit trees in 2021 and expanded in 2022 to what is now a 53 tree orchard with apple, pear, peach, plum, and cherry trees. Our first gardens were also planted in 2022 and enlarged in 2023.
Before coming to Michigan, Jim had lived several years in Europe and fell in love with the French landscape with the seemingly endless fields of lavender in the Provence, so we decided to plant 1200 lavender plants at Cloudscape Hill in 2023 and plan on at least that many more in 2024 and 2025. The sandy, well-drained soil here in Michigan is ideal for lavender!
We began the production of our artisinal lavender products in 2023. While we will continue the orcharding and gardening, our focus for the coming years is on lavender and lavender products.
Casey holds a B.S. in nutrition and Jim finished his Ph.D. in Depth Psychology in 2021 with his dissertation on ecopsychology. Our work at Cloudscape Hill draws on both of these fields of knowledge and is deeply ecotherapeutic for us and, we hope, for our customers.