Like many 18-year-olds, Casey Hirth divides his time between earning a degree in Environmental Biology and some seriously demanding extra-curricular activities. Unlike many 18-year-olds, Hirth’s extracurricular activities include running Old Pine Farm with his mother and brother—the only meat Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) in Michigan.
While other students are filling their social calendar, Hirth is responsible for everything pertaining to poultry, from choosing breeds of meat birds and participating in their slaughter, to gathering, washing and organizing the eggs of carefully selected laying hens. As if that’s not enough, Hirth also raises dairy cows—an aspect of his work he enjoys enough to keep him motivated in sub-zero Ann Arbor temperatures.
As a third-generation farmer, an active member of Slow Food Huron Valley and the youngest Terra Madre delegate from the US, Hirth plans on using his experience in Italy to connect with other rural communities, and to learn how to make Old Pine Farm more economically efficient and sustainable.
