Completed work
A public record of the work CVCC supports across farm infrastructure, farmer assistance, education, and local food access.
Farm support
Repairs, improvements, and practical farmstead support help keep working landscapes productive and visitor-ready.
Keeps historic agricultural places active while giving farm operators the physical support they need.
Producer support
Small grants and direct support strengthen local farms, especially projects tied to sustainable agriculture and public benefit.
Moves donor support into practical tools, materials, and improvements for regional growers.
Public learning
Educational projects connect residents, students, and visitors with soil health, seasonal growing, and regenerative farm practices.
Turns working farms into living classrooms for the broader Cuyahoga Valley community.
Community food
Market partnerships and food-access work connect local people with healthy food and the growers producing it.
Builds a stronger bridge between farms, farmers markets, and families across Northeast Ohio.
Find a local marketBackground archive
This background section preserves the former History page for readers who want deeper context after reviewing current and completed project work.
The active era view preserves dated stops, oral histories, images, and source trails while keeping Projects focused first on CVCC's completed work.
From the former History page
6 events in the active timeline era.
Current era
By the 2010s, Countryside had moved into a more established phase marked by additional farm launches, education initiatives, and a broader organizational footprint. The work became less about proving the model and more about extending, supporting, and sustaining it across the valley.
Period
By the 2010s, Countryside had moved into a more established phase marked by additional farm launches, education initiatives, and a broader organizational footprint. The work became less about proving the model and more about extending, supporting, and sustaining it across the valley.
2018
New Farmer Academy is launched
The Conservancy for CVNP’s Countryside history article says Countryside launched its New Farmer Academy in 2018 as a multi-year program creating paid career pathways through classroom instruction, technical training, business planning, and mentorship with beginning farmers. This is a major dated education milestone that broadens the timeline from land rehabilitation and markets into farmer development.
Major training-program milestone in the later Countryside era.
Agricultural patchwork from above
Illustrates how leased farm parcels read against woodland and riparian zones in the park.
Vineyard rows
Represents diversification of historic farmsteads under long-term agricultural management.
May 1, 2012
Trapp Family Farm is established
The NPS key-dates chronology records May 1, 2012 as the establishment date for Trapp Family Farm on the former Holland property. This marks the start of one of the program’s better-known mixed crop and livestock operations and gives the farm a precise place within the later Countryside timeline.
Launch of a current mixed-farm lease site.
Agricultural patchwork from above
Illustrates how leased farm parcels read against woodland and riparian zones in the park.
Vineyard rows
Represents diversification of historic farmsteads under long-term agricultural management.
Trapp Family Farm
Illustrates larger field blocks under animal traction management.
June 27, 2014
Spice Acres begins
The NPS key-dates chronology records June 27, 2014 as the date Ben and Jackie Bebenroth began Spice Acres on the Vaughn farm property. Because the same NPS chronology also traces an earlier 2002 Spring Hill Farm and Market on that property, this date anchors the transition to the current culinary-forward Spice Acres era.
Launch of the current Spice Acres phase on the Vaughn property.
Agricultural patchwork from above
Illustrates how leased farm parcels read against woodland and riparian zones in the park.
Vineyard rows
Represents diversification of historic farmsteads under long-term agricultural management.
Spice Acres
Culinary-forward diversified farm; scene shows production ground in the Countryside program.
August 1, 2016
Purplebrown Farmstead launches
The NPS key-dates chronology records August 1, 2016 as the launch date for Purplebrown Farmstead on the Schmidt-Foster property. The same official chronology notes the later 2021 opening of the Purplebrown Farm Store in Peninsula, making this farm a clear example of Countryside enterprises extending into retail and public-facing food access.
Launch of Purplebrown Farmstead.
Agricultural patchwork from above
Illustrates how leased farm parcels read against woodland and riparian zones in the park.
Vineyard rows
Represents diversification of historic farmsteads under long-term agricultural management.
Purple Brown Farmstead
Food forest and heritage cider apple plantings.
August 19, 2016
Oxbow Orchard is established
The NPS key-dates chronology records August 19, 2016 as the establishment date for Oxbow Orchard on the Edgar farm property. This provides a dated orchard milestone in the later program era and emphasizes the persistence of fruit production within the park’s farm portfolio.
Launch of Oxbow Orchard.
Agricultural patchwork from above
Illustrates how leased farm parcels read against woodland and riparian zones in the park.
Vineyard rows
Represents diversification of historic farmsteads under long-term agricultural management.
Oxbow Orchard
Orchard scene in park context; see profile for varieties and visitation.
June 13, 2020
Keleman Point Farm begins
The NPS key-dates chronology records June 13, 2020 as the date Mike and Melissa Keleman began Keleman Point Farm on the Point-Biro farm property. This places one of the newest named current farms on the timeline and shows that the park program continued adding or reactivating farm operations well into the 2020s.
Start of one of the newest current farm leases.
Agricultural patchwork from above
Illustrates how leased farm parcels read against woodland and riparian zones in the park.
Vineyard rows
Represents diversification of historic farmsteads under long-term agricultural management.
Keleman Point Farm
Scene documentation for registry; see profile for enterprises.
Cuyahoga Valley Countryside Conservancy