The Family Story

Carol, daughter of Ben Jaeger with her husband Mike Brabo and their two children served in Eastern Europe with people with disabilities. While living in Europe, Mike and Carol developed a keen interest in developing sources of healthy nutritious food for their family and others. They noticed that the government factory farms from the Cold War era produced food that was lacking in quality and nutrition and contained large amounts of chemicals and heavy metals. Thankfully they were able to develop relationships with entrepreneurial farmers outside of the city and at the local farmer’s market, in order to buy fresh vegetables, fruits, and meats.

The Brabos moved to Vesterbrook Farm in 2008 to relaunch the family farm into a premier producer of healthy vegetables, fruits, eggs and meats using only natural methods. They chose to keep the historically important name as a reminder that they are stewards carrying on the family tradition for future generations.

That first year the Brabos tested the soil, reestablished an orchard using locally grown Stark fruit trees, and grew a limited variety of vegetables and herbs for farmer’s markets and a restaurant. They also obtained the Certified Naturally Grown-CNG certification--a pledge to grow crops with non-GMO or treated seeds without synthetic fertilizers, harmful chemicals or pesticides and animals without antibiotics, growth hormones or GMO feed. CNG is non-profit grass roots organization.