Recent History

In the 1850s German brothers immigrated from the rich farm land of Germany’s Rhine Valley to the untamed richness of Missouri’s Mississippi river basin in Clarksville MO.

Farming the prime bottomlands gave the Jaeger clan a solid base upon which to build a lasting legacy in Pike County.

Vesterbrook farm was originally an orchard producing quality apples, plums, vegetables and eggs.

Although Birkley Wells named the farm the name Vesterbrook has been lost to history. We have chosen to keep the historical name as a reminder that we are stewards carrying on family traditions and with an eye to build upon them in future generations.

In 1928 Everett Jaeger purchased Vesterbrook farm. A year later he married Edyth and for the next 50+ years they produced quality eggs, fruit, vegetables and milk. Having graduated from the University of Missouri’s land grant school Everett used his newfound knowledge to establish a successful egg business supplying high quality eggs to grocery stores locally and in St Louis.

In the 1990s Everett & Edyth’s son Ben used his engineering skills to bring Vesterbrook farm into the 21^st century and provide a springboard for future generations. While some row crops were produced the main crop during this era has been top quality hay and alfalfa.

During this time Ben Jaeger’s daughter Carol, her husband Mike and their two children studied and ministered overseas 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. The government factory farms from the Cold war era produced food that was lacking in quality and nutrition and sadly contained chemicals and heavy metals. Thankfully we were able to develop relationships with entrepreneurial farmers outside of the city and at the farmer’s market or Piaþa Mare go buy fresh vegetables, fruits and meats produced without harmful chemicals.

The Brabos moved to the farm in 2008 to re-launch the family farm into a premier producer of organically grown vegetables, fruits, eggs and meats.

In 2008 we began with testing of the soil, reestablishing an orchard using locally grown Stark fruit trees and grew a limited variety of vegetables and herbs for farmer’s markets and a restaurant.