LFE Business Plan 2024
Executive Summary
The wilds are the life support system of our planet. Wilds resonance is discovering what the wilds want and along the way, finding out what our own nature calls for. On the northern lower peninsula of Michigan USA, 287 acres of fields and forest (116 hectares) host three wilds resonant operations; Love Farm Wilds, Love Farm Cooperative and Love Farm Events. Love Farm Events (LFE) shares the experience of wilds resonance with visitors and the community.
Wilds resonance is a mutual thriving, of humans and all life on Earth. People connecting to nature are energized and healed, because they also connect with themselves.
The land and waters of Love Farm have a powerful effect on visitors. High bluffs overlook Lake Michigan and the Sleeping Bear Dunes, plus many inland lakes including Crystal Lake to the south and Platte Lake to the north. There are numerous ecosystems including permaculture inspired gardens and antique orchards, wild swamps, springs, shoreline, grassy fields, and both coniferous and deciduous forests. On the second floor of Love Farm’s barn, the 4000 square foot Cathedral is an epic meeting, performance, and dance venue.
The founders and staff of Love Farm are artists. Wild resonant activities and instantiations are Land Art, an aesthetic of synergy, mutual benefit and rapport with land and water. Workshops, hikes, games, retreats and ceremonies; sculpture and paintings, whether ephemeral or persistent; and music performance, theater and cinema, either on Love Farm or in the wider region, are examples of Land Arts.
LFE designs Land Arts to be profitable, whether in the long or short term. Land Arts can be hosted by LFE or by Love Farm lessees.
Love Farm is spectacular and Land Arts on Love Farm are organized and executed with care. There are many beautiful parks and engaging activities around the northern lower Michigan region, but Love Farm’s combination of natural beauty and emphasis on wilds resonance is unique.
Value Proposition, Marketing, and Visitors
LFE believes people want to feel a connection to nature, but sometimes the desire is not easy for them to identify. There may be a clear desire, but how to connect and why they should is a mystery. Wilds resonance is discovering what the wilds might want, by being physically present in nature and listening with curiosity and imagination. Wilds resonance is a tuning into the innate intelligence of the wilds, and coincidentally, the wilds within ourselves.
LFE advocates for liberated land and water. Outreach can have legal, community and/or artistic elements. Ongoing projects continuing 2024 include poison free strategies for so called invasives, a dark sky initiative, and shifting an existing plan for a scenic road to a scenic trail. These activities raise awareness about LFE, and could be considered marketing in addition to sharing wilds resonance, albeit with a conceptual rather than experiential approach. Ideally, people who connect with LFE through our public outreach will enjoy Land Arts and feel wilds resonance.
LFE maintains the web presence www.love.farm, an open source archive and planning platform, enabling allies, neighbors and friends to collaborate with Love Farm. LFE is also exploring wilds resonant narrative and documentary videos with the production company Artist house, Inc. co-located with Love Farm.
LFE has the vision and the venue to help people help themselves through resonance with the wilds.
History and current operations
Love Farm Events was formed in 2020. Operations were delayed for almost two years because of pandemic restrictions and the economic slump that followed. In 2022, LFE hosted ecstatic dance and a winter Airsoft club. In the spring of 2023 the Human Nature School brought a semester of outdoor education to Love Farm.
Three events are booked for the summer of 2024. In July a week long yoga intensive, in August a solo art exhibit and in September a group art exhibit. Other bookings are in negotiation.
LFE is projected to have increased expenses and capital outlays in 2024. New appliances for the Cathedral’s kitchen, a resurfaced dance floor and roof repairs are all in the works, about $8500 total. Income from the summer’s events should be approximately $10,000, so even after insurance and utilities, LFE is projecting a slight profit.
