Meet Sam Wickham | Farmer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sam Wickham and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sam, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
In my fledgling years, I would not have guessed I’d live the life of an entrepreneur. Perhaps it was taking a few uninspiring business classes, the rigamarole of the school counselor suggesting that most successful businesses are managed by an MBA, or maybe it was a lack of exposure to the entrepreneurial life. Whatever the deterrent, I gravitated toward pursuing professional cooking, happy to work for someone else, so long as I could play in the kitchen.

At 18 and in culinary school, I had one of my first experiences working under the leadership of a chef I disagreed with. I felt a strong compulsion to get out of his kitchen. This would turn out to be the first of a variety of experiences in professional kitchens and later on farms where I felt the impulse to move on. Early on in my farming career, I met my husband Rich. He happened to be wired in a similar way, inspired to work in a creative capacity and very much with a mind of his own.

Our entanglement may have just been the perfect storm. Both of us being greenhorns, we knew we had a load of learning ahead of us. All the while we were students of the farm, a dream farm of our own began to take shape and the pressure began to mount. Over the course of three years, we went from being farmhands, to farm managers and in the meantime got married and became pregnant with our daughter May.

Having accumulated skills, a network of farm friends and sages as well as having socked away a modest nest egg, we were building confidence in our capabilities. But maybe we needed to ease into it. For the first time in our relationship together, I took a management position which would provide health care and more. We lived our lives as the majority of partners do, spending days separate from each other and reconvening at the end of the day. Soon enough, May Rose was born and after a short maternity leave, I was also spending my days separate from her. The familiar feeling of wanting to switch gears was stirring within me and our intention of slowly easing into a farm business was soon revised.

While working overtime, flirting with burnout and only getting to spend exhausted evenings with my young family, that mounting pressure which began way back when with that original discussion of a “dream farm”…well, it burst the bubble of a plan we had. Not only did we have the accumulated resources mentioned above, but more importantly we now had a fiery motivation to make this life of ours work for our daughter and for our quality of life together. Five years into relying on this business for our living, I can attest that we are well-suited to this lifestyle working for ourselves. It’s a wild, dynamic existence, in which we get to put our ideas into play, to be valued as an authentic addition to our community, and to allow our family to grow together on the farm.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Foxhole Farm is our brainchild of a business. We manage 30 acres of land on which we grow vegetables for market, rotate sheep, and provide habitat for wildlife. We also grow our two little ones on the farm. We manage our farm using regenerative principles, focusing on feeding the soil which serves as the basis for a healthy ecosystem. Any decisions we make on the farm aim to benefit the ecosystem. In effect, we do not use herbicides, pesticides or other toxic applications. Our goods are marketed through retail outlets, including our website and our local farmers market, as well as to local grocers and restaurants.

We got to a rather successful fifth year of business by starting our business small and growing incrementally as we can. This has allowed us to manage rather efficiently in order to target what works and what we need to change, as well as to assess what the market demands over time. While running a young business and starting a family, it was important to us that we were able to be as streamlined as possible. The challenge in our scenario is that we didn’t start with a large financial pool, and with the low profit margins of small farming, we certainly felt uncomfortable at times paying our bills. If I’ve learned anything, it’s that there is only so much planning you can do. At a certain point, there is enough that remains out of your control and you must do your best to react appropriately in order to ride the wave. Five years in, with a pandemic somewhere in there, we feel proud of our ability and willingness to adapt our business to meet the unique needs of the times.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If you didn’t know, Dayton is going through quite the renaissance! You really need more than a week to digest the good food, coffee, beer, metroparks, and adventures that lie in wait.

If you’re like me, you’d start your day with some café and there is no shortage of coffee in the area: Warehouse 4, Pettibone, Ghostlight, Press, Val’s Bakery, the Dorothy Lane Market coffee bar, or grab yourself a cup of tea and a scone at Central Perc Café. Hit a farmers market…I’m partial to Oakwood Farmers Market, a yoga class at Speakeasy or a pilates class at Plank and then it’s time for some breakfast. I plan all my time off the farm around food…so hit a good breakfast or brunch spot like Salt Block Biscuit Co, Butter Café, Table 33, or the Hasty Tasty Pancake House. Walk that off with a nice jaunt at one of the Five Rivers Metroparks or Carillon Park.

Lunch hour means that Second Street Market is open. There are so many incredible vendors there to eat from. Live music and little gifts wait to be found. If you want the restaurant experience for lunch, hop over to Little Fish Dayton Station next door for their incredible beer and farm to table food.

After lunch, sneak in a trip to Yellow Springs, a dreamy hamlet. There’s sure to be a festival, a good hike, or some other lovely time to be had.

Dinner time: Jollity, Tony and Petes, Sueño, Taqueria Mixteca, Cocos Bistro, Salar, Little Fish again, Rays in Englewood, Old Scratch Pizza, Wheat Penny, Grist Provisions, on and on.

If you’re into after dinner drinks: Century Bar, Dayton Beer Company, Barrel House, Van Buren Room, Coco’s Bistro Bar, Tender Mercy, Silver Slipper, Warped Wing, Lock 27.

If not, hit a show at the Neon independent movie theater or the Schuster Center, catch a Dragons game or a UD basketball game, go dance it out at the Levitt Pavilion or go climb at Urban Krag.

I feel I’ve just nicked the iceberg.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
As much as Foxhole Farm is a reflection of ourselves, it is also reflective of a number of good people who have brought it to life. Undoubtedly, we owe so much to our families who offered us support in those early days, moral or otherwise, when our life now was but a dream. Both of us happen to have parents who raised children to believe they could make life what they wanted. Perhaps this was just the fortifying guidance that two bull-headed, curious and energetic kids needed to get us to where we are now.

A business like ours owes its well-being to the community who sustain it and the partners who prop it up. We owe such thanks to our incredible market customers, csa members, those who follow our story online, and the restaurant and wholesale partners who work with us and transform our food into unforgettable meals. The work of these chefs and grocers is pivotal in introducing the community to new foods and the beauty of fresh, local ingredients.

My thanks would be incomplete without recognizing all of the folks we have learned from over the years. The learning never stops, especially when working the land, of which a person can never be the master.

Website: foxholefarmohio.com

Instagram: instagram.com/foxholefarmer

Other: https://www.thefoxholejournal.com/