Welcome to the farm

Here at Crooked Cabin farm, you’ll find a blend of the old and the new.

On any given day, we may be cooking in a cast iron pot over the fire, stirring apple butter in a copper kettle, or pressing cider in the old hand cranked cider mill all in the shadow of a hand hewn log cabin tucked in a mountain valley.

You’ll see organic crops being grown in 68 raised beds on the slopes of the farm while chickens roam the yard in search of worms and other delicacies. The bee hives are housed in a bear proof pen from the 1800’s and in many ways, we appear to be “the land where time stood still.”

But we also have an eye to the future. In a time where heart disease and obesity are epidemic, where autoimmune diseases and diabetes are attacking our friends and children, when new diseases are emerging at alarming rates, there has never been a more important time to spread the message of “Restoring Health – One Meal at a Time”. And that is the mission and calling of Crooked Cabin Farm.

As you tour our website and study our blogs, when you visit the farm or join us for a meal at one of our gatherings, whether you plan a wedding or celebration here or if you just call for advice or counsel, you’ll see why we consider the message of restoring health “the Second Most Important Message You’ll Ever Hear”.

We hope you’ll come and see us – especially if you’re struggling for an answer to a health issue that just doesn’t make sense. We aren’t doctors – but we do believe that what Hippocrates, the father of medicine, told us so many years ago has never been more important; “Let Food be Thy Medicine and Medicine be Thy Food”. Come see us – we may have the answers you’re looking for…

HISTORY

In the winter of 2015-16, Janeen and John had just completed a remodeling of an old 1940’s fishing cabin on the banks of the Allegheny River in Warren, Pa. “The Eddy” had been transformed from a rough and rustic “camp” to a beautifully remodeled home complete with stone walls, reclaimed hand hewn barn beams, a fleet of kayaks and more. The work was done at it was time to relax.

But in February, while helping a friend search for living quarters, Janeen stumbled across a dilapidated old hand built log cabin hidden on 30 acres in Russell, PA. Having completed work at The Eddy and convinced that she had found a pearl in the wilderness, she and John put the truck into 4 wheel drive and drove down a rutted, snowbound, derelict roadway to discover a cabin whose best days seemed to have been lived many years before.

To say the cabin needed work is an incredible understatement! The roof was sagging and slowly coming down. Holes in the chinking and rotted logs allowed the outside to be inside. More animals lived in the cabin than people. It was uninhabitable and unreclaimable. In fact, one contractor looked at it and advised that it be burned down. “This is the most crooked cabin I’ve ever seen….” and the legacy was born.

Today, that Crooked Cabin IS inhabited and has been reclaimed. The roof has been rescued, stabilized, and insulated. The animals have all been moved back to the outside and the holes have been repaired and the bad logs replaced. Over a linear mile of tongue and groove boards have been installed and refinished antique furniture gathered from auctions, yard sales and Craig’s list now occupy the cabin. Handmade one-of-a-kind articles like a deer antler chandelier, rough cut Amish wood spice racks and more make the Crooked Cabin a visual candy jar for the eye. Small treasures occupy spaces and every room holds new discoveries.

The outside has also seen changes. The barn holds the farm supplies while a new greenhouse serves as the starting place for heirloom seedlings and experimental plant varieties. 68 raised beds and a large garden allow Janeen to raise organic fruits, vegetables, herbs and seeds. The farm’s pet chickens have their own chicken house and a large grape arbor and trellis allow for grapes to grow and provide shade for a pair of hanging hammock seats.

The 12 x 30 ft root cellar serves as the storage place for Janeen’s canned goodies and serves as the base for the 16 x 30 ft log kitchen, a facility that is needed for Janeen’s cooking classes, for preserving the farm’s bounty and for the preparation of the regional favorite “Crooked Cabin Farm BBQ Sauces”.

A new “Pizza Pavilion” features the farm’s pizza oven where guests can build their own pizza and have it baked in 90 seconds in an old world, wood fired traditional stone pizza oven. The new spring house allows the farm and visitors to enjoy the fresh, cold spring water that makes some of the hot summer days absolutely perfect.

Out front, there’s the farm store, another log cabin that’s filled with things the visitors have requested – restored cast iron cookware, organic plant based foods, kitchen items and Crooked Cabin Farm logo items.

Finally, as a tribute to the namesake cabin, we have built a brand new “Crooked Cabin” – a whimsical, fairytale style playhouse that marks the entrance to the property and whose existence elicits a smile from passerby’s who remember this place from their childhood when they learned about the “Crooked man who walked a crooked mile….who bought a crooked cat which caught a crooked mouse and they all lived together in a little crooked house”…

We hope that one day, you can come and visit us for one of the farm events or classes. You’ll feel like you’re stepping back into the 1850’s where visitors were always welcomed and where a glass of cold spring water was always waiting. Until then, we hope you enjoy the website.

Greenhouse

The first outdoor building added to Crooked Cabin Farm was a greenhouse designed by Janeen. Sitting in the kerosene lamp lit kitchen of an Amish friend, Janeen sketched out her vision for a building crafted from roughcut Amish lumber and transparent sheets of acrylic…. windows that would open and close… fans for ventilation and room for a stove.

Today, that vision is represented by a beautifully stained building that matches almost exactly what was drawn on that napkin in the Amish kitchen that day. Large trays support the cyclical seasons of seeds growing to seedlings for transplanting, young plants being raised indoors and many herbs, fruits and vegetables never making to outside planting, preferring instead the humid and warm confines of the greenhouse.

Because everything in the greenhouse is heirloom, organic and non-gmo, many of visitors come to the farm to purchase their plants for the season. The feedback has been extremely positive with many customers agreeing with us that organic is not only healthier – but it just tastes better.

All the seedling started in the greenhouse are started in organic soil from organic heirloom seed. The greenhouse features varieties that go back thousands of years. Red, yellow, orange and black tomatoes, beans of every ethnic background, green pumpkins and spaghetti squash, and so many herbs, lettuces, Tokyo onions – come and learn about plants you never heard of. And take home some new taste treats!

Chicken House

When Crooked Cabin Farm started, it was first and foremost an organic farm. Organic fruits, vegetables, and organic free range chickens and eggs…but then, we learned about Whole Plant based nutrition and the eggs had to go.

Crooked Cabin Farm now makes eggs available for those who still want them. We don’t recommend them (in fact, we recommend against them) but we usually have some on hand.

The chickens – who were hand raised on the farm from mail order day old chicks - have now become farm pets. They range the grounds eating any insects on the ground and follow Janeen like puppies.  Every morning, we open the coop door and the ladies flock out to meet us and start their day. When dusk comes, they put themselves to bed and wait for us to close the door.

If you have little ones who have never seen a chicken up close and personal, bring them to the farm. From the green egg laying Americanas to the Barred Rocks, Rhode Island Reds, Wyandottes and others, there’s not an unfriendly chicken in the bunch.

Spring House

If you were able to visit a family farm in the 1800’s, you would have found a spring house where spring water would run year rounds – cold and clear in the summer and creating ice cycles and steam in the winter.

 Crooked Cabin Farm is blessed with a host of springs throughout the property – some less than 18 inches from the surface. With the help of some dear friends, Al and Jeri Fox, we have tapped many of those springs and have tied them together to bring their waters to a 500 gallon tank. From that tank, a line runs to supply a constant flow of fresh, cold spring water on a 24 hour a day basis. We’ve placed that line in the shade of the large apple tree by the farm store – a perfect place to stop, sit and enjoy a glass of the farm’s finest beverage – pure mountain spring water.

Raised Beds

Crooked Cabin Farm is nestled in the mountains of PA. One of the challenges in farm in mountain terrain is… well… the mountain terrain. When laying out her gardens, Janeen decided that she would tackle the task of farming the hillsides – so using rough cut 4 x 4 hemlock posts, Janeen and John constructed 68 tiered, raised beds each roughly 6 feet by 15 feet.

The raised bed system allows the gardener to stand in the back of a bed and work the flat bed above. In addition, each bed is automatically segregated from every other bed so that a different crop can be raised in each. And with 68 beds, there are a lot of options! Amaranth, chocolate mint, strawberries, rattlesnake beans, black krim tomatoes – and the list goes on!

Stop by the farm and see what the beds are filled with now. We’re betting you’ll see a few varieties of plants that you never knew existed….

Pizza Place

We have never visited a log cabin where we saw a pizza oven. Yet, the vast numbers of organic tomatoes, peppers, onions, garlic and more make a pizza oven almost a necessity. What can be more fun than turning out an organic wheat flour pizza crust, topping it with a garden fresh tomato sauce and them adding all the fresh vegetables right out of the garden? Pop it into the pizzaioli oven, wait 90 seconds and enjoy a hot, fresh organic pizza.

The Pizza Pavilion is a 16-24 foot log structure where small groups, families and guests can congregate to enjoy conversation, the weather and the freshest whole plant based pizza that can be found anywhere. Picture the buffet bar where you can add tomato sauce, your choice of vegetables or other toppings and have your pizza just exactly how you like it.

The oven is from Portugal and is an authentic Italian wood fired pizza oven. Burning local ash wood, the flavor is old world with new world fresh taste. And don’t worry about burning yourself – although the temperature inside the oven reaches a scorching 800 degrees, the oven itself will stay cool to the touch so it’s safe for families with small kids. Watch the website and if you’re in the area when we’re doing pizzas, stop by to try the best log cabin pizza made!

Farm Store

Crooked Cabin Farm hosts a variety of activities, all of these associated with “Restoring Health – One Meal at a Time”. Following many of the classes and event, we are asked where people can find cast iron pans, kitchen tools, organic grains, nuts and other things that we talk about. And it’s for this reason that we set up the Crooked Cabin Farm Store.

Cast iron

Every good kitchen needs a few pieces of cast iron cookware. Aluminum has been linked with cognitive degeneration, the fumes from Teflon pans are hazardous and actually kills parakeets and other birds, and some of those other cheap pans just aren’t any good. The challenge is that it’s almost impossible to find real quality in cast iron today as they best iron was made a century ago. Janeen and John collect the vintage cast iron made on the shores of Lake Erie so many years ago. Each piece is restored and seasoned so that visitors can find “brand new” 100 year old cast iron cookware. With over 100 pieces on display at all times, we invite you to come browse and find the perfect piece for you or for a gift.

Kitchen items

Crooked Cabin Farm cooking classes feature many of the Ninja brand products. We don’t get a kickback or any fees – we just love the way the things work! So many people have asked us about getting them that we have added them to the farm store. If you’ve not tried a Ninja kitchen machine, let us take you into the kitchen and show you why we’re so excited about them! Them if you want one, you’ll know where to find one.

Organic grains, nuts, seeds, etc.

Everything we eat is organic. There’s WAY too much research and data for us to go back to GMO or processed foods. We like cooking and using different flours and other ingredients. But where do we find them? It’s not always easy. And when we do find them, sometimes the small quantities we need are a bit pricey. That’s why we’ve started the Farm Store cooperative. Each month, we identify a few things that we are going to purchase. Amaranth flour – brazil nuts – chickpea pasta. We publish a price for a given quantity. Anyone wishing to participate can email back and tell us how much. That way, we can buy a 100 lb. bag and 20 of us can have it at a reasonable cost. Watch this site for more information.

Apparel

We use Crooked Cabin Farm embroidered aprons for the cooking classes. We wear Crooked Cabin Farm embroidered hats and jackets. Friends, neighbors and others like the cabin because it makes them smile. We’ve answered the requests - and now we’re carrying several items of Crooked Cabin Farm apparel.

Other odds and ends

As we travel, we frequently see something that just looks like it will fit into the farm store. We don’t know what you’ll find when you visit the store – but please come by and check us out. It will remind you of a time that has long ago passed us by.

Janeen

Owner, chef, visionary

About Janeen

Janeen Beard has become a well-known speaker and presenter delivering a powerful message on “Restoring health – one meal at a time.” Janeen’s presentations, educational events and classes deal with over 6 decades of research demonstrating that food is one of the most powerful medicines that we can use. She talks about reversing diabetes, reversing health disease and a host of health related issues.

Janeen is a registered nurse who was originally schooled in traditional American medicine (i.e. there is a pill for everything) who came to understand the power of a Whole Plant Based Nutrition program when pills and medicine didn’t work for her. She has done intensive research, has completed plant based courses of study, has graduated from a plant based culinary course, and is a certified holistic nutrition counselor.

Janeen owns a small organic farm where she teaches whole plant based cooking courses and counsels in health and nutrition. She hosts community events, sponsors whole plant based potlucks, gives farm tours and is always excited to talk to people about changing their health – one meal at a time!

If you’re interested in attending a class, scheduling a visit or speaking with Janeen, contact her today. She’s looking forward to hearing from you.

John

Owner, handyman

About John

John is part time on the farm. He has retired from a local regional bank and now serves as the farm’s handyman, chief mechanic, and builder in his free hours.

His background as a former biology and chemistry teacher, scuba instructor and US Marine, Kansas City BBQ judge and itinerant chef, magician, and public speaker have left him with a variety of skills useful to supporting the farm and the back office functions necessary to support the day to day operations.

In addition, John is also a lay pastor who’s ability to conduct weddings and other religious services serves well for weddings and other celebratory events for the Christian faith. Together with Janeen, John is looking forward to seeing you “down on the farm”.