Forest Village Farm is a small agroforestry farm on 8 acres along South High Street, owned and operated by Rose Pelzl. What started as a plan to clear invasive plants choking out the woods, has grown into a working farm: a food forest, beds of woodland wildflowers, and mushrooms cultivated right on the land.
Rose is clearing invasive plants, cleaning up the property, and renovating the old nursery buildings — while landscaping with native plants, growing berries, teas, mosses, shrubs, and trees. It's slow, hands-on work, and it's built one clearing, one planting, one harvest at a time.
The bigger dream is further out: a place where neighbors can relax, garden, and play together, cared for with an ecological mindset. That's still taking shape — thank you for being patient with the process, and for being part of the story as it grows.
Growing things in this ground isn't new to the family. Before it was ever Yellow Springs, this area was known as Forest Village — the name the settlement carried from the 1820s until it was incorporated as Yellow Springs in 1856. Forest Village Farm's name reaches back to that same ground.
In 1870, Rose's ancestor William Wallace Carr founded Carr's Nurseries here — evergreen specialists known across the region for their wholesale and retail nursery stock, from general nursery trees to evergreen propagating stock grown in their own greenhouses.
The nursery's office and packing grounds stood at the terminus of South High Street, a short walk from the old train depot — this is the same ground Forest Village Farm sits on today. Some of the farm's large trees were planted as part of the original nursery, still growing here more than a century later. Carr's Nurseries went on to become a member of the American Association of Nurserymen and kept shipping evergreens under the family name for generations, with wholesale trade lists still going out as late as the 1950s.
Forest Village Farm carries that same thread forward: a family still coaxing green things out of this particular patch of Ohio ground, more than 150 years later.
What we're growing
This is a dream taking root, one clearing at a time — not a catalog to shop from. Where invasive brush once choked the ground, a food forest is coming up in its place: native trees and shrubs, woodland wildflowers, berries and tea plants, mushrooms in the leaf litter, moss creeping back over bare soil, and timber set aside to become something lasting. Nothing here is rushed, and we hope you'll enjoy watching it unfold as much as we do.
Life on the farm
A little of what a season here looks like.
Someday, this land will be a place to relax, garden, and play together as a community. These are some of the ideas taking shape, a little at a time.
A buried greenhouse
Built into the ground for natural insulation and a longer growing season.
An outdoor roller-skating rink
A place for the neighborhood to skate outdoors.
Treenet houses
Net platforms built up in the trees.
A neighborhood dog-walking path
A path through the property for neighbors to walk their dogs.
A bike and buggy racing track
A track winding through the woods.
Farm stand
We run an occasional pop-up farm stand for mushrooms, native plants and tree seedlings, firewood, and lumber. Pop-ups and plant swaps are announced on our Facebook page.
Good to know
We're building a permanent farm stand on High Street — until then, keep an eye on our Facebook page for pop-up dates and what's ready to pick up.
Get in touch
Questions, orders, or wholesale inquiries — send us a note and we'll get back to you.