About My Farm

My name is Kenneth Asmus. I started a nursery in the early 1980’s called Oikos Tree Crops. It is a thirteen acre farm and is located in southwestern Michigan, USA. I liked my nursery and staying connected to my farm, the earth and the people I served and worked alongside. But like all good things, it had to come to an end. After forty plus years, I closed the nursery in 2021 and immediately started focusing on my writing about my life long experiences in farming and my love of plants. I quickly began using my repository of plants for seeds and began evaluating all the plants I had established in my open pasture converting to a food forest rich in diversity on a global scale. These stories which I can now share to a broader audience are connected to my life in some way all of which started from my family when I was a young child. This in turn changed the way I relate to the world while realizing the power of unity amidst diversity. It became the framework of my tree farm in the realm of tree crops and other perennial ideas related to forestry and agriculture. Today my main focus is on the crops from my seed repository of edible food plants from around the world. You can read about many of my discoveries and interests on the website: https://oikostreecrops.com along with my most recent research projects and plant related discoveries and releases. In the wake of closing my farm as a nursery and opening my doors to seed production, I rediscovered many of these plants and how they could play a role in the future of agriculture. You may not read it in the news or find this knowledge in a book on a shelf, but it is a repeatable experiment and one  useful to the generations following me in the years to come.  After all who would do this conversion of a field to a forest and live long enough to tell the story of how it happened?!  This is my experience of planting trees and discovering ideas worth doing again as well as sharing this information to others.

Seeds are offered for sale to help support my tree farm which allows further research to continue along with making new plant releases available. Starting in 2026 and 2027 tables are being made using milled lumber from the trees I planted from seeds years ago. From Seed to Table. Everything produced at my farm is done using all organic methods. Further writings are posted here and the Oikos Tree Crops website.  My main interests are global woody plant agroforestry and perennial crops but I constantly search for new types of annual and wild crops. A personal interest of mine is ecological enrichment using the world’s flora to create healthy forms of agriculture and fulfill its life supporting occupation. This is agreeing with all cultures going back to the origins of agriculture more than 5000 years ago. Every species despite its origin or status can be easily employed by all to help solve the world’s food problems. This is biological and ecological enrichment defined by the beneficial effects of plants employed as a means to help create healthy food and a healthy world.  It can be applied anywhere at anytime by any one individual. 

Enjoy. Kenneth Asmus

All material found in this blog is copyrighted and cannot be used without permission. Copyright 2025. Photographic images, artwork and writing is the sole property of Kenneth Asmus of Oikos Tree Crops and cannot be copied or used in any format.