"I had always been interested in sustainability and our relationship with nature and environmentalism. I really just wanted to be the change I wished to see in the world. – Christine Cassella
Christine Cassella and Michael Bennett met in 2011, just three years prior to settling the initial 23 acres of their Hambden Township permaculture farm, Light Footsteps, in 2014.
Cassella, the mastermind behind Light Footsteps, grew up in Kirtland and got her feet wet with farming as a child.
“My great-grandma had a farm and so my grandma grew up on a farm,” said Cassella. “I would go to my great-grandma’s farm when I was little and I guess the experience of the soil got inside me. And my mom was always a gardener — mostly flowers. She taught me the basics about how to grow things and how to identify some things. And I think that she was the person who first got the gardening bug in me.”
Bennett’s journey to farming began on the other side of the country. Growing up in California, he earned his first Permaculture Design Certificate from Lost Valley Educational Center in Oregon in 2005.
Although Bennett hadn’t had farming in his family for quite some time, he and Cassella, who met online at greensingles.com, soon discovered they were kindred spirits and the early days of their relationship bloomed through a shared passion for environmentalism.
“We met over this dream to have land,” Cassella said. “Chickens were one of the first things we talked about. And we just connected over this idea to have a homestead farm together.”
At that time, in 2011, Bennett was in Chicago in his final months of working toward his nurse practitioner degree at the University of Illinois. Meanwhile, Cassella was residing in the Old Brooklyn neighborhood of Cleveland and nearing completion of her graduate degree in biology at Case Western Reserve University.
Passion Redirects Careers
Through Cassella’s interest in and study of animal welfare, she was on the career path for academia or as a curator of a zoo.
Having no shortage of ambition, as a hobby, she was simultaneously pursuing her certificate in herbalism through Rosemary Gladstar’s program.
In the spring of 2012, Cassella graduated from CWRU with her Master’s of Science in Biology degree and Bennett graduated from UIC with his Master’s of Science in Nursing degree. That summer, the couple earned Permaculture Design Certificates through Midwest Permaculture in Illinois.
“Permaculture, which means permanent agriculture or permanent culture, involves asking how do we farm without depleting the world’s resources — without using so much carbon — to make it more permanent and long-sighted,” explained Cassella. “We have an agricultural situation right now that requires a lot of fossil fuel input that is not the most sustainable and not really a long-term vision of what agriculture should be.”
Through Cassella’s extracurricular pursuits in both permaculture and herbalism, she discovered her deepest passions were guiding her toward her ultimate career destination.
“I had always been interested in sustainability and our relationship with nature and environmentalism,” said Cassella. “I really just wanted to be the change I wished to see in the world.”
She reflects on her undergraduate and postgraduate work with much gratitude for how it bridged to her current line of work as a permaculturist and herbalist.
“It really helped me to understand the scientific method better and really understand research methods,” said Cassella. “In graduate school, I studied a lot about chronic health conditions because I was looking at chronic diseases in orangutans. So I was learning a lot about chronic diseases in humans because we are primates, too. It was a parallel path, and it makes me feel competent in being able to look at research and help people to understand the safety of herbs.”
Birth & Growth of Light Footsteps
Cassella first created the Light Footsteps concept in 2012, and in the early days of the business’ website, she blogged about her new career path decision.
By 2013 — the same year Cassella and Bennett married on the summer solstice — Light Footsteps launched a botanical products shop on the e-commerce website Etsy.
“I was even making reusable sandwich bags,” said Cassella. “I was making more things to see what stuck — what direction I was really going in — but most was still herbal related. And then it’s just been a process over the years of refining to what sells, what people are interested in buying and also what I like making.”
In 2014 — after the couple got acquainted with their newly purchased 23-acre property, which was formerly an alpaca farm — Light Footsteps’ first official growing season commenced in 2015.
In addition to its growing online presence, the business gained a more local following through farmers markets as well as various craft and vendor shows in the area.
Currently, the homestead property of Light Footsteps includes an organic farm for medicinal herbs and a hügelkultur orchard (raised flower beds based on decaying wood debris), as well as a permaculture herb spiral and keyhole gardens that grow vegetables and additional herbs. Light Footsteps is also home to goats, chickens and beehives.
Beyond Organic Farming & Permaculture in Practice
“We think that we are beyond organic,” said Cassella. “We’re not certified organic because it’s cost prohibitive and a big process that maybe someday we’ll pursue. But we do go above and beyond organic standards.”
Methods at the farm include the avoidance of monoculture planting, which helps to eliminate the need for pesticides.
“All of our plants are planted with other plants that help to either bring good insects or repel bad insects,” explained Cassella. “So we do companion planting in polycultures, which means planting in groups of different plants rather than acres and acres of one crop. When we plant corn, we do the Three Sisters Guild – where we have corn, beans and squash together – which is what the Native Americans taught us a long time ago. And we also feed the soil with compost. There are also compost teas where we soak nutrient-rich plants like nettle or comfrey and then use those to help fertilize the garden. And then chickens are really good for turning the soil and for eating different insects.”
Through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Resources Conservation Service, there is an initiative that has enabled conservation-minded farmers like Cassella and Bennett to receive a high tunnel.
Having a high tunnel now enables Light Footsteps to start seeds earlier in the season, thereby extending the growing season.
Handmade Botanical Products
Light Footsteps sells many topical and edible botanical products, which are derived from herbs and plants directly grown on the farm. Offerings include soaps, salves, lip balms, herbal baby powder, energy-clearing smudge sprays and a wide array of teas.
“I love blending teas because you’re really right there with the plants, and it’s beautiful and aromatic,” said Cassella. “When I’m stirring them up, I try to include a wish. For example, if it’s my nourishing pregnancy tea, I put a little prayer in there like I hope the person who drinks this has a wonderful pregnancy. It’s a way for me to connect with a customer I’ve never even met and it’s just a lovely process.”
In the spring, Cassella infused the farm’s dandelions into a massage oil and also made soaps from them.
“So even weeds like that I am often harvesting,” said Cassella. “The flower is great for making soaps and oils, and the leaves are a good general nutritive food to eat. I have a dandelion detox tea and dandelion leaves are also in my postpartum tea blend. The roots are also really great herbal digestive aids – good for getting the digestive system flowing and to help your liver process toxins.”
Cassella explained Light Footsteps’ elderberry syrup mix is similar to blending a tea and it is the business’ best-selling item. Third-party herbal products are occasionally offered as well – typically through working in conjunction with other local herbalists so they can support one another.
“And sometimes, I sell my elderberry syrup mix together as a package with honey from the Haines family farm in Hambden,” said Cassella.
It Takes a Village
Coinciding with the growth of their business, Cassella and Bennett grew their family, adding a new kind of light footsteps to their household — two daughters, Cora, 4, and Sage, 16 months.
With Cassella also managing the operations of Light Footsteps and Bennett working as a full-time nurse practitioner, the pair increasingly found the need to turn to resources outside of their home for assistance with farm life.
A recently built pavilion on Light Footsteps’ original farmland space will enable the farm’s employees to stay on-site longer.
In terms of balancing home life with work life, Cassella said she really values being a mother while Light Footsteps also remains a passion.
“Right now, my season of life is young children because I really want to be a primary figure for the girls, especially while they’re young,” she said. “I like to be forthcoming that I have helpers. There are a lot of things that I see for myself in the future. I see more books, online classes and more classes in the community. But for now, I have to say I’m good – this is good – this is what I’m doing right now and it’s enough. What I try to teach others and what I try to live by example is that the model of being hyperproductive and always busy is not what I want to participate in or say that I’m doing here.”
For that reason, Light Footsteps has a farm manager, Margaret Sankey, of Leroy Township.
“Margaret is my savior,” said Cassella. “She works 25 to 30 hours each week and is really tenacious.”
Sankey began apprenticing at Light Footsteps in early 2015.
“My main duties are taking care of the goats and chickens and working on the vegetable garden and medicinal herb garden,” said Sankey. “I start all the seeds and plant everything and also maintain through weeding, mulching and preparing the compost. And I also harvest the herbs and dry them. We use a lot of calendula, aloe, mountain mint, peppermint, spearmint and mugwort for products.”
Sankey’s previous training included enrollment in an AmeriCorps program in Colorado that was focused on health and wellness, as well as farming jobs through the World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms in the U.S. and South and Latin America. Likewise, Sankey met Cassella through WWOOF.
“I love working for Christine because she’s so knowledgeable and she’s definitely been a really good teacher,” said Sankey. “I knew a lot about how to sow seeds and grow things, but prior to meeting her, I never really learned the process of making medicines from the plants and what the medicinal properties are of each plant.”
Sankey also served as Cassella’s doula for her second homebirth.
“So we are connected in that way, too,” said Sankey. “It’s really cool to be able to have her knowledge – she’s specific with herbs for womanhood and for pregnancy. So that has also been very helpful for me to refer my doula clients to her products. I love that she focuses on that.”
This summer, the Light Footsteps crew included Madeleine Zimmermann, of Cleveland.
“I’ve done a lot of general farm work,” said Zimmermann. “I’ve also created a lot of content for Christine – several blog posts, countless photos and a couple workshops.”
Zimmermann assisted with herb harvesting and processing and provided domestic support as a fill-in babysitter, errand runner and laundry helper.
A third employee, Christine Lewis, has been assisting Cassella for a couple years on a part-time basis — helping to make teas when needed.
Reaping the Rewards
One of the most important things to Cassella about her work is helping put self-care back in the hands of the community.
“It’s really rewarding to have people start to make the connections,” she said. “I in no way ever want to come across that I don’t like Western medicine or that I don’t think you should see a doctor. I do think there are a lot of things we can deal with in our own homes that people have forgotten or just don’t know about. Things that people have always done before like basic cold and flu prevention or basic first aid. I really like helping people realize that they can do that.”
Cassella said she is thankful to have found something she is not only passionate about, but the community is receptive to, enabling her to work from home and stay with her children.
“I get to do both,” she said. “And they get to grow up on a farm and learn about plants and see me make soap and meet a lot of young women who come through and want to learn from me.”
See related article for more information on classes available at Light Footsteps.
