Annie Warmke

Annie Warmke is an activist who believes in an aristocracy of the sensitive, the considerate, and the plucky. This belief system has taken her on an amazing adventure, with life experiences ranging from being a homeless battered woman to organizing 22 rural family violence projects, and building Ohio’s first Earthship.

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Annie has led delegations of women all over the world to build networks, translated health and safety manuals for French sex workers, written a widely popular newspaper column during her life in Europe, and received numerous awards for her work in sustainability and organizing.

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In 2004, Annie returned to Ohio to co-found, farm, and live at Blue Rock Station Sustainability Center. Her work included teaching periodic workshops on cheese making, food forest garden creation, natural goat care, and alternative building techniques. She worked with a variety of women to organize Women Grow Ohio and Buffalo Gals Voices. She has written books on natural goat care and created a weekly nationally syndicated podcast (When the Biomass Hits the Wind Turbine) with her husband, Jay Warmke.

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In 2024, Annie began working on a food forest garden in Marietta OH. Her goal was to demonstrate the power that urban backyards have to grow food, and create living systems that can adapt to climate change.​

In 2025, Annie left her farm to move permanently to Marietta. This was following a serious injury that required her to learn to walk again. She recently re-instituted the League of Extraordinary Girl Scientists as a summer program.

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She is a mentor to many, and is a graduate of Ohio University. Annie mentors the PioBiz at Marietta College, and is a member of Women, Food and Agriculture Network, Zonta Mid-Ohio Valley, and the Ohio Education Food & Farm Association.

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Annie Warmke has spent her life turning adversity into action. From surviving homelessness to becoming an international voice in sustainability, women’s leadership, and regenerative farming.

Now based in Marietta Ohio, she runs Warmke Farm, a food forest garden business where she teaches how small urban spaces can grow food, restore ecosystems, and inspire hope.

Jay Warmke

Jay Warmke is Annie's husband and a pioneer in solar installation training. After co-authoring the first comprehensive textbook on renewable energy with Annie in 2009, Jay began training teachers to utilize the book. Eventually becoming a leading expert in the field of solar energy education, Jay has introduced students from all over the world to the field of solar energy through online courses and textbooks.​

The Ricks Family

The current farm family at Blue Rock Station includes Sarah, Jason, and their children Cora and Corbin. This incredible family features artists, educators, community organizers, brewers, land stewards, and overall incredible people who are committed to sustainable living and regenerative agricultural practices that foster long-term well-being for all.

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About them, Annie says: "Jay and I are so impressed by the Ricks; their work ethic, their ability to assimilate, their quest for knowledge and their relationship as a family. Pretty much every week we are texting, on the phone or meeting up. Cora, who is 14 now, is in the League of Extraordinary Girl Scientists and Sarah is co-leading the group with me. Corbin, who is 15 now, graduated from Jay's solar installer 46 hour hybrid class, and is now the youngest certified installer in the Electronic Technician Association's history. Working together has inspired us, and proven to us that when we look back on this time in our evolution we will be amazed at what was accomplished professionally and personally."

Carie Starr

Carie Starr raises bison at Cherokee Valley Bison Ranch in Thornville, Ohio. She does this with a whole lot of heart and a deep respect for her Cherokee roots, tending the land the way her grandmother taught — with balance, gratitude, and good sense. Importantly, she is also Annie's friend and co-conspirator.

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Carie worked with Annie Warmke to start Buffalo Gals Voices, a project that created spaces for women to swap stories, learn real‑world farm skills, and cheer each other on to be confident leaders. Across and beyond Ohio, Carie has inspired people to step into farming, bison ranching, and land‑based entrepreneurship. 

Folks know her for her easy laugh, grounded wisdom, and the way she can make even the toughest farm task feel doable. While she has many super powers, there is no denying her wit and wordplay, which is often belly-laughing funny. Carie shows up with kindness, grit, and a whole lot of community spirit.

Paulo Da Silva and Lucilia Silva

Twenty-five years ago, Lucilia Silva met Annie Warmke in Tampa, Florida. While trilingual today, at the time, she did not speak English. Back then, Annie and Lucilia went on picnics, spoke a little Spanish together, and pointed to photos a lot. Their friendship has provided hearty laughter and enduring memories.

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Paulo Da Silva came to Tampa from his native Brazil to work for BICSI with Jay. There, it became clear that they are "brothers with different mothers," despite occasional World-Cup-related disagreements. Paulo is an engineer by trade, but also excels as a salesperson and is eager to explore. He has traveled to 114 countries and hardly stays home for more than a few days. He is in a hurry to know at least one person in every part of the world.

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Lucilia and Paulo have been with Jay and Annie through everything you can imagine. Their friendship has supported Annie and Jay in overcoming hard times. They show up when anything less would be “enough,” but the showing up makes the biggest of differences.

About them, Annie says, "when we get to have time together it is pure happiness, and when we part it is with pure sadness."

Mona Cook-Haught

Mona practices law in Ohio. She is the owner of nine acres in the hills of southeastern Ohio where she is cultivating at risk forest medicinals and running her young business, Appalachian Herb Company.

Calvin

Calvin has an associates degree in Anthropology from Columbus State Community College and is set to study Sociology and computer science at OSU in the spring of 2027. Calvin loves research and learning about how human made tools and systems shape ourselves and our world.

Calvin's first experience interning for Annie Warmke was in the summer of 2024, when he and his partner Emma fell in love with tending to the land and those on it. Calvin feels that the work is in service of the community which has arisen from Blue Rock Station and perhaps even the earth itself. Calvin doesn't care if he is romanticizing "what is effectively landscaping and electronics recycling," believing that no effort is wasted.

Beyond Warmke Farm, Calvin works at Lowes in the garden center, where he subversively recommends sustainable (and cheaper!) alternatives for landscaping products to customers while loading mulch.

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Additionally, Calvin enjoys mending clothes, single player video games, hiking, and coming up with new recipes. 

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"When I am in Marietta and not working I like to read about theology,  sociology, and prehistory; that is, when I am not meandering in the cemetery. I of course also love the time I get to spend talking with Annie about her career as an activist and with Jay about the really important stuff like John Prine." - Calvin

Eve Smith

Eve came to Annie Warmke looking for a unique experience with the natural world. Eve believes that perspectives are a valuable part of the human life, so she wanted to observe and connect to nature in a new and unfamiliar way.

"Nature is wise and beautiful in many ways, and to be able to collaborate with the land is a gift I’m thankful to have received." - Eve

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Eve lives in Marietta, Ohio, and is currently attending Marietta College and working in the campus greenhouse. She loves pleasant weather, cooking, nature, and relaxing by reading stories or spending time with her sweet dog Abba.

Eve believes that the League of Extraordinary Girl Scientists is a thoughtful contribution to the empowerment of young women, especially considering how broad and intimidating the many intricacies of scientific learning can be. Eve feels that providing girls with the encouragement, confidence, and knowledge they need to know about scientific fields helps promote an important understanding of the self and of our world with observational methodology. 

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"On Eve's first visit to Warmke Farm it was clear that in her view she had entered a world she had been seeking; one filled with gratitude, activism, learning and plants." - Annie Warmke

Willow Bryn Rosser

After reconnecting with their great aunt and uncle (Annie & Jay) at Blue Rock Station, Willow began working for them as a student consultant and contractor in 2023. As such, Willow has focused on providing creative insight and direction for events, animating educational content about solar power, assisting Annie with graphic/web design, managing Annie's online portfolio, and even occasionally helping out on the farm.

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Beyond this, Willow's professional, scholarly, and personal development has been deeply shaped by their experience as a Queer person living in the Midwest. Willow is currently pursuing an MA/PhD in Family Social Science at the University of Minnesota, researching LGBTQ+ people and families across the lifespan using intersectional and minority stress frameworks that interrogate interlocking systems of oppression across all ecological levels.​

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Personally, Willow enjoys making art of all kinds (especially involving writing), reading, listening to podcasts, being mediocre at many hobbies/sports, and spending time with their incredible partner Téa.

Ian McSweeney

"Ian McSweeney’s life’s work is centered on the human connection to land and each other, framed through the understanding that food and agriculture are great separating and connecting forces between people and land." (Farmer's Land Trust)

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​Read more here

Kristina Villa

"Kristina Villa is a farmer, communicator, and community coordinator who believes that our relationship to the soil shapes the health of our bodies, our economies, and our communities." (Farmer's Land Trust)

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Read more here