About Us
Welcome to Up North Heritage Farm where we specialize in high-quality pasture-raised products. We are the Wierema Family, consisting of Justin, Melissa, and our two children Lily and Gavin, living and working on 42 beautiful acres in Grand Traverse County.
We packed up our lives in the Chicago suburbs in 2017 on a whim with a dream of living a simple life up north. We landed just east of Traverse City in Williamsburg, MI not knowing a single person and only visiting the area one time before. Although everyone thought we were crazy, we were just ready for an adventure. With a love for all things natural and toxic-free, we were always searching for the most nutritious and delicious food available. We made the decision to produce the cleanest food we could in the most ethical way possible. With Justin's love of all animals and pure determination and research, he went from CNC programmer to lead farmer overnight. Melissa went from an emergency room crisis therapist to a full-time mom and farmer.
You can find us out and about in Traverse City and Elk Rapids area enjoying the great outdoors and amazing restaurants we have in the area. We spend our hot days at the beach and on our boat enjoying the crystal clear waters of northern Michigan. The farm kids can be found digging in the dirt, cuddling baby animals, and wandering the field with their imagination. Lily enjoys soccer, Mt Holiday ski team, and softball. Gavin enjoys skiing, hockey, and baseball.
Our Promise
We raise our animals like they are family. We love them and provide for them and make sure that they are happy. In turn, they provide us with delicious and healthy meat! We wholeheartedly believe that grass-fed and pasture-raised is better. It's better for the animals, it's key to a healthy land/ecosystem, and it's more nutritious for us. Triple win. We practice ethical farming techniques that provide a positive and economic impact on our neighbors and we care about our community! Grass-fed and pasture-raised (which ALL of our animals are) means that they live in the grass for their entire lives. They are rotated through our pastures so they always have new food to eat, new places to forage and root, and our Mangalitsa pigs are natural rototillers. Our pigs have a 5-acre apple orchard which is the literal version of a Pig's heaven. We do not cut corners, we never feed our animals corn, soy, or antibiotics, and it shows. Our meat is top-quality, extremely flavorful, and very nutritious, and our farm is a happy place for all of us that live there.
