Ali-Härri Farm Before Us
Karl Fredrik Wiberg purchased the property in 1873. For decades, Ali-Härri was a working mixed farm. A 1930s agricultural register records it in detail: 5 horses, 20 cows, 1 bull, 15 pigs, 7 sheep, and 25 chickens. The fields grew rye, wheat, oats, barley, potatoes, root crops, and hay. The farm sold grain, milk, and meat to the local cooperative dairy. It fed the community and employed people from it.
That diversity didn't last. Across Finland and much of Europe, post-war agricultural policy pushed farms toward specialisation. Mixed farms gave way to monocultures. Ali-Härri followed the same path. Under Antti and Liisa Härri — Johannes's parents — the farm focused on grain and cereal production for nearly four decades. They invested in the infrastructure the farm needed: a grain dryer in 2000, silos in 2008, a machine hall in 2013.
Antti retired in 2020. Since then, the fields have been managed by a neighbouring organic cattle farmer, who grew two years of grain followed by three years of hay for silage. When we took over in 2025, the land had been free of conventional inputs for five years.
Johannes' Story
Johannes grew up on this farm — helping with the work, learning the rhythms of the seasons, experiencing both the rewards and the difficulties of farming life. For a long time, becoming a farmer himself wasn't the obvious path. He left Kuusjoki for a student exchange in Sweden, and that exchange year turned into over a decade abroad. He worked in municipal and regional government, managing elections and emergency preparedness.
But the connection to Ali-Härri never fully went away. Johannes has always been drawn to nature and to the question of how to care for this particular piece of it — its soil and its forests — while keeping it productive for the next generation. Now, he's back.
Steven's Journey
Steven grew up outdoors in the American West — hiking and camping in the Rocky Mountains and the red rock desert of Utah, then high school in Wisconsin, and a degree from Penn State. In 2013, he moved to Sweden to pursue his studies at Lund University.
He stayed for a decade. A PhD in sustainability, then work as a Pedagogical Developer at Lund University. During his tenure, he co-hosted the podcast 'Advancing Sustainable Solutions'. Throughout, he was active in his community and engaged in the questions of how systems actually change. After ten years of researching and teaching sustainability, he wanted to practice it – not in a classroom, but on the land.
How We Found Each Other
We met on Tinder while living in Malmö, Sweden. Early on, we talked about farming. We both wanted work that was meaningful, varied, and connected to a place. We were drawn to farming where you could see the results of your effort in the soil, with the animals, in the food.
In 2020, we bought a small homestead in Småland, Sweden. For a few years, we experimented. Fruit trees, potatoes, a kitchen garden. We learned what we didn't know, which was a lot. We also learned that we were capable of more. In 2025, we took over Ali-Härri Farm.
Why This, Why Now
We're not returning the farm to 1930. But, we're returning to the operating principle that a farm works best when it's diverse, integrated, and rooted in its community. The difference is that we now have ecological frameworks and measurement tools that the previous generations didn't.
When we look at that 1930 register, we see a farm that functioned as a system: animals fed the land, the land fed the animals, and the surplus fed the village. That logic still holds. We want to rebuild it with regenerative principles, holistic management, and honest data about whether it's working.
We also want to bring something new. Kuusjoki is a small village. We want Ali-Härri to be a place where people come — for eggs, for events, for courses, for volunteering. We want the farm to be as open as the landscape around it. Part of what we're cultivating here isn't crops or livestock. It's community.