A person in overalls examining liquid in a test tube and syringe indoors.

Gavi Welbel, cofounder and Research Coordinator of Zumwalt Acres, examines a tube while studying the PH balance of soil at the farm. Gavi Welbel and her twin sister Remi are the youngest generation of Zumwalts to work the farm.

Zumwalt Acres

Twins Gavi and Remi Welbel returned to their Illinois family farm to practice regenerative farming and conduct research on climate change mitigation with other young farmers and scientists-in-training.

Growing up in Chicago, Gavi and Remi Welbel loved to visit their grandparents’ farm in eastern Illinois. They gathered for meals around the farmhouse table and chased cousins through acres of corn and soy. 

Their young, rural relatives were expected to continue farming, but most moved to cities for more reliable livelihoods. After their grandparents died, the house sat empty for years.

Iroquois County, where the Welbels farm, is entrenched in industrialized farming, a large-scale system that relies on monocrops like corn and soy and can lead to degraded soil, polluted water and the loss of biodiversity. It also requires fewer people to work the land, which drives population decline and business closures.

In 2020, the Welbels returned to establish Zumwalt Acres as a research farm. They also built relationships with neighboring farmers.

“There is common ground between regenerative farmers and conventional farmers,” Gavi said. “They care about the soil. They also care about their livelihood, and they care about the vitality of their community that they've seen stripped away by industrial agriculture.”

A rural scene with a farmhouse, silo, and large tree at sunset. A few parked cars are visible near the house, and a fence runs along a grassy field.

Apprentice farmers live communally in the Zumwalt family farm house.

Group of young adults working on laptops around a table, with natural light streaming through a window.

From right, Gavi Welbel and Hannah Kahn Glass lead a group meeting before a day filled with farm work.

Tomatoes ripening on a windowsill with sunlight streaming through glass panes.
Person carrying a crate of leafy greens on a farm, wearing a bucket hat and blue shirt, with barns in the background.

Tomatoes ripen in the greenhouse.

Zumwalt Acres apprentice and Loyola University-Chicago graduate Eric Luu harvests chard for lunch.

Dining table with various dishes and drinks, including a salad bowl, jars, and water bottles.

At Zumwalt Acres, apprentices live together in the Zumwalt family farm house, cooking vegetarian meals made using the crops they grow.

Aerial view of a person working in a lush green cornfield.

Zumwalt Acres apprentice and Carlton College graduate Tuomas Sivula measures the height of corn stalks while gathering soil samples as part of research on how basalt and biochar can improve soil quality, mitigate a farm’s carbon footprint and grow healthier and more productive crops.

Two people working in a field with young plants and protective tubes. One person is using a mallet, and the other is handling a tool, possibly for planting or maintenance.

Zumwalt Acres apprentice and Washington University student Stephanie Berger sets up a tree tube to protect young saplings from pests or other dangers. The apprentices planted 1,066 trees in the spring and are studying the affects of biochar on their growth and health.

Clothesline with various face masks and socks hanging outdoors.

In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, recently laundered face masks hang to dry outside of the Zumwalt Acres farmhouse where the apprentices live.

Person in glasses harvesting leafy greens in a garden

Remi Welbel, cofounder and Education Coordinator of Zumwalt Acres, harvests Dinosaur Kale. Remi and her twin sister Gavi are the youngest generation of Zumwalts to work the farm.

Person sorting yellow squash and cucumbers in a white cooler.

Zumwalt Acres apprentice and Brown University student Jesse Miller brings fresh vegetables to the Sheldon Area Food pantry.

Person carrying a basket near a vehicle trunk in front of a food pantry in a small town setting.
Person stepping down from the back of a truck trailer, with tools and wood planks nearby, outdoor setting, overgrown grass and trees in the background.

Zumwalt Acres apprentice Joey Finnegan leaps down from a trailer where he’s building a refrigerator to store vegetables grown on the farm.

Group of people enjoying an outdoor meal at a round table in a backyard setting, surrounded by greenery and rustic structures, with various food, water bottles, and a pet cat present.

From left, Hannah Kahn Glass, Gavi Welbel and Remi Welbel eat dinner together after a long day of work on the farm. The Welbels are the youngest generation of Zumwalts to work the farm.

Person in striped shirt blowing on a fire pit outdoors, with trees and a barn in the background.

Zumwalt Acres apprentice and Washington University student Stephanie Berger starts a fire to create biochar, an indigenous, carbon-rich soil additive.