Meet Your Farmer
Meet Liz and Keaton Foster,
the owners of BrixStone Farms. As a couple their mission is to provide fresh fruit and quality maple products throughout Michigan and beyond. Keaton manages the farm full-time and has an extensive background in food production and agriculture. He earned his bachelor's degree from Michigan State University specializing in Agribusiness Management, following that he completed his masters degree in Management, Strategy and Leadership at MSU. Liz also attended Michigan State University where she obtained her bachelor's in The Science of Nursing and a Doctorate in Nursing Practice. In addition to helping around the farm, Liz practices full-time as a family nurse practitioner within the community. Keaton actively serves on the Board of Directors of the Northwest Michigan Horticultural Research Center, Michigan Farm Bureau and the Benzie Manistee Horticultural Society. Together, Keaton and Liz are proud to produce quality fruit and maple products from their farm to your table.
Photo by Dan Stewart Photography
About Our Farm
Located 45 miles southwest of Traverse City, BrixStone Farms is situated within minutes of the scenic shores of Lake Michigan. Our close proximity to the lake provides moderate climate and ideal fruit and maple production. The rolling terrain and bountiful sugar maples provide quality sap that we process into delicious syrup in our newly built state-of-the-art production facility. Northwest Michigan apples have a reputation of providing excellent flavor and quality due to cool nights and ideal soil. The BrixStone Orchards are home to over 25 varieties of apples and peaches. Our fruit is sold to commercial packers, processors and visitors of the farm during the fall harvest. Harvesting fruit and maple from nearly 200 acres, we take great pride in preserving our farmlands utilizing sustainable practices.
Our farm has a long-standing reputation of producing quality fruit. We continually work to maintain and modernize the orchards while focusing on growing healthy and fruitful trees. Since 2019, we have planted over 12,000 apple trees and added new varieties.
We grow our fruit utilizing Integrative Pest Management (IPM), carefully analyzing pest pressure before making necessary applications.
Our farm is verified through Michigan Agricultural Environmental Assurance Program in both Farmstead and Cropping Systems. This verification involves adhering to stringent environmental standards that ensure that we are not negatively impacting the environment through our farming practices. We actively work with our local NRCS office to implement cover cropping programs, establish pollinator habitat and eliminate invasive plant species around the farm.
BrixStone Farms is home to 4 acres of designated pollinator habitat. We establish these patches around the farm to promote a safe and friendly environment for beneficial pollinators like honey bees, monarch butterflies and many more.
BrixStone Orchards are audited annually through Primus GFS ensuring that all practices during harvest are compliant according to food safety standards set forth by the Food Safety Modernization Act.
The orchards at Brixstone have produced apples and peaches for over 80 years and we are proud to produce quality goods utilizing sustainable research driven practices.