Meet Chris Schell of Schell Family Farm

Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris Schell.

Hi Chris, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Schell Family Farm was established in 2017 when my wife, Dea, and I, along with our children Alex, Elizabeth and Jacob decided to turn our 250 acre property and hobby field into a Christmas tree farm and orchard. Since both of these crops need to grow for several years before harvesting, we realized we needed to add other crops to start building the farm. This is when we decided to add annual crops such as pumpkins and sunflowers.
August of 2019 is when the farm first opened to the public with sunflowers. Our farm is one of the first u-pick sunflower farms in Michigan. Visitors came from hours away to see the beautiful fields. There were no buildings, just a 20×30 tent where we welcomed our guests.
In February of 2020, I met Don, the owner of Apple View Orchard, to see what equipment he was selling as they decided to close their orchard. During that discussion, Don mentioned they were tearing out all of their apple trees so I asked if he would mind if I tried to dig them up and transplant them on the farm. He told me to go for it since they were just going to chip the trees anyway. After consulting with Michigan State University and being told there’s little to no chance the trees would survive, we still decided to try. At the time we were “young, dumb, and broke”, so we took a crew of about 15 friends and family to the farm to dig up the trees. After two days of digging and transporting, we had 1,400 mature trees to plant in the late winter. Currently 90% of those trees are still thriving and producing apples. These trees allowed us to start selling apples 3 years sooner than originally expected.
Every year, thereafter, Schell Family Farm has continued to grow, adding wildflowers, cut flowers, u-pick fruits and vegetables, and a corn maze among other things. In 2021 we also built a farm market that holds merchandise, farm products, and treats like homemade donuts, apple cider slushies and Ashby’s ice cream.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
As farmers, we strive to produce the best products we can, but Mother Nature causes many challenges that are out of our control. In the past we have lost full crops of apples, peaches and plums to weather related factors such as frost and hail, along with blocks of Christmas trees due to drought.
As beautiful as the wildlife is, it is a huge issue, too. Deer love to rub their horns and eat the Christmas trees. We also lost our cherry tree crop, tomato plants and previous years’ sunflower fields to hungry critters. One bite out of a pumpkin causes it to rot. In 2024, 70% of our pumpkins had bites before the were ripe. Birds will walk down a corn field that is just germinating and eat each plant, clearing the entire row.
Christmas trees are especially challenging. They take 8-10 years to grow, which means there’s 8-10 years we need to protect them from all of Mother Nature’s tricks.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Schell Family Farm is an agritourism farm, meaning it integrates tourism into the agricultural process allowing visitors to experience picking their own products. Our #1 goal is to create a welcoming atmosphere and budget-friendly experience for all members of the family to enjoy. We hope that every single person that visits knows that they are appreciated and hope they will want to visit again. While you’re on the farm, there is a good chance you will meet at least one of the Schell children. They love being out there working, playing or chatting. Jake, the youngest, may even give you a tour.
The farm is diverse in the crops it grows. They start in July with u-pick peaches and a variety of flowers (sunflowers, wildflowers and cut flowers such as dahlias). Then they transition into the late summer crops of u-pick apples, corn, and garden veggies and fruit. The fall crops are pumpkins and mums. They close the season with Christmas trees.
Along with the crops, Schell Family Farm has a market that houses their farm-made syrup, honey and other farm related merchandise, and concessions. There is also a play area for the kids to enjoy and several picnic tables spread around to enjoy snacks from the farm or a packed lunch.
During the summer season, the farm is open in the evenings for photography sessions, allowing customers to capture the farm during the golden hour.
New for 2025 will be a nighttime Christmas lights walk-through. This will be a fun evening experience throughout the fields and the woods of the farm.
We pride ourselves in being very community oriented. We love sponsoring several events and organizations throughout the year including Pinckney’s St Patrick’s Day Parade, Spooktackular, Light Up the Park, and Pinckney/Hamburg Baseball/Softball Association. Also, every spring we partner with Adiska Dental to host our annual free Easter egg hunt. For 2025, there were over 20,000 eggs spread over an 8 acre field with a chance to win over 20 basket prizes.

Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
There are so many people who have helped us get to where we are today.
Our friends and family that have volunteered their time to turn the dream into a reality.
Our community, both customers and other business owners, that have been there to help us as we navigate through the ups and downs.
Mentors turned friends that we met through the Michigan Christmas Tree Association and Michigan Agritourism Association, especially Peacock Road Family Farm in Laingsburg and The Wild Pumpkin in Beaverton.
Our wonderful customers from outside the community that continue to visit us each year. We appreciate the extra time you spend travelling to see us.
We have made so many wonderful friends through this process that will never understand how much we appreciate each and every one of them.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.schellfamilyfarm.com
• Instagram: schellfamilyfarmmi
• Facebook: Schell Family Farm