Matt and Kathleen Noggle of Noggle Farms.

The Manchester Mirror is running a series of articles to introduce the many vendors at Acorn Farmers’ Market & Café to the community. Each week a different vendor will be featured, to highlight the wide variety of offerings at our local Market, both now and in the future. Watch for this regular feature to learn more about the people who make up the backdrop to this unique Manchester business!

This week’s featured vendor is Noggle Farms, located in Manchester Township. The family has been in Manchester since the 1860s, and started raising cattle in the 1970s. Matt and Kathleen Noggle, the current generation, moved back to Manchester in 2017 to be more involved in the farm, and are now part owners.

In addition to Acorn, the Noggles sell their beef at Plane Food Market in Stockbridge, Grand River Farmers Market in Jackson, and directly from the farm.

Matt and Kathleen got encouragement from Jae Gerhart at MSU Extension, and that helped them to get connected to Acorn once they were ready to start selling beef to the public around 2019.

“We raise beef cattle that are primarily Simmental-Angus influenced,” Kathleen explains. “All of our cattle are pasture-raised as calves, and finished on a grain-based diet. This is what provides its outstanding tenderness and beef flavor.”

Their favorite thing about being an Acorn Farmers’ Market vendor is the people! “Everyone is soooo easy to work with and great about communicating with us,” Kathleen says. “When I make a delivery I usually get asked things like, ‘Is there anything you would like us to focus on?’ or ‘Is there anything you need help moving?’ This is so helpful to me because they are truly trying to help my farm and they understand that there is more to beef than just hamburger and ribeyes.”

Matt and Kathleen look forward to keeping their product on Acorn shelves once it moves to its new location next month. They are eager to get to know more people in the Manchester community.

“I’m also excited to hopefully start sharing some of our own Noggle Beef recipes with community members,” Kathleen says. “I’m hoping that one day we will even be able to offer cooking demonstrations or beef samples to Acorn customers.”

You can find Noggle farms on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NoggleFarms, Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/noggle_farms/, and at their Website: www.nogglefarms.com.