About Us
The Land
We are extremely lucky to have found the farm that we purchased in May 2015: we were actually driving home from looking at another piece of land, and we took the 'scenic' way home and happened upon an auction sign... 2 months later, we won the auction!
122 total acres, some of which is prime muck soil from a ice-age glacial lake bottom, an equal mix of forest and pasture, and a 200+ year-old stone farmhouse with hand hewn beams. We unfortunately had to tear down the old barn, as it was too damaged from years of exposure and hurricane Sandy, but we salvaged as much barn wood as we could. It's a preserved farm as well, so it will remain as agricultural land into the future that can't be subdivided and developed.
The land has been farmed since the house was built in 1790, so far as we know, and has been through everything from vegetables to soy & corn, timber harvesting, and even sod. This has been hard on the land, and many nutrients have been stripped away, including some topsoil from sod cutting.
Our intensive pasture based farming style, also known know as 'mob grazing', actually builds topsoil and replenishes nutrients over time. We won't need to buy any fertilizers, or spreaders, as the animals will do that themselves, and the deep rooted pastures will bring up minerals from the soil to improve the fertility as well.
The center of the land is a 70 acre wetlands preserve, where the previous owner sold farming rights back to the state. While we can't farm it, we couldn't be happier! We can still hike through its forest, go bird watching, or just have some peace & quiet time. We feel it's important to set aside some land & spare it from intensive agriculture - after all, the wildlife needs a home too!










The Farmers
Ryan Lacz
Ryan has always had a great passion for animals and a love of nature. He was working at the National Zoo in Washington DC, when he and his wife, Liz, decided get back to nature and start a farm! So Ryan and Liz moved up to New Jersey to be closer to family and to begin Four Fields Farm.
Fun farm fact: The farm was named after the Irish pub where Ryan and Liz first met in Washington DC.
Liz Balchin
Liz is a graduate form Bath Spa University in England with a degree in Ceramics. She has alway had a love for animals and getting dirty. She was a manager at a store in Washington, DC when she and her husband, Ryan, decided to move up to New Jersey to start a farm.
Fun farm fact: Liz really gets a crack out of how the pigs scratch themselves on anything that is stationary.









