Boltz to Nutz Farm
photography by Allison McAdams
Loveland, Ohio—Yvonne and Eric Boltz didn’t always intend to own a farm. The husband and wife team both have backgrounds and advanced degrees in science-related fields and previously owned a company in West Chester, OH. By happenstance, they sold the company 24 days before Eric was hit by a negligent driver while riding his bike, leaving him paralyzed from the chest down. And life changed forever.
“Following my husband’s accident, he became very empathetic to a lot of things,” Yvonne says. “He came to understand that suffering is suffering. Some people will say to him, ‘Oh gosh, look at what you go through. I shouldn’t complain.’ But when you’re suffering, it’s a real thing, and he’s become very in tune with that.”
After the accident, the family needed to leave their beloved home in Madeira and made plans to construct an accessible house with more land. During this time, they came across their current property in Loveland, OH. With their son’s long-held dream of living off the land and owning a farm, combined with Eric’s desire to assist others with disabilities, the couple decided to scrap their plan of building a new home elsewhere and instead chose to restore the 11-acre property.
From day one, their goal was to make Boltz to Nutz Farm as accessible to differently abled people as possible. The first thing they did was install a wheelchair-accessible kitchen with roll-under ovens and adjustable cooktops. This allows them to teach farm-to-table cooking classes for adults and children with disabilities using produce from the farm. “It’s classes for people with disabilities taught by people with disabilities,” Yvonne says. “Everybody works next to everybody and doesn’t treat them any differently than anyone else. We work together, cook together, and then share a meal together.”
In addition to cooking classes, the farm sustainably grows produce, from green beans to dragon tail beets, without herbicides or pesticides, which they sell on-site and through the website Market Wagon, a digital farmers’ market that delivers fresh goods and produce to customers’ doors.
“I’ve always felt that food is medicine,” Yvonne says, “that nutrition and good food is the best thing you can do for people.”
The property is also home to sheep, which she hopes will produce enough milk to make her own artisan cheeses. They also cultivate hemp and sell nutraceuticals with a focus on making salves and tinctures for people with spinal injuries. “We do a little bit of everything here,” she says.
All of the purchases from the farm help support the couple’s nonprofit organization, Boltz Strong, which they run with their social media and marketing associate, Abby Marsh. They met Abby, whose spine was injured in a car accident when she was a teenager, when Eric was in physical therapy. The nonprofit strives to give people with disabilities the tools and support they need to live more independent lives.
Those efforts include getting a group of six together to compete in the Flying Pig Marathon handcycle race and hosting Cincinnati Children’s Hospital’s be.well gardening program this past summer. “That bit of community that we’ve built has helped people stretch their horizons,” Yvonne says.
10718 Schlottman Road, Loveland, OH
513.486.4339
Kelsey Graham is a freelance writer with experience writing about food, restaurants, and the people behind the businesses. She graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a Master's in Professional Writing and a Bachelor's in Art History. As a loyal and enthusiastic Cincinnati transplant, she enjoys spending her free time exploring the city's thriving and ever-expanding food scene with her family whenever they get the chance.
