About The Arcadia Project
Welcome! I'm Angela, founder and grower, farmer, and natural ecosystem steward behind The Arcadia Project in Central New Jersey. I grow food for my family of four while supporting and inviting nature. The Arcadia Project is a permaculture farm which means we mimic patterns in nature. We support and invite wildlife, naturally restore our soil and strive to improve the greater soil web. We use functional animals and we grow food forests with zero chemicals nor additives. Our initiative is about environmental stewardship and reaping the literal harvest of those efforts. As a result of our permaculture and sustainable efforts, our native bird counts are increasing as we’re seeing new species visit our farm more and more often. Our soils are becoming rich hummus and our perennial food forests are feeding us while contributing to the fungi within the soil and giving it stability.
For years, the Arcadia Project operated using the name Axe & Root Homestead, which started in 2013 or 2014 on a small .75-acre property. The intention was not to make a career of farming or homesteading—rather I was pivoting from my full time career as a graphic and website designer, working for a design business I’d built from the ground up and had run successfully for ten years. After having my first child, that career no longer fit. I suffered from postpartum depression and realized I was having a major identity shift—I no longer wanted to work the self-employed job I’d hustled for so long to create. Instead I wanted to be outside, grow my own food, feed my new child fresh, chemical-free food, and so on. I wanted to feed my family. My husband was so supportive and we decided I’d close my doors. I learned to grow food vertically to take maximum advantage of our small space, studied edible landscaping, we bought ducks for eggs, I took a beekeeping class, and I started making homemade bread and soap. I wanted to share everything I was learning and creating online so I started an Instagram account. Axe & Root Homestead was born… an impromptu name that encapsulated nothing more than my axe-swinging approach to getting this little homestead going, and my husband’s more rooted, analytic approach to everything in life.
Axe & Root Homestead grew quickly online all while I moved properties from my .75-acre plot to a 6-acre historic farm. At the new site I dove headfirst in sustainable practices. I’m a very eco-conscious person (my graphic design business was a green design firm and my shelves are lined with environmentally conscious living books and guides) and I started calling my way of farming “holistic homesteading,” where all plants and animals worked together and complimented one another, just like companion plants. I was farming in support of nature, and I was creating a little ecosystem. I then found out through learning that this ideology had a name—permaculture. I kept learning, kept building, and in 2023 I became certified through Cornell University as a Permaculturist. Now I strive to share this passion for natural homestead living with others through my Instagram account, online homesteading courses, my plant-based cookbook called The Harvest Table, The Little Homesteader/Little Country Cottage series, and The Sustainable Homestead.
In 2025 we rebranded Axe & Root Homestead as The Arcadia Project. This name better positions us to communicate our passion for sustainable living, land stewardship practices and our nature-first approach to growing food for our family.
For years, the Arcadia Project operated using the name Axe & Root Homestead, which started in 2013 or 2014 on a small .75-acre property. The intention was not to make a career of farming or homesteading—rather I was pivoting from my full time career as a graphic and website designer, working for a design business I’d built from the ground up and had run successfully for ten years. After having my first child, that career no longer fit. I suffered from postpartum depression and realized I was having a major identity shift—I no longer wanted to work the self-employed job I’d hustled for so long to create. Instead I wanted to be outside, grow my own food, feed my new child fresh, chemical-free food, and so on. I wanted to feed my family. My husband was so supportive and we decided I’d close my doors. I learned to grow food vertically to take maximum advantage of our small space, studied edible landscaping, we bought ducks for eggs, I took a beekeeping class, and I started making homemade bread and soap. I wanted to share everything I was learning and creating online so I started an Instagram account. Axe & Root Homestead was born… an impromptu name that encapsulated nothing more than my axe-swinging approach to getting this little homestead going, and my husband’s more rooted, analytic approach to everything in life.
Axe & Root Homestead grew quickly online all while I moved properties from my .75-acre plot to a 6-acre historic farm. At the new site I dove headfirst in sustainable practices. I’m a very eco-conscious person (my graphic design business was a green design firm and my shelves are lined with environmentally conscious living books and guides) and I started calling my way of farming “holistic homesteading,” where all plants and animals worked together and complimented one another, just like companion plants. I was farming in support of nature, and I was creating a little ecosystem. I then found out through learning that this ideology had a name—permaculture. I kept learning, kept building, and in 2023 I became certified through Cornell University as a Permaculturist. Now I strive to share this passion for natural homestead living with others through my Instagram account, online homesteading courses, my plant-based cookbook called The Harvest Table, The Little Homesteader/Little Country Cottage series, and The Sustainable Homestead.
In 2025 we rebranded Axe & Root Homestead as The Arcadia Project. This name better positions us to communicate our passion for sustainable living, land stewardship practices and our nature-first approach to growing food for our family.
Published by Quarto; Ivy Kids, October 2025
Published by Quarto Knows, 2023
Published by Quarto; Ivy Kids, 2021
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