Our Story
What We Stand For
We stand for personal empowerment, individual responsibility, and regional food security. We stand for impeccable food production and processing practices that benefit every living entity involved. We reject reliance on the government or big business for our food and its safety.
Every Plant in a Box® creates a food shed of enriched farmland, stimulates the local economy, and contributes to the community. The peak nutrition provided supports clear-minded people in making better decisions.
Our Team
Plant in a Box® has evolved from the ground up. Our team has all been farmers and livestock caretakers. But we are also entrepreneurs. We’ve started a dozen diverse businesses between us giving us a collective knowledge far greater than any one of us has alone. Our designs and business models are simple, user-friendly, and highly efficient. We treat every Plant In A Box® owner as a team member. Your success is our success.
Managing Member, CFO
Renee DeTar
J. Renée DeTar is of Native American descent, a certified citizen of the Cherokee Nation in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. She has been practicing yoga since 1973, teaching since 1991 and founded one of the few accredited yoga therapy schools in the U. S., The Institute of Interdisciplinary Yoga Studies. She spent summers on her grandparents farm and has a personal relationship with the land, taking care of the soil, and being able to provide food to loved ones as well as one’s community. She is married to David Schafer, has two children and enjoys traveling with their Havanese Gracie, in their Airstream.
Director, COO
David Schafer
David Schafer pioneered grass-fed marketing in the midwest, founded the Green Hills Farm Project, authored the original home-made tub plucker plans and founded Featherman Equipment. He continues to innovate in the pastured poultry space.
Design & Engineering
Wilmer Gingerich
Wilmer is an accomplished jack of all trades. From cabinet-making, to masonry, building designer, plumbing expert to being a certified electrician, he adds his finesse to customize each Plant In A Box®. He enjoys his bees, planting fruit trees, roasting his own mix of coffee beans, repairs guitars, and helps his wife Linda keep an impeccable garden.
Featured Articles
Sustainable meat — made in a box?
Can new modular, USDA-compliant meat processing units tucked into shipping containers help make small- to mid-scale farms more successful and sustainable?
Plant in a Box®: A solution for USDA-inspected poultry processing?
While in the past, most customers were searching for equipment to process birds under the 1,000- and 20,000-bird exemptions, now more and more are looking for USDA-inspected solutions.
Poultry Processing: Plant in a Box®
David Schafer, owner and founder of Featherman Equipment and NMPAN member, spends a lot of time thinking about small-scale poultry processing.