About 8 years ago Stephen and Jo started work on the the farm by building a 15 acre pond on some low lying pastureland on the family farm. Originally the family farm was a diary and soybean farm belonging to Stephen's grandparents, but now the cows and the beans are long gone, having been replaced by about 50,000 lbs of tilapia a year.

The dairy barn has been converted into a holding facility with 4 large airated cinderblock tanks fed directly by a warm aquifer. And a cabin on the property, which Stephen started building during college, has been expanded to accommodate Stephen and Jo and their two children.