Ed Dunneback & Girls Farm: ‘It Was Always Important That People 4 to 74 Could Have Fun Here’

The family that runs the Ed Dunneback & Girls Farm in Michigan took the shock and sorrow of a tragic loss and transformed it into an opportunity to rename, rebrand and expand.

In 1925, Edwin Dunneback purchased a farm in Alpine Township, Michigan, to raise apples, peaches, corn, hay and dairy cows. He had five sons, so he named the farm Ed Dunneback & Sons, a title that was emblazoned on his barn in big letters.

The Ed Dunneback & Girls Farm covers 170 acres and features a corn maze, a pick-your-own-produce field, a restaurant, brewery and market shop.

An antique piano serves as a place to display old family photographs and other items inside the farm market at Ed Dunneback & Girls Farm.

Suanne Shoemaker, 73, still works outside at the farm most days of the week.

Through the years, two of Edwin’s sons worked on the farm. One, Edward, married and had two girls and a boy, who in later years worked on the farm as well.

One afternoon in 1969, the Dunneback family was forever changed when one of Edward’s daughters, Suanne Shoemaker, now 73, found a military draft notice addressed to her brother, Michael, in the mailbox. Though he could have taken a farm deferment, Michael chose to serve in Vietnam. He was killed in combat.

After Michael’s death, Ed found it difficult to look at the “& sons” part of the sign on the barn, so one day Suanne’s sister, Pam, said, “We ought to change it to Ed Dunneback & Girls,” and she climbed up and repainted it. The changed name is still on the barn today, connecting the family’s past and future.

Stephanie Ginsberg sorts freshly picked asparagus at Ed Dunneback & Girls Farm.

From the time Suanne was a young girl, she had helped with the farmwork, carrying pails of milk, harvesting berries and even driving the tractor to haul in the hay. Several years after her brother’s death, she joined her father in managing the farm.

A staff member glazes donuts at the farm's donut shop, which Suanne established years ago.

Suanne’s daughters, Stephanie Ginsberg and Sarah Stoddard, also grew up on the farm, harvesting berries in the summertime just as Suanne had. After working as a mortgage broker, Stephanie returned to the farm following the 2008 financial crisis. Sarah, a nurse, had helped at the farm during busy seasons but has been there full-time since 2022.

Stephanie has come up with bold new ideas, including events and festivals, and expanded the bakery and homemade-donut business Suanne had added to the farm years earlier.

Ed Dunneback & Girls has grown into an agrotourism destination, complete with a farm-to-table restaurant, seasonal dinners and activities for all ages. “It was always important that people 4 to 74 could have fun here,” Stephanie says.

The elaborate corn maze is one of the most popular attractions at Ed Dunneback & Girls Farm.

In addition to the bakery, there’s a corn maze, a pick-your-own-produce field, a restaurant, brewery and market shop, all fueled by the farm’s seasonal harvest. Today, Stephanie and Sarah live on the farm with their children. (The sisters work as a team; Stephanie curates events, while Sarah makes employee schedules and manages the market.) Suanne still works outside most days, sharing her generational farming expertise with Stephanie and Sarah. Meanwhile, Stephanie’s daughter, Helen, wants to set up an ax-throwing venue on the farm.

   

Stephanie Ginsberg and Suanne Shoemaker harvest asparagus with a coworker.

   

Suanne Shoemaker cuts rhubarb in the farm's vegetable garden.

Suanne Shoemaker trims rhubarb during harvesting.

As Ed Dunneback & Girls keeps growing, challenges crop up. The lawyers they need to handle permits required by their township have come at considerable expense. Keeping parking lots and buildings up to code is difficult on land with old barns built into hills. But over and over again, Suanne, Stephanie and Sarah work together across the generations to find creative solutions for modern farming’s complex problems.

A sign outside Ed Dunneback & Girls Farm notes its historic status as a centennial farm.

You’ve got to get low to harvest asparagus, as Stephanie Ginsberg and Suanne Shoemaker demonstrate.

Ed Dunneback & Girls Farm sells pies and other homemade products at its farm market. Here, Suanne Shoemaker removes a freshly baked pie from the oven.