Annemarie Yoder was a child of the 1970’s when she became immersed in sustainability and environmentalism. For 30 years, when others failed to take up the invitation to think ecologically, she has made it her life’s goal. In 1976 at the age of 20, Annemarie was accepted into a pilot program at North Adams State College in Massachussetts, called the Center for Resourceful Living. It was a 2 year program teaching sustainability, farming practices,animal husbandry, food preservation, and environmental stewardship.Although all of the programs were novel and stimulating, Annemarie took a special interest in animal husbandry and specifically the Draft Horse. She soon became the “teamster” at the center and was honored to be the only woman in the 1976 bicentennial reenactment of General Knox’s transport of Fort Ticonderoga’s cannons to Dorchester Heights in Boston during the American Revolutionary War. This was certainly a novelty for the ’70s.
In 1982, she attained her B.S. in Animal Science from the University of Massachussetts/Amherst spurred by her love of working with large animals at the Center. Annemarie went on and was accepted into veterinary school at the New York State School Of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University. It was there that she met her future partner and fellow agrarian, Samuel Yoder, VMD. She graduated with the distinguished award in Large Animal surgery. For almost 20 years they built a veterinary practice, Silver Maple Veterinary Clinic, in Kutztown, Pa. as well as working Samuel’s family farm. For many of those years, they quietly provided for themselves: farming, gardening, canning, freezing, and raising all sorts of animals ALWAYS using organic and sustainable practices.
In 1999 the Yoders were blessed with a twin girls and began their journey into parenting. It was in the early 2000’s that Annemarie and Samuel realized that educating the public in sustainable living, green energy and conservationism should be a part of their lives. They co-founded the MAREA and spent 5 years developing an organization to educate and enlighten the public in what would now be considered the green revolution. In 2010 Annemarie and Samuel founded Green Alchemy, a vehicle to share their family farm’s bounty of knowledge and projects with the general public. Annemarie’s special interests still lie in canning, food preservation, processing food, draft horses, and cooking. She prides herself in providing 90% of her family’s food needs via a 1/4 acre garden, chickens, milking goats, hogs, turkeys, and occasional small grain harvest. Annemarie is also a practicing small animal veterinarian, certified in veterinary acupuncture, and operates as the business manager for Silver Maple Veterinary Clinic. Because of her interest in acupuncture, she can provide Holistic care to the patients of Silver Maple Veterinary Clinic, a unique niche in the veterinary profession.