Vander Farmers is a love story through and through. Marjolein and Mario grew up in neighboring small towns just less than 20 minutes outside of Amsterdam. Both fond of the tranquility and the freeing life on a farm, the newly-wed came to the Midwest to realize their American Dream in 2001. In the next few years, they welcomed their first boy, Luc, to their family, started their very own dairy farm, all while building a tight-knit community for themselves in Sturgis, Michigan. The family would host dinner parties that, according to Marjolein, often involved too much good food and too much drinks.

Almost two decades later, now a thriving family of four, the love between Marjolein and Mario is still on full display. In 2016, Marjolein set out on a mission to find the best wagyu beef for Mario as a Christmas gift. After weeks of searching, it became apparent to Marjolein that, like her, many meat connoisseurs in the Midwest are not able to source high quality wagyu in the region with the level of transparency that she expects from her food source. She told Mario about her unfulfilled mission and the challenges she faced in the process, he replied, “Well, I guess we’ll just have to raise it ourselves.”