Our Story | The Dirt Road Gardener
FAMILY-MADE IN MICHIGAN · EST. 2025
Life’s Better Barefoot on a Dirt Road
And that's really where the story of The Dirt Rd. Gardener begins.
I'm Josie. I'm the designer and storyteller behind The Dirt Rd. Gardener, a family-operated steel art business in Kimball, Michigan. I love cottage gardens, old-fashioned porches, flowers tucked into unexpected corners, and the little details that make a place feel like home.
To me, a garden should tell a story. It might be a fairy peeking through the flowers, a naturally rusted stake among the hydrangeas, or a handcrafted steel sign that welcomes you before the front door ever opens.
Where the Garden Meets the Fabrication Shop
Our business brings together two things our family knows well: making things from steel and making places beautiful.
My husband, Joe, has more than 30 years of welding and ironworking experience and is a Certified Welding Inspector. Our son, Wade, grew up around fabrication and brings those skills to the plasma table and shop floor. Trevor is another important part of our daily workshop crew, helping clean, finish and pack the pieces we make.
I'm the one dreaming up designs and collections, imagining where each piece belongs, styling our product stories, and connecting what happens in the shop with the gardens and homes they'll eventually live in.
It's a combination that feels like us: strong steel, soft gardens, honest work and a little whimsy.
One Year Down the Dirt Road
On November 10, 2025, we officially launched The Dirt Rd. Gardener online. One year later, we're still making, learning, designing and growing—one order and one piece of steel at a time.
What began with a handful of garden designs has grown into a much wider collection of handcrafted steel art: garden stakes, porch leaners, garden columns, welded luminaries, botanical wall panels, word signs, personalized pieces and seasonal favorites.
We love watching customers make these pieces part of their homes, porches, holiday traditions and gardens. That is the part of this first year we'll carry with us into the next.
Made to Order, Right Here in Michigan
Each metal piece starts with a design and is cut from steel in our Michigan fabrication shop. Depending on the piece, we may weld, grind, clean, naturally rust or paint it before carefully packing it for shipment.
Our common finish options include raw steel, naturally rusted steel and flat black, depending on the design. Raw and rusted finishes are real steel surfaces that will continue developing character with time.
We don't mass-produce our work overseas or pull finished steel art from a warehouse shelf. Our products are made to order, with the hands-on work happening in our own shop.
Made for Storybook Gardens and Collected Homes
Our style doesn't fit in one little box. There's cottage garden charm, woodland magic, farmhouse simplicity, old-world character, and plenty of seasonal nostalgia.
We make pieces for the person who remembers the flowers their grandmother planted, who believes a front porch ought to feel inviting, and who likes finding something unexpected tucked beside the garden path.
Because the best places aren't always the most perfectly decorated. They're the places that feel like someone lives and loves there.
From Our Dirt Road to Yours
We're still building this family business, still coming up with new ideas, and still grateful every time someone chooses something we've made.
Thank you for being part of our first year—and for giving our work a place in your story.
Handmade in Michigan. Built from steel. Inspired by the garden. Made to become part of your story.