Schooner Creek Farms, the controversial farm based in Brown County, has closed until further notice, according to its Facebook page.
Controversy erupted around the farm in 2019 after owner Sarah Dye’s connections to white nationalist groups were made public. Activists called for her to be removed from the Bloomington Farmers’ Market. An FBI interview with the man who defaced a Carmel synagogue in 2018 identified Dye and her husband Douglas Mackey as members of Identity Evropa, a now-defunct white supremacist group.
Protests and threats of violence pushed Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton to suspend the market for two weeks, but Schooner Creek was not removed from the market on First Amendment grounds.
Schooner Creek has not returned since the 2019 controversy.
Since then, the farm has started a new business selling coffee. The company, Above Time Coffee Roasters, assures buyers that its coffee is not Kosher-certified, and will be made "by our people, for our people."
According to the Facebook post, the coffee will be sustainably sourced from Guatemala and Colombia.
In a separate Twitter thread, the farm said the coffee will be roasted in a converted cargo trailer, which will allow the company to take its product on the road and meet health requirements.
Schooner Creek Farms said it cannot revive its farming business while dedicating its time to other places.
In response to Schooner Creek's decision to enter the coffee market, Indianapolis Coffee Guide, a popular online and social media blog that highlights the city’s independent coffee scene, announced a partnership with a local artisan to produce “anti-fascist” coffee mugs.
Read More: Indy Coffee Guide starts 'Anti-Fascist Coffee Club' after Schooner Creek announcement
Indy Coffee Guide owner Scott Soltys-Curry was quick to criticize what he saw as Nazi allusions in the company’s branding: the phrase “above time” comes from a 1958 neo-Nazi book, while the company’s coffee bean logo seems to contain lightning bolts forming an Iron Cross.
This story has been updated.
