Making history present.
Tillers International is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that leads in teaching essential homesteading skills. Our offerings include toolmaking, timber framing, woodworking, coopering, and blacksmithing. We nurture leaders in food security from emerging regions through hands-on experience with our experts. Our community includes living history professionals, innovative farmers, and curious learners nationwide. At Tillers, we believe historic skills, taught in our courses in the US and abroad, drive personal and community growth.
Tillers Welcomes New Executive Director, Megan Yankee
Posted: July 24, 2025
We’re excited to share that Megan Yankee has joined Tillers International as our new Executive Director. Megan brings over 20 years of non-profit leadership experience and a deep commitment to community, sustainability, and lifelong learning.
About Megan
Megan brings over two decades of non-profit leadership experience with a proven track record in fundraising, organizational development, and building strong community partnerships. Her diverse background across the arts, human services, and youth development sectors aligns closely with Tillers’ mission to preserve craft, cultivate self-reliance, and strengthen global connections through skill-based learning.
“I’m honored to join Tillers International and support its legacy of preserving hands-on heritage while cultivating sustainable futures,” said Megan Yankee, Executive Director. “This work resonates deeply with my commitment to empowering communities, and I look forward to advancing Tillers’ impact both locally and globally.”
Why Tillers?
Located on 220 acres in Southwest Michigan, Tillers offers immersive classes in artisan and agricultural skills such as blacksmithing, ox-driving, timber framing, and sustainable gardening. Its on-site museum preserves the history of animal-powered tools and traditional farming, connecting past innovation to present-day resilience.
Internationally, Tillers works alongside farmers in Africa to deliver practical agricultural training rooted in dignity, heritage, and sustainability. The appointment of Megan Yankee marks a new chapter for this work — deepening community impact while expanding the reach of the organization’s mission.
“Megan’s collaborative leadership style and deep understanding of nonprofit ecosystems make her uniquely suited to lead Tillers through its next era,” said Rick Eshuis, Previous Interim Executive Director. “We are thrilled to welcome her into this role.”
A Personal Note
Outside of her professional life, Megan enjoys spending time with her family and two dogs. She finds joy and balance in cooking, keeping chickens, camping, hiking, and practicing yoga — a lifestyle that reflects the hands-on, intentional values celebrated at Tillers.
We hope you’ll join us in welcoming Megan to the Tillers community! Learn more about our mission, explore our hands-on classes, or connect with us to support this work.
Collaborating with small-scale farmers to improve food security.
At Tillers International, our dedication goes beyond teaching: it’s about forging meaningful partnerships with small-scale farmers across the globe to enhance food security and community resilience. Our approach is rooted in the sharing of traditional homesteading skills and innovative tools, tailored to empower communities to thrive sustainably. Through dynamic collaboration with local partners in various developing regions, we engage in rigorous research and practical education to co-create farming systems that are not only sustainable but also adaptable to the challenges of climate change, using resources that are readily available within these communities.
We invite you to delve deeper into our global mission, explore the inspiring initiatives it has sparked, and discover the various ways you can contribute to this transformative journey. By clicking below, you’ll uncover stories of empowerment, innovation, and the collective effort to build a more food-secure world, one community at a time.
Sustainable farming through the preservation of heritage skills.
Vision Statement: Enriching communities worldwide by sharing fundamental agricultural skills.
Mission Statement: Empowering communities worldwide to become sustainable by providing an expert forum for the preservation, study, and exchange of historical and new agricultural knowledge, tools, and skills.
Tillers International preserves and shares invaluable skills, fostering global knowledge exchange between experts and beginners. Farmers are embracing time-honored techniques like draft animal use, tool fabrication, and soil regeneration to steward their land sustainably. By joining Tillers, you become part of a community dedicated to self-sufficiency, ethical stewardship, and the enduring legacy of sustainable farming.
Blacksmithing, timber framing, and other homesteading classes.
Our classes take inspiration from a time in the United States where few people had access to electricity or motors. We look at methods common to people from 1860 to 1920, when most rural Americans were ‘off-grid.’ As a result, our classes attract individuals who are interested in history, the use of hand tools, nostalgia, and doing things ‘the old-school way.’ Among our catalog of homesteading classes, we offer:
• Farming With Draft Animals
• Metalworking
• Toolmaking
• Woodworking
• Timber Framing
• Stone Masonry
• Coopering
• Medicine Making
