Our History

Seven Stars Farm was founded in 1939, when influential philanthropist Mabel Pew Myrin and her husband Alarik Myrin bought 1,000 acres of northern Chester County, Pennsylvania, farmland and named it Kimberton Farms. The Myrins wanted to test the practicality of Austrian philosopher Dr. Rudolf Steiner’s biodynamic method of agriculture and to establish a school that utilized Steiner’s “Waldorf” approach to education. By 1941, the Myrins had enlisted Dr. Ehrenfried Pheiffer, noted biodynamic pioneer, to manage the farm and biodynamic training center. Although Dr. Pheiffer’s time in Kimberton was brief, he had planted the seeds of biodynamic agriculture.

The farm has changed in many ways since that time. In the 1970s the property was divided between the Kimberton Hills Camphill Village and the Kimberton Waldorf School. The 1980s saw the development of one of the first Community Supported Gardens (the Kimberton CSA) and the long-term lease of the dairy farm to David and Edie Griffiths (Seven Stars Farm). In 2000 the Griffiths partnered with the Dunphy family and in 2014 the stewardship of the farm was passed to the Dunphy family. A small natural foods store on the farm slowly grew and transformed into Kimberton Whole Foods. And in 1988, Seven Stars Yogurt began production.

In the mid-90s, the development rights for the school’s land were sold to
Chester County’s Open Space Preservation program, making Seven Stars Farm one of the early models of preserving farmland in Chester County.

Today, Kimberton is a thriving mixture of educational, therapeutic, and agricultural endeavors.