Jenny Stanton-Johnson

Owner & Director of Operations

I am one half of Adeline Farms. My better half, Muriel Stanton-Johnson is my co-owner, wife, best friend, and love of my life! With our diverse backgrounds, creativity and our individual skill sets, we make a great combo for Adeline Farms.

My start in the construction industry began while I was still in high school. Working along side of my foster dad, I learned the fine art of drywall. At Rockwell Construction we worked in residential remodel, commercial, and government builds outs. We also did framing, roofing, painting, among many other things. I moved to Portland in 2000 and in 2001 had the pleasure of working for Wayne Christopherson, founder of Mudpuppy Drywall. With Mudpuppy we specialized in residential and restoration remodel. I enjoyed working in beautiful historical homes that were being updated with newer, improved home technologies while maintaining their historical value, and I gobbled it up! With Mudpuppy I got to work and learn from some of Portland’s finest contractors. They were restoring historical homes with the future in mind. After owning my own drywall company in 2012, I went to work for CBRE, the world’s largest commercial real estate management company. There I worked in the engineering department as a maintenance technician at OHSU’s Center For Health and Healing. At the time our building was the only building in the United States of that size to have a Double Platinum LEED certification from the Green Building Council. During that time I gained my Building Operators Certification from the Northwest Energy Efficiency Council.

After obtaining, what we now call Adeline Farms, we went to work right away cleaning up the property and its’ seven structures that had been neglected for some time. We camped out in our 1977 Layton camp trailer with no refrigeration or running water for the first two months until we were able to create a makeshift communal studio apartment out of the old office building. We started with the Farm House, giving it a quick remodel from top to bottom. We had friends and family rally around us helping with the clean up and generously donating time, furniture, and home decor to help us get started. I am proud to say that we turned the house around in just 45 days so we could rent to local students and made our first mortgage payment.

We like to say that “We are ballers on an extreme budget!” Throughout our entire experience of restoring and improving the farm, we have taken a minimalist, thrifty approach to just about every project or improvement. We watched Craigslist for deals, up-cycled discarded building materials, pirated tools, materials, and furnishings from our own home, worked with donations from friends and family, and did virtually all of the physical labor ourselves to keeps costs down.

Once we had our basic bills covered with the Farm House rentals, we moved onto the Carriage House remodel, grounds clean up, and opened the property up to photography and videography. Through Muriel’s connections in the Portland music and entertainment industry, we have had the pleasure to be the location for several music videos, commercial videos, photo shoots, a short independent film. We even had the honor to be the location for re-creation scenes shot for a documentary on a 20/20 special called “Sweetheart Swindle”.

When we purchased the property there were Christmas trees planted everywhere. With the help of Joe Mcminn, a local contractor I was able to start the clean up of thousands of tree stumps, recontour the land, begin amending the soil, and seeding. We made space for the ceremony site under our massive 300 year old Oak Tree, dealt with drainage issues around the barns, tackled the invasive scotch broom and blackberries, graveled the courtyard and main entrance, among countless other improvements.

Inspired by farmers such as Joel Salatin with his back to basics and natural approach to farming, animal husbandry, and land management, as well as Mary Jane Butters’ business model of opening her farm to “agritourism” and “farmcations”; I created Adeline Farms’ mission statement… “A symbiotic relationship between, land, animals, and community”. We have been delighted to host several urban groups and share techniques of sustainable farming practices.

I am passionate about maintaining Adeline Farms’ historical value. I am honored to share the Thomas family legacy and manage our 20 acres through permaculture and regenerative farming practices, as well as providing a loving environment for our farm animals. We love our fur babies and we love being able to share them with our guests. We enjoy teaching people how our pasture based, heritage breeds keep down the blackberries, thistles, and provide us with truly natural fertilizer so we can avoid using chemical weed killers, pesticides, and chemical fertilizers.

My cup runneth over!!!

Some Of Jenny’s personal references:

“… it was my good fortune to find Jenny when I did as I can honestly say she’s helped my own business to become better by virtue of her skills, talents, and personality.” “I have noted and appreciated Jenny’s commitment to learning and consistently furthering her own knowledge of her fields and how to achieve the best results possible. She’s always very motivated to see if there are better methods, better materials, or any other ways to have projects turn out better…”

-Paul Johnson
Carpentry & Remodeling

“In my 20 plus years in this field I rarely stumble upon individuals that express such joy at their work and take such humble pride in helping others. Jenny is one of those souls. She has a rapport and disposition with my clients and sub contractors that leaves everyone with a smile and a sense of security in craftsmanship and understanding of what to expect. I have never been disappointed.” “She is the definition of integrity and professionalism.”

-John Mark Schaelling
Eartholis Construction Inc.

“With 23 years in her field, and as a business owner too, she truly understands the importance of a job well done. Working diligently to make details perfect, she also has an eye on the larger picture, planning for and completing jobs on time, managing her own time as well as those in her employ. Finally, she is a talented, artistic craftsperson, whose thoughtful approach and expert hands bring beauty to each and every project.”

-Ellie Wellstead
Home owner and Designer

Muriel Stanton-Johnson

Owner & Director of Events & Planning

I am the other half! Muriel Stanton-Johnson. Wife of Jenny Stanton-Johnson and the mother of Victoria Caster. I am the events coordinator here at Adeline Farms and co-owner. I am also the owner/esthetician of La Muse Spa and front person to my own rock band, The Muriel Stanton Band.

Owning my own business has empowered to me to take risks that have brought me great reward. I especially learned this through many years of personal hard times and downturns in the economy. I came out the other side more successful than ever. I have always found ways to better myself and worked with what I had to give the best experience and service possible to my clients.

I opened La Muse Spa in 1999. I have been written up in Portland Monthly Magazine two times as Portland’s best waxer.

As owner of La Muse I am also the sole service provider. I wax, give skin treatments, custom blend make up and teach make up lessons, but my favorite is sculpting the perfect eyebrow. I fell in love with make up artistry at the age of six while singing in the Portland Opera. I then worked behind the scenes and on stage in high school and took theater make up in college.  I went on to work at the cosmetic counter at Nordstrom. Along with honing my skills, I also learned the most important aspects of customer service, customer appreciation and business. Everyone that works with us embodies those same work ethics. Being a make up artist for weddings gave me the opportunity to not only be flown to amazing destination weddings, it also allowed me to gain perspective on what our brides need. Being right in the face of that bride, feeling her stress and seeing problems that needed to be solved is what helped me develop my skills as a wedding coordinator.

Singer / Actor / Songwriter

I sang in the Portland Opera until I was twelve, starting at age six. As a graduating senior, I won The University of Portland musical theater scholarship. Now I currently front my own band, The Muriel Stanton Band. I am quite proud of our CD and especially the music video that was shot by the very talented FifGen Films. Check out our video here! I enjoy playing in Portland and look forward to growing our musical community on the farm. Bringing filmmakers, videographers and musicians to Adeline Farms has been a blast. Watching them experience all the magic and opportunities available to them on the farm is like watching minds and doors open.

Hard work…

From a very young age until my early 20’s I worked with my siblings on our father’s apartment buildings. Gaining simple skills in sanding, stripping paint, wall paper, and painting… tedious painting of intricate woodwork with oil paint, laying carpet, and light repairs. The thing I learned above all else, was just how much better a big sub sandwich tastes after a day of hard work! And the beauty and functionality of a finished product.

We also had a farm in Hood River for a stretch when I was a kid. I enjoyed riding and grooming our horses and found a passion for exploring the farm land. One summer my oldest sister, Nadine, and I were left up there for a week to tend the moving of the BIG irrigation system over several acres. It is believed that I was about six and Nadine was about twelve at the time. Those were the days!

It was hard but it did something to me. Something that made me have a deep appreciation for land, animals and hard work. I am so excited for Jenny’s land management ideas of using permaculture and regenerative farming principals to come to life! Seeing our animals working the land makes everyone giggle. I believe it makes most think about what life could be like if we all took better care.

I love being the events coordinator and co-owner of Adeline Farms. I have always loved hard work and the rewards that come from it, anything that breeds creativity or artistic expression, connecting with people, and connecting people to each other.

Love of hard work and a dedication to see things take on their most beautiful shape is one of the ways I support Jenny. I am the sidekick to the most driven, skilled craftsman I have ever known. Her ability to envision and manifest the potential of these 20 acres is hard to keep up with at times, but I do my best to bring my skill sets to the table.

I would say that connecting people to this land, the way I do, is the most important thing that I bring to our American Dream. I genuinely love all kinds of people from all walks of life. It warms my heart to connect people with people, help create an “old school” sense of community, and to be able to share this beautiful property with everyone.

We are dreamers, Jenny and I, and we are believers and that is compounded by being doers!