Our Approach
We see ourselves as an important part of nature, not separate from it. So when we set out to grow our food, we strive to honor the complex web of relationships that is LIFE and consider how we can bring long-term benefit to our communities - communities of microorganisms, plants, animals, and our human neighbors. We believe that if we do our part in fostering healthy relationships, we can create positive change that flows outward and upward in a way that goes beyond sustaining co-existence, but instead co-creating a world that sustainably thrives.
Farm Sol invests in understanding ecosystem functions to help create functional ecosystems. Through practicing no-till, soil building techniques, we work to create diverse earth networks in our gardens that can support continued healthy harvests of nutrient dense food. To protect the delicate balance that we work to create on our land, we avoid using heavy equipment, industrial fertilizers, pesticides, and other inputs that are unnecessary in a thriving and balanced system.
Instead, we recruit our plants, surrounding forest, animals, all of their associated microbiomes to recycle fertility back to gardens and the landscape. In the winter we house our egg-layers in a barn managed with a deep bedding system that we use to activate compost piles that feed our garden soil. We intensively manage rotational grazing/rest periods through forest and pasture with our animals, which eliminates grain from the diet of our ruminants and also reduces the grain needs of our chickens. Research has shown that these methods build soil aggregates that promote water capture and retention, increase topsoil carbon storage, and improve plant communities that support future grazing - assets we consider important to food-security and climate resilience.
We also invest in human-scale tools that connect us to our projects through sweat and observation (think shovels, not tractors), passive and low-tech strategies (like crop covers and hand weeding, not pesticides and herbicides), and recycled/repurposed resources, which help keep our endeavors manageable at a humble, yet productive scale. By incorporating living pathways, animal-grazed mowing, and planting appropriate forages, we create quality habitat for pollinators, birds, and amphibians, who provide protective benefits to our garden and our environment. Additionally, we feed our gardens and our animals with organic feeds and seeds, as we believe that this honors the integrity of everyone involved in our food cycle.
Our goal is to interact with the world respecting holism, the theory that all of life and its surroundings are intimately connected. We recognize that all species play a role and when their interplay, communications, and relationships are in balance, systems can function harmoniously and supportively. As farmers, we believe our responsibility is one of stewardship, collaborating with soil and its inhabitants for long-term support for ourselves and our environment.
Your Farmers
An enormous amount of the time we have spent together has been focused on food in one way or another. When we first met, we were using as much free time as possible to be outside in natural areas observing wildlife and foraging for wild foods. As we discovered the immense nutritional values and uniquely intense flavors of foraged edibles, we started to think about how we could grow foods for similar intent. We took our formal science educations and started thinking about how we could pragmatically apply our understanding of ecology and plants to gardening and animal husbandry in ways that could benefit the health of the earth, and our own bodies, and started began breaking in our boots by volunteering and working on other farms in Minnesota and New York. In the fall of 2020, after years of moving around and leaving behind many lovely gardens, we found a little slice of paradise in Saginaw, MN (30 minutes west of Duluth) to put down some serious roots and start growing at a scale we could share with others.
As of 2021 we are establishing a 1/2 acre market garden, setting up a system for growing edible mushrooms, and rotationally grazing sheep, pigs, rabbits, chickens. When we’re not growing, harvesting, cooking, foraging, or laughing at our silly poultry, you will probably find us playing dorky board games or watching one of the fine films of Nicolas Cage.
We look forward to helping you be well fed and fed well!
Your farmers,
Kelly & John