Heirloomista Farm

Welcome to the Farm!

Things are different by design on this biodynamic farm.

The first difference you’ll notice on this 5 acre farms is the lack of large outbuildings, big machinery or even an old farmhouse. Also, no overhead electric poles. This farm is completely off-grid.

You will see solar panels, an eggplant-colored tiny house, two hoop houses along with rows and rows of beautiful veggies, perennial fruits and pollinator habitat. A moveable chicken tractor and a sun hive round out the ways Kelsey hosts animals on this land. Each piece is intertwined with the next, serves a purpose and plays it part well.

Biodynamic Farming

Biodynamic Farming Defined: a form of alternative agriculture that takes an ecological and ethical approach to farming, food, and gardening.

Things on a biodynamic farm are thought out in wholistic, interdependent ways before anything is implemented. For Farmer Kelsey this means everything on the farm serves a few purposes. And she really does run this as a one woman show. She does most everything by hand enabling her to observe the plants (and critters) on the land more closely and to see changes in real time. She can decide what to do about those issues based on how it effects the whole system of living things on her farm. Sometimes doing nothing is the answer too…

Not using chemicals, organic or otherwise, is a point of pride for her. As it should be. She grows enough extras to figure on feeding some of the critters along with all the people. It takes a lot of effort to hand pick off those potato and cucumber beetles. Which is also why by mid-season, Kelsey has to decide which things to let go and which to keep on top of.

But before we dive into all those parts, let’s take a trip down memory lane and see just how Kelsey ended up tending these five acres in North Branch, Minnesota.

Journey Before the Farm

Growing up in an outer ring of the Twin Cities metro she left to travel right out of high school. She’s visited and worked in many other countries; South America, Europe and Asia. While home one summer, she started working at a landscape company and became curious about how plants and pollinators are connected. That lead to her deep love of bees, and eventually to more education. She went to school for Biodynamic Farming at Emerson College in Sussex, walking through the fabled 100 Acre Wood of AA Milne’s Winnie the Pooh classics to get to her classes.

While there she also became in involved with making Sun Hives. These are hives crafted for bees to live their best lives, but not necessarily to extract honey from. She helped set up classes on how build and maintain these in England, and once back in the states traveled to teach this method across the country. But she wanted to be farming and tending her own piece of land, so she started the search for land.

Finding the Farm

Like most first generation farmers she came up against what felt like a brick wall during her search for her farm. All that was available was small, unsuitable land that was way out of her price range. She was lucky to have the mentorship of a few farmers along the way who truly care about the land as much as she does. So, she kept expanding her search further out. Finally one day she stumbled upon the land she now farms. It was further out than she wanted, with nothing on it but weeds- but she could make it her own. And her vision to make it beautiful is become reality before her eyes!

Digging In

Kelsey started with a well. A well run on DC, so she waters only when the sun is out. A little difficult with our current drought situation, but she makes it work with her drip irrigation zones and what is planted where.

Today, 4 seasons in, there are a lot of moving parts on this space. She grows on three quarters of an acre. Most farmers would have installed a 10 foot high and lumber intensive deer fence. But here, a 6 foot tall double wide electric fence does the trick. As Kelsey explained, “deer can jump high, and deer can jump long. But they can’t do both at the same time”. So having a double layer of the fencing allowed her to install the fence herself, all for under $1,000. The electric current is powered by another little solar pack.

Her soil is on the sandy side. To put it mildly. Yet she grows great veg. That is in part due to her minimally turning the soil and adding three inches of composted cow manure every spring. She’s lucky to have neighbors that feed cows organic hay and are happy to dump off the manure on her property. They help to turn the huge pile with their tractor when they dump, but other than that is one wheelbarrow at a time. And the soil is changing before her eyes. “That has been really rewarding- seeing the soil and soil life flourish with a little TLC.”

The tunnels grow tomatoes, peppers and eggplants, along with more herbs (for her specialty herb salts) and of course she lets many of the herbs go to flower for the bees. Kelsey really enjoys growing herbs because of their innate resilience and their multitasking abilities. They’re all a key ingredient in her Herb salts, one of her most popular items. She crafts these is different blends, like garlic, dill and basil all with celtic sea salt. She also crafts lip balm and soaps infused with farm grown goodness.

Buying Local

Kelsey currently does most of her sales through her on site Farm Shop and online farm shop. Covid spurred her to switch from her model of being a private farmer (where she grew specifically for over a dozen families) to a more flexible model. She also sells with the North Circle Online Farmers Market; a group of a dozen local organic farmers who post veggies available so you can order ahead of time.

Heirloomista also grows for Veggie Rx, a state funded program where doctors prescribe vegetables to patients. The farm also provides produce for the “Food for the People” a program run by Shared Ground Farmers Cooperative to provide CSA boxes of local organic produce to BIPOC families in need.

Always Growing

Something that is always buzzing in the background here- and in Kelsey’s mind- are the bees! They hold a special place in her heart and on her property. Since getting started with building Sun Hives, Kelsey’s appreciation for bees has grown. Her sun hive sits in a strategic space, both for the comfort of the bees, and as a focal point right out her kitchen window. These hives are really meant to mimic nature’s epitome of how bees would craft their own hive. She is able to pull wax to make her lip balms with, but rarely disturbs the bees that call her farm home.

Farmer Kelsey recently started raising meat birds, after an influx of requests for ethically raised meat. She built this movable chicken tractor to house two rounds of meat birds. The chickens stay safe from the many local predators inside the open air space, and can be kept safe in the enclosed part overnight. Kelsey chose to raise “Freedom Ranger” chickens because while they may not get as big as fast, they have also not been bred to the point of disabling themselves with how big they get. These chickens will stay curious and active for all their days foraging on new land as Kelsey moves the tractor daily. Her love for the animals on her farm, both raised and wild was apparent.

For the Bees

Heirloomista Farm also grows pollinator habitat on over half of it’s land. A mix of hardy, drought tolerant natives entice the pollinators to hang out and enjoy the space. You can really feel how this little pollinator oasis makes a difference as the farm is surrounded by ‘big ag’ fields of corn and soybeans that are sprayed with chemicals harmful to the bees. So far, her farm hasn’t lost produce to agricultural drift (when pesticide spray literally drifts onto other land killing crops), but it a constant worry. Kelsey is an advocate for all pollinators and was a driving force behind Stillwater’s early adoption of the “Bee Friendly” policies where neonicotinoids are banned.

Living the Dream

This “One Woman, 5 Acre Farm” is doing big things one small step at a time. Slowly, intentionally and with the earth’s health at the center- kind of like farming used to be and can be again. Thanks for living your dream and sharing your farm with us Kelsey!

To Stay in the loop follow the farm on Instagram or Facebook

Shop the Farm Store or shoot Kelsey a message, she’s very responsive!

Farm Visits are available Saturdays during the growing season if you want to check out this off grid farm yourself!

And… keep on the lookout for her upcoming ON THE FARM MEALS!

Love how this farm helped me see my own garden differently!

Peas,

Michelle