Karen Machetta fell in love with agriculture in college when she learned to milk a cow in a dairy production course. She was a city girl who had spent summers on her grandma’s farm and still lovingly remembers every detail of the arrangement of nesting boxes in the hen house. Karen started her own farm […]
Gieske’s Produce
Gieske’s Produce Dan and Gilda Gieske grow vegetables and raise chickens with their three children, Miriam, Benjamin and Rebecca, on an 85-acre farm just north of Sauk Centre, Minnesota. The Gieskes moved to their farm in 1991 with their children’s health and safety in mind. They wanted a place where their children could eat vegetables […]
Ekola family farm
Close to Nature Diversity is the key to success on the Ekola family farm where they raise a variety of crops and livestock, including chickens, pigs, and dairy cows on 150 acres west of Garfield, Minnesota. Guy and Mary Ekola, along with their three children, are committed to raising their animals as humanely and close […]
Earthrise Farm
A Healthy Beginning After 40 years at the Sisters of Notre Dame convent school, Annette and Kay Fernholz returned to their family home in Louisberg, Minnesota and with the help of the convent established Earthrise Farm in 1996. It was a risky, but hopeful start for the sisters and their first year they had only […]


