Growing Nuts in Canton, Minnesota To most people, the term “woody agriculture” is an unfamiliar concept. Woody agriculture refers to the growing of domesticated woody perennial crops such as in the accompanying image of a hazelnut plant on Badgersett Research Farm. The nuts can be harvested annually as a staple commercial foodproduct. Domesticated plants and […]
Axdahl’s Garden Farm
A Roadside Tradition Brian and Leslie Axdahl are famous for their sweet corn. Starting every year in mid to late July, folks from miles around make a sort of pilgrimage to Axdahl’s roadside vegetable stand on the outskirts of Stillwater, Minnesota for some of the sweetest, most tender “bi-color” corn they’ve ever tasted. Still warm […]
Aspelund Family Farm
Adding Value to the Farm In 1997, Nancy Aspelund of Aspelund Family Farm won a Sustainable Agriculture and Research Education (SARE) grant that she and her husband, Dean, called “Diversifying a Small Crop Farm with Hogs and Poultry on Pasture, Apple Trees and Plums.” Before the grant, the Aspelund’s dreamed about how to make their […]
Apple Crisp Cooperative
A “Core” Effort Southeast Minnesota is a countryside dotted with picturesque apple orchards, a development led nearly a century ago by the University of Minnesota. Partly due to the Mississippi River and partly due to landscape conditions created in the last glacial age, climate and soil conditions are unique to the area and ideal for […]