My name is Jennie, I’m a beginning farmer here in Central Iowa.

I have been growing food ever since I came home from a study abroad in India in 2005. What started out in backyards and neighbor yards as a hobby has bloomed in the past few years into a vegetable farm. I’ve been so thrilled to grow good food for my CSA box families and for farmers markets.

I prefer to grow in systems that mirror nature as closely as possible. This is a constant struggle to find the balance and intervene enough to get good food out of the system without intervening so much that I send the system out of balance. In practice that means I don’t use chemicals for insecticide or fungicide treatments. I use all natural oils, and soaps, as well as good old fashioned hand work to keep insects and fungi in balance. I keep helpful bugs around with the use of beetle banks and pollinator plantings.

My favorite crops to grow are my garlic and my greens. I grow a couple different varieties of hardneck garlic. You’ll hear a lot more about this crop as the year goes on. It’s a customer favorite too! Greens I enjoy growing include everything from microgreens to kale. I love anything green and leafy!

Funny enough I majored in engineering in college, so if I talk about systems and inputs and seem overly excited by data at times, there’s a reason for that. I love the outdoors too much though, the cubicles couldn’t hold me, so here I am. Buy some of my food! Or invite me out to your garden, I can help with weed removal, plantings, design work or suppling transplants.

Thanks for all the support! I’m really excited for everything Becky and I have planned for 2020. Stick around here at our new web space and see what’s new and fresh every week!

Ask me anything in the comments! Or send requests.