|
|
Welcome to Easy Bean Farm 2012!
UPDATE: 4/13/12
It has now been almost a month since we returned home to find our farm on fire and so much has happened during these past 4 weeks. With the help of our community, friends and members we levelled the remains of the buildings, hauled off the burned equipment, rebuilt our greenhouses AND managed to stay on-schedule with all of our spring work. All-in-all we are mostly just humbled by how people have turned up to help us out and offered their time and resources. While we are sad to have lost the buildings, tractor and tools, aside from Malena's art work, all we lost was STUFF. With enough time and money we will be able to replace all of it (at least the stuff worth replacing) and we feel lucky that no-one was hurt and our house is still standing (mostly) unscathed.
While there is still work related to the fire to do, we have largely been focussed on moving on with the season. The greenhouses are now full of tiny plants that grow with alarming speed, many of the fields are plowed and some of them are even planted. At the time of this writing we are just 7-8 weeks from our first delivery and we still have a few shares left to sell so.... if you have not yet reserved your share please consider doing so.
In other news, there is a fire relief benefit that some friends/family/members are planning at the Nomad, in Minneapolis, on Sunday April 22nd between 3:00 PM and 8:00 PM. Malena will be playing music with her band and will be selling art work and there will be food and merriment. You can find more details here. We'd love to see you there!
Mike Jacobs & Malena Handeen
About Easy Bean Farm
Easy Bean Farm is located 6 miles east of Milan in the Chippewa River Watershed of west-central Minnesota. The Chippewa, as it makes its way toward the Minnesota, passes through our 120 acres of prairie, woodland, pasture and cropland. Our farm, in addition to being our home and place of work, also is home to a myriad of “wild” plant and animal life.
Songbirds nest in the groves, frogs assemble their choir at the edge of the pond, fish swim the river, Monarch butterflies rest on the milkweed, deer hide in the tall prairie grass, and the soil is crawling with worms, insects and microbes. As we manage this land we attempt to take all of its inhabitants into consideration.
The profitability of our farm is measured as much by the quality of the water, the health of the soil, and the diversity of its ecosystem, as by the dollars it brings us. As we farm it is our goal to produce agricultural systems that are as stable and diverse as the natural ecosystem they replace. This has led us to plant over 20 acres of trees, restore native prairie species, farm all of our cropland organically, and incorporate passive solar design in restoring our 100 year old house.
|