Welcome to our Farm

Dewane and Anne Morgan bought 160-acres in 1972. Neither had ever lived on a farm, but they were determined to be organic. They bought a Jersey milk cow and asked the neighbor how to milk her. That same neighbor showed Dewane how to hook up an old 2-bottom plow to a small Farmall tractor. Their cropland was rundown after years of being rented out and Anne's first garden was eaten by a woodchuck.

Things got better over time. Anne grew a large garden and put up food for their growing family. Dewane taught himself to farm biodynamically and restored the farm's fields to health. They milked cows for eighteen years, then switched to market gardening and beef cattle. In 2002, they started Lakes and Valley CSA.

The farm now has 440 acres. 225 are tillable, but fields that are too rocky or sandy have been put into permanent pasture. For years, Dewane hand-gathered seeds of sand bluestem, Indian grass, needle grass, white prairie clover, purple prairie clover and other native prairie forbs and grasses, and spread them on the pastures. These revitalized pastures are productive and part of the farm's rotational grazing system.

Cultivated land is in a 5-year rotation of winter wheat, oats-barley, hay, hay-pasture, pasture-hay. Biodynamic practices have increased topsoil depth from an average of six inches to over fourteen inches. Crop yields are up dramatically with limited inputs. Sandier fields have improved water holding capacity, and plants are able to survive periods of drought.

Wheat is fed to laying hens, along with oats and barley. Cows graze from mid-May until the farm's stock ponds freeze over in November. At dusk, between fifty and seventy deer browse alongside the cows and calves. Bear, fox, wolves, raccoons, skunks, mink, badgers, gophers, and other wildlife reside in the farm's woods and windbreaks. Song birds, hawks, woodpeckers, blackbirds and bluebirds thrive. Seven species of wild bees, including bumblebees, pollinate garden and farm crops alongside honeybees from the farm's hives.

All photos on our website were taken on our farm.

You can also visit North American Biodynamic apprenticeship Program (NABDAPP at:

http://www.biodynamics.com/north-american-biolynamic-apprenticeship-programnabdap@biodynamics.com