Fourth generation farmers, we delight in building a traditional country farm atmosphere.  A 'haven on earth', hillsides surround us speckled with cattle, as well as wildlife and birds attracted by Conservation Reserve Program acreage strewn with prairie grasses and wildflowers.  Lynch Creek  passes through the back yard, trickling into the Root River and Trout Run.  

Undisturbed woodland rich with Morels, limestone outcroppings sprinkled with wild flowers and herbs entice cool walks in the heat of summer or on a crisp fall afternoon with rusting leaves underfoot.  Bald and Golden Eagles, heron, duck, red fox, whitetail deer, pheasant, quail and turkey are frequently spied, and we eagerly await more frequent rumors of area visits from black bear, bobcat and even cougar!  

Locally mined limestone formed the foundation of barns we've salvaged that were to be eliminated from the SE MN landscape and are now part of ours.  Fur post and beam construction, wooden spikes, steel, and faded red and gray side boards were salvaged, along with precious local family histories.  We designed and constructed our outbuildings by hand ourselves, relying on the most ingenious aspects of design styles of local German, Swedish, Irish and Norwegian settler's outbuildings and barns. Their sweat and blood melds with ours during each project, lending to the feeling, even more so, that we are preserving a rich legacy to pass to future owners of our farm and love sharing photos and stories.

Future endeavors include plans to reconstruct a 1955 Weber greenhouse we were provided by a local woman who owned a nursery (colorful history preserved in photos and documentation).  A new cold cellar with a 'green roof' with insulated walls from our family's old milk house will allow us to extend our fall harvest storage capabilities, and a local log cabin we salvaged (more local history collected) will become a display and retail area, as well as served as a guest house.  The cabin, and adjacent garden, are encircled with cherry, pear and apple trees to entice pollinators.

Haven on Earth Stories