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Farming Approach

At Edge of the Earth Farm, we work hard to maintain a humane and earth-friendly farm that produces quality organic products. In order to do this, we have a specific way of running our farm that we would like to share. We want people to know how their food is grown/raised so they can have the same confidence that we have in our products.

Animal Care

We take pride in how we treat our animals. They are all free range, meaning that they are not confined in a small area. Our egg layers roam our farm as they please, while our meat birds are put in large "tractors" to protect them from predators. Our meat birds are "pastured", meaning the tractors are moved every day so the birds get fresh grass. Our hogs are also pastured once they are large enough. When they are young they are given a large fenced-in area that is connected to a barn so they can come and go as they like. These measures ensure that our animals live a good life. It also makes the meat tastier and more nutritious. Free range meats are denser than meats grown from hormones because animals are allowed to roam and build their own muscle naturally. By allowing them to roam, it also allows animals to eat bugs and grass which are closer to their natural diet.

Produce

Our produce is also grown with special considerations. We have seven large gardens, five outside, two in greenhouses. All of our gardens utilize compost from our own chickens, pigs, and turkeys as well as cows from our neighbor's farm. This ensures that we know what is in our compost and it meets organic and our personal standards. This practice also means we do not waste any of our resources. Our greenhouses are an important tool we use in our farming. The greenhouses help by creating a warmer and more humid environment that is shielded from the outside. This allows us to begin growing plants earlier as well as grow later into the fall, thus extending our growing season. It also allows us to grow plants that are not normally suited for Minnesotan environment.

Syrup Production

The syrup we produce comes from maple trees that surround our farm. We have about 150 taps over 10-20 acres. We collect our syrup by hanging special collection bags on the tap in each tree. Usually once a day we will go out and collect the sap by hand, carrying buckets through the woods and bringing them back to our farm. We evaporate our sap over a wood burning fire in a large stainless steel evaporator until it becomes maple syrup. The process that we use is very labor intensive, as forty gallons of sap makes one gallon of pure maple syrup.

Bees

We purchased our bees from a farm in Wisconsin, and they now live on our farm in special hives. We purchased bees for two reasons: they can give us bees wax and honey and they help pollinate our plants. For the most part we leave the bees alone. We collect our honey once in the fall, but leave them enough time to build up their reserves for the winter months. This entire process is symbiotic, in that they provide us with useful products while we provide them with a large variety of plants to pollinate and make their honey.