Medicine Creek Farm

Regenerative. Ethical. Humane.

"To Be A Good Home" Short Film

I was beyond honored to be featured in Evan Flom’s beautiful short film “To Be a Good Home” alongside my friends Starr and Kaitlyn.

This is a story about a place. It’s a story about growing, connecting, and caring. This is a story about soil, water, and land.

To Be A Good Home follows three women farming and stewarding the land in northern Minnesota. One is a direct descendant of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, tending her plot at the place of the gardens, Gitigaaning. One is an urban farmer, feeding her neighborhood near the shores of Lake Superior, Gichigami. One is a regenerative farmer and rancher, caring for her herd and building the soil with them.

To Be A Good Home features Starr Brainard of Saltless Sea Urban Farm, Hannah Bernhardt of Medicine Creek Farm, and Kaitlyn Walsh of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.

This project was made possible in part by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Arrowhead Regional Arts Council, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.

Check out more of Evan’s work here.

Seeking Part-Time Grazing Apprentice

Medicine Creek Farm is seeking a part-time regenerative grazing apprentice for the 2024 summer season!

We are partnering with the Women, Food & Agriculture Network’s Harvesting Our Potential Program to offer an apprenticeship/mentoring program alongside part-time paid employment.

We are hoping to find someone available for 20 hours/week for 10-14 weeks between June and September.

This might look like 4 hours/week for 5 days a week, including 1 weekend a month; however, we can be flexible with your schedule to a certain degree. If you’re interested but have other things on your plate (days you can’t work, fewer hours available, scheduled vacations), go ahead and apply and we can discuss how we might make it work.

Pay will range between $12-14/hour depending on experience, plus a $750 stipend from WFAN upon successful completion of the program.

Meals will be included and on-farm housing may be available — let’s talk about your needs!


Tasks may include:

  • Putting up and taking down a lot of temporary electric fence

  • Moving sheep, cattle, and pigs between paddocks

  • Filling pig feeders by hand with 5 gallon buckets of organic feed

  • Moving equipment (water tanks, hoses, mobile shade, mineral feeders) by hand and with a UTV

  • Feeding, brushing, and caring for 6 livestock guardian dogs

  • Herding sheep with a border collie puppy-in-training

  • Livestock husbandry; treating sick or injured animals

  • Interacting with customers through agritourism; giving tours, making on-farm sales

  • Garden watering, weeding, planting & harvesting should you be interested


Educational topics covered:

  • soil health principles - water infiltration, soil tests, mineral profile

  • adaptive grazing - principles in action, plant identification, livestock nutrition

  • shepherding basics - parasites, common illnesses, veterinary care, herding dogs

  • cattle health basics - parasites, common illnesses, veterinary care, low-stress handling

  • pig health basics - parasites, common illnesses, veterinary care, non-ruminant management

  • ecosystem health basics - insect and wildlife indicators, pasture diversity, birds, pollinators & predators

  • livestock guardian dog management - veterinary care, pack dynamics, breed differences, training

  • business management - record keeping, taxes, cash flow, business plans

  • direct marketing basics - selling pastured products, website and sales, e-commerce, social media

  • harvest basics - sorting & loading, working with a butcher, custom vs USDA considerations, regulations

  • programs & grants - navigating beginning farmer resources (FSA, NRCS, SFA, LSP, MFU, FACT, WFAN…)

  • agritourism - quality of life considerations, education, community building


Benefits:

  • pastoral beauty

  • bird song

  • starry nights

  • dog love

  • eating like a King


Things to consider:

  • you can’t control animals (they don’t always do what you want them to do)

  • you can’t control the weather (it will be hot, it will be cold, it might be wet, it might be dry)

  • there will be poop on your clothes (and you might get it on your hands)

  • there will be uncertainty

  • what is certain is that everything dies, eventually


How to apply:

Everybody is more than welcome to apply; we include every body in everybody.

Please poke around our website first to make sure you know what we’re up to here at Medicine Creek Farm. Also read Hannah’s mentor bio on the WFAN website to see if you like our style.

Then, please send an informal email introducing yourself and your interest in the position at hannah@medicinecreekfarm.com. No need for a cover letter; resumes are nice but only if you have it ready to go. Don’t stress about this part.

If it seems like a potential fit, we will ask you to fill out WFAN’s online application. WFAN will schedule a brief interview to explain how their program works. Don’t stress about this part either.

Then we’ll talk specifics about whether it’s going to work for both of us. This will also be informal so let’s just not stress.

If it’s not the right fit this time around, please try to come sometime for a Saturday morning tour and stay in touch. Who knows what the future might bring!

PFI Farminar: Online Marketing for Pastured Products

As proud members of the Practical Farmers of Iowa (we know we don’t live there but we just love those Iowa farmers), I was excited to give a Farminar presentation on the topic of Online Marketing for Pastured Products. I know from first hand experience how busy farmers are, so I try to give some practical advice on quick and easy ways to improve your online presence and help you prioritize the marketing time you do have. You can watch the recorded webinar on the PFI YouTube page and feel free to let me know if you have any questions!

Introducing the Vintage Remodeled Camper Trailer on Hipcamp!

We’ve had quite the secluded year here at the farm. Early in the pandemic, Jason used his extra free time to completely gut and remodel our 1969 camper trailer. As you can see, it’s incredibly gorgeous, and despite our reluctance to leave our pandemic cocoon, we’re finally ready to share it with the outside world.⁣⁣

Our daily lives here at the farm didn’t really change much last year, other than to see you all less. As always, the sun shone, the grass grew, animals were fed and watered, and we ate well.⁣⁣

If you’re looking to get out of whatever coop you’ve been kept in, maybe pet some enormous dogs, and eat well under the stars, we’re happy to help. We may have gone a little feral, but if you can forgive our rusty social skills we’d love to have you here.⁣

Check out our Hipcamp listing here for more details and to book your stay!

Book on Hipcamp

Start Shepherding from Scratch Webinar

I gave an online presentation called “Start Shepherding from Scratch” at the Practical Farmers of Iowa Winter Conference in January. It was thrilling to get to talk about sheep for a whole hour... and I don’t even really like public speaking!⁣⁣

My goal was to share some ideas on how to start grazing sheep with no permanent infrastructure (which is how we got started five years ago), but it also included shepherding basics for anyone looking to raise sheep for the first time. ⁣

I also tried to make the case for why I think sheep make a good first farming enterprise... as if their cute sheepy faces weren’t enough! I’ve been thinking about it, and I’m pretty certain the world needs more sheep people.⁣

The presentation is now available online on the PFI YouTube channel for those who missed it at the conference.

If you have any remaining questions after watching the presentation, let me know! You can send me an email at hannah@medicinecreekfarm.com