We were thrilled to be featured on an episode of Minnesota Bound about soil health and water quality! Our segment starts at the 14:30 minute mark. Can’t thank producer Kyle Heidenreich enough for telling the story of regenerative agriculture so clearly and compellingly!
The Spring 2024 issue of Edible Minnesota showcased a number of cool agritourism experiences, including our own Farm Stay and tours! We love being featured alongside pizza farms, farm-to-table dinners, goat yoga, and more.
I was very honored (and extremely nervous) to be invited to participate in a conversation with Minnesota Public Radio’s Angela Davis about farming, extreme weather, climate change, and regenerative agriculture alongside Heidi Roop, director of the University of Minnesota Climate Adaptation Partnership, and Ariel Kagan, the Climate and Working Lands Program Director with the Minnesota Farmers Union.
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We were thrilled to have our Farm Stay featured in Experience Life Magazine’s May Food Issue! Check out the article and let us know if you want to come visit! More information is available on the Farmstay page, or you can make your booking directly on Hipcamp.
Read MoreI 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
I took this photo for the Land Stewardship Project Summer Grazing Photo Contest to try to encapsulate the many aspects of rotational grazing, and I got pretty lucky capturing so many parts of it in one composition—livestock on the move, portable fencing that makes grazing possible, livestock guardian dogs that make having sheep in this part of Minnesota possible, and the shepherd that has for centuries been in deep relationship with the sheep and dogs, making the regeneration of the soil possible.
If you’re unfamiliar with the Land Stewardship Project or their work, I encourage you to check them out and consider becoming a member!
As beginning farmers we have benefitted from their Farm Beginnings and Journeyperson programs which teach farmers the skills to be financially sustainable without making “bottom line” decisions that will harm the land.
I’ve continued to participate on committees that are working to further programs and policies that help farmers do right by the land while fighting for economic and racial justice.
It’s been hard lately to feel positive about the world, but in the words of Mr. Rogers, I’ve been looking for the helpers. The Land Stewardship Project is full of them.
You don’t have to be a farmer to get involved, and in fact I’d argue we need more urban and suburban helpers using their voices to change agricultural policy.
Your tax dollars play a huge role in what kind of agriculture is viable for farmers, and you have a say in helping more of them use practices that sequester carbon, regenerate the soil, prevent erosion and runoff, provide habitat for wildlife and pollinators, create meaningful jobs, and grow healthy food we can all feel good eating.
I talk a little more about this is the latest issue of LSP’s newsletter: https://landstewardshipproject.org/repository/1/3466/people_agenda.pdf
We are super excited to announce we are now a Minnesota Ag Water Quality Certified Farm with Soil Health Endorsement!
Very excited to be featured in Agweek!
We haven’t spoken much about our vision for the barn restoration project publicly yet, but here’s a start.
“We want people to experience what it is we are doing, and how we're trying to farm alongside nature, and give the animals that are nourishing us a good life that we feel good about."
On Feb. 13, I was invited by the Minnesota Farmers Union to testify to the Minnesota State House of Representatives Agriculture Committee regarding the Ag Department’s recently released “Emerging Farmer Report.”
Here is my testimony:
Thank you Chair Poppe and members of the committee.
For the record, my name is Hannah Bernhardt, and I am the owner and principal operator of Medicine Creek Farm in Finlayson, MN. Since 2016 I have been raising grass fed beef and lamb and pastured pork…
Read MoreWe're having a party to celebrate our new pole barn, fences, and all the people who have supported us in getting this far!
Tour at 4PM
(meet the cows, pigs, and sheep)
Potluck Meal at 5PM
(please bring a dish to share and your dinnerware)
Bonfire and Music into the Evening
(camping available for those staying late)
Many of you know that Jason has an intense work ethic and a gift for making seemingly insane projects happen in record time. Here’s his latest project!
He found this barn on Craigslist four hours away (near Trimont where I grew up) and all the stars aligned for it to be ours... as long as he pitched all the hay out and took it down piece by piece and figured out how to move it to our farm.
HAPPY NEW YEAR! This year we've had so much gratitude for you--our family, friends, and customers!
- Jason finished building our home and we moved in just as grass growing weather and grazing began.
- We bred our 8 mature ewes and lambed our first flock of 9 bouncy, fluffy lambs on the hillsides outside our new house.
- We got a third, and then fourth livestock guardian dog to keep the livestock safe from coyotes and wolves...
Belly Rub Bacon is now Medicine Creek Farm and Ordering for 2017 is now open!
While we loved our name, it didn't seem right to limit the full potential our new land holds. After a pilgrimage to the magical but deeply hidden Medicine Creek across the road and a year experiencing the new land's beauty and wonder, it felt clear that our farm is about even more than the good care of our livestock...
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