"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.

Ear to the Ground Podcast and Profile Feature

Early in our farming career, Jason and I participated in the Land Stewardship Project’s Farm Beginnings Program. Five years into farmland ownership, the Land Stewardship Project caught back up with us on how things were going and where we’ve arrived in our farming journey. Check out the LSP “Ear to the Ground” podcast for an audio version of the interview, or read the profile feature from the Summer Issue of the Land Stewardship Letter.

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

AgWeek features Medicine Creek Farm

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."

https://www.agweek.com/business/agriculture/6563470-Pine-County-farmer-creates-blueprint-for-spotting-and-fighting-for-your-own-lane

Women Farmers are a Growing Population

Twin Cities Public Television did a profile of women farmers on a recent episode of Almanac. I was thrilled to be featured along with other women of the Minnesota Farmers Union.