About our farm
Raised under the open sky
Here at Wholesome Harvest Farms, we use the latest regenerative, no-till agricultural techniques to raise premium quality beef cattle, eggs, and vegetables. These farming practices allow us to solve our farming challenges biologically instead of chemically – we work with nature instead of against her.
What this means in practice is that we’ve eliminated the use of insecticides, fungicides, hormones, vaccines, and antibiotics on our pastures and in our beef. Our belief is that by providing our animals with the healthiest possible environment - a well managed pasture - and holding strict standards for our animals, we can successfully eliminate these inputs while also creating healthier animals in the long run.
What is regenerative agriculture?
Eric and Angela grew up out here in western Minnesota, close to conventional agriculture, with farming going way back in our family roots. We are proud to continue the farming tradition by raising our family out of town, on acreage, with constant activity all around us in the fields and pastures.
As we graduated college and became more intimately aware of the intricacies of conventional agriculture and some of the health concerns associated with chemical inputs and degrading soil resources, we were determined there had to be a better way to nourish our growing family.
It was in reading the book Dirt to Soil by Gabe Brown, that the lightbulb came on for us. After years of struggling to find a footing as a beginning farmer - losing money, not enough time, constantly investing in seed, equipment, and inputs - the methods of regenerative agriculture sounded like a game changer. And they were. The methods outlined below made farming fun again, and allowed us to provide a source of nourishment to our local communities while also remaining a solvent business.
Regenerative agriculture is fundamentally about solving problems biologically, as opposed to the chemical solutions that have been developed to support conventional agriculture. Effectively, it is about working with nature as opposed to against it.
The regenerative agriculture framework
Some of the guidelines we utilize to increase the nutrient density and health of our foods are:
Minimize soil disturbance- Working, turning, and tilling the soil kills beneficial microbiology and contributes to erosion, nutrient leaching, and dependency on inputs. We use no-till planting techniques, which involves special equipment designed to plant directly into sod and otherwise unworked soils. As we have gone down this path, we have seen a tremendous increase in the biology in our soils and improved productivity without conventional inputs.
Integrate livestock and rotate frequently - Livestock integration is a key tenet of regenerative agriculture and serves to deliver the “inputs” for nourishing the soil. While spending all their time eating a delicious mix of perennial and planted forage, our cattle drop manure, working it and all the leftover plant matter into the ground. This creates a robust layer of new food for the microbiology and builds new soil. While conventional farming practices reduce valuable topsoil layers (thereby requiring artificial chemical inputs), our regenerative high-density herding practices actually serve to add to the soil layer, building for the future. We move our cattle every 1-3 days, to provide significant rest for our pastures and improve nutrient cycling.
Just say “no” to synthetic inputs - We have 100% eliminated insecticides, fungicides, dewormers, vaccines, antibiotics, hormone implants, and chemical fertilizers on our pastures. Our belief, and practice for over five years, is that by providing our animals with the healthiest possible environment - a well managed pasture - and holding strict standards for our animals, we can eliminate these inputs while also creating healthier animals in the long run. As a bonus, the business side of our farm sees the benefit as well, through reduced input and labor costs from avoiding those practices.
Take ownership of the whole animal - As small herd farmers, we take pride in being good stewards of our animals for their entire lifecycle. Our animals give birth here or on cooperative farms utilizing practices that meet our standards, raise their calves, and get to be social under the open sky. We don’t send our animals off for “finishing” and we fully control their diets and habits. When you eat a Wholesome Harvest steak or burger, you can taste the difference in every tender cut. Processing is performed locally, primarily at Perham Meat Market, so you can feel good about supporting local farmers and small businesses every step of the way.
Our guiding principles:
We strive to provide the cleanest possible meat so our customers can feel great about the food that they eat.
We will continue to raise food the best ways that we know how, never compromising on quality, and only selling food that we would be happy to nourish our own family with.
We will continue to work on improving our processes and driving down costs so we can provide healthy, nutritious food at a price that people can afford.
Here at Wholesome Harvest Farms, we have a strong desire to be a part of the revolution – in our health, the regeneration of our soils, and the opportunity to leave this land better than we found it. The generations before us did the best they could with the tools and technology they had. Now that we have the tools and technology to employ different practices, it is our responsibility to do so. We hope you enjoy.
Stop on by sometime, we’d be happy to show you around.
-Eric and Angela Blaha
