The Farm

Featherstone Fruits and Vegetables is a 70 acre organic produce farm in the fertile Wiscoy valley, about eight miles north of Rushford, MN. We are located on a 550 acre parcel of land owned by the Zephyr Valley Community Cooperative, a rural housing cooperative formed in 1994 and now comprising 11 adults and 10 children. Zephyr’s land is a mix of tillable bottomland, hillside woodlands and pastures, bluffs, goat prairies, and wetlands. Featherstone farmers and our families are residents and members of Zephyr and rent land from the Co-op for growing vegetables. Other farmers in the area rent an additional 80 acres of Co-op land to grow hay and raise organic soybeans and field corn.

Our basic goals as farmers are:
* to produce the tastiest, most healthful organic fruits and vegetables we can
* to build soil and care for all aspects of the farm environment, large and small
* to serve local communities of consumers with the freshest produce available

Our philosophy is rooted in the belief that the freshest, best tasting, and most nutritious fruits and vegetables come from sustainable systems that consider the strength and value of all elements of those systems. We are delighted to offer an alternative to petrochemical- based industrial agriculture. Our farm is an attempt to create an organic, locally rooted alternative to this industry; a farm and farmers folks can get to know and trust.

These ideas guide us as we consider what to grow, how to grow it, and where and in what way to sell our produce. They also shape our long-term plans for the farm.