Upcoming Trips!
Please Note: You need to RSVP to the following events in order to attend!
Farm Chores at Sörestad Farm
We will be helping out the Sörestad Farm with major end of season farm chores which will be garden and greenhouse clean up. Resetting the most productive and versatile growing spaces on a farm makes a farmer's spring so much more enjoyable by reducing unneeded organic material, microbes, and stress in those areas to make for an open invitation to the sprouting season. This a great opportunity for folks who want to support local food systems and appreciate hands-on projects. This is family friendly event, lunch will be provided and it will happen rain or shine since we will have the cover of the greenhouse!
"Sörestad is Julie and Bill's farm in Clover Valley, between Duluth and Two Harbors, MN. We are passionate about growing excellent food for our community, and caring for the land which cares for us. We bought this old farmstead in 2020 and are restoring its soil, ecology, and structures so that it may produce abundantly, provide habitat for all sorts of creatures, and be a meeting place for neighbors and friends. And of course we grow everything without any chemicals!"
Fall Clean Up and Spring Prep at Kisheri Farm
Originally from Cameroon, farmer Relyndis Tegomoh and her husband Marius purchased some land south of Northfield two years ago. It's been a challenging year, with storms tearing up their high tunnel and with Relyndis breaking her ankle. They need help on their beautiful farm, and few opportunities to help is as fulfilling and joyful as helping out with farm chores for a few hours. Food is provided, carpools available.
Fall Clean Up Party at WEI
As the birthplace of the Farm Buds and as the place that was cherished so much by its beloved cofounder and Farm Buds godmother, Karen Clark - who just 3 months ago became an ancestor - WEI has a special place in our hearts and the hearts and minds of the hundreds if not thousands of people who have learned from the farm, organized alongside Karen and build community power towards a more just and loving world. We'll be there for the morning and part of the afternoon helping with fall clean up and Spring prep. Food provided, carpools available when possible.
Chengwatana Community Farm
With the Willow River supplying most of the border of this farm, it's situated on a beautiful 220 acres of farmland and forest. Lynn Mizner has been raising sheep, chickens (egg-layers), cattle and hogs using regenerative, rotational grazing methods as well as growing all sorts of produce to sell at local markets. Someday Lynn hopes to transition this farm into a collaborative, cooperatively run piece of farmland to support growing food, creative arts, and community.
This is a great trip for folks interested in learning about regenerative livestock operations (which helps to nurture soil to capture carbon from the air), community farming models and camping.
It is a 220 acre farm and will be a great opportunity for people who are interested in community land use models to spend time on a farm and with a farmer who is looking to transition her farm into a model where many people can call home and farm the land.
Moving an Urban Farm to Peace of Mind
Peace of Mind Farm is both an Urban farm growing flowers and vegetables and a healthy, regenerative, environment, a place for transforming the community through relationships. It has become a destination location for providing individuals and organizations to exchange wisdom in growing healthy food with the goal of creating an educational environment to foster long term relationships with community so that they can invest in the space to create greater abundance in their lives.
Learn more about the trip here!
Farm Chores at Feywild Farm
This will be a unique chance to see what it takes to turn a property into a productive farm land! We will be helping Feywild Farm build a strong foundation as a farm that donates 100% of their produce to community partners. This will include general farm chores like tiling, trail clearing and trash clean up. If you bring any tools, make sure to label or take pictures of them.
Saturday Agenda:
9:15-9:30am = arrive at farm, name tags, waiver signing
9:30am = intros, tour of garden, description of the projects
10am or whenever ready = break into teams and start working on project
Project work until 1-1:30pm then lunch (provided)
Continue project work as needed
Feywild Farm is a 1st year community garden raising produce for donation to our partners like the Duluth Center for Women and Children that use healthy produce for meal kits and programming. They are a community garden on a five acre farm
Mushkiki Aki (White Earth)
Join us at Dana Trickey’s farm to connect with the land within the White Earth Community, and to support her efforts to work with the land to cultivate food, wild and domestic. We'll be helping her put up a fence to keep a boundary between the wildlife and a developing fruit orchard, and working on a chicken run for her growing flock of chickens. If there's extra time and people, we'll work on a pavilion style shelter for the traditional maple sugar operation at the farm.
Folks are welcome to camp on Friday and Saturday. Three hardy meals a day will be provided to Farm Buds volunteers. Saturday evening, community members will join us for the evening meal, and to share a Anishinaabeg cultural experience with the Farm Buds crew.
Prepping for Tree Planting at Fair Haven Farm
We will be prepping space to expand their orchard and helping to bring in the fall harvest of dried beans, corn, and squash. Each participant will leave with a small share of the harvest.
Fairhaven Farm sells starter plants in the beginning of the season and grows other produce to sell to community markets. They have been incorporating some innovative technology that includes compost tea distribution through drip tape and also are growing mushrooms in collaboration with other farms. John & Emily also offer Friday pizza dinners until the end of August and an 8 month immersion course designed to help you tune into nature's cycles while learning relevant skills that will help you deepening your connection to the land and community.
Round River Farm Trip
Nestled in the lap of the Sawtooth Mountains along the North Shore of Lake Superior, Round River Farm is a solar and wind powered homestead founded on the ideal of sustainability and balance within the environment. Striving to create circular systems in their home and farm they intensively manage one acre of tilled crops (including four high tunnels), and several more acres of fruit and nut orchards which also serve as pasture for a small flock of Shetland sheep and as forage for honeybees and free range chickens.
We'll also be visiting Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center and the AgroEcology Center.
This is a great trip for folks interested in beautiful scenery, off-grid living, building soil, climate resilient solutions for agroforestry and farming
Weeding and Harvesting Party at Better Greens Farm
Better Greens Farm is a collectively farmed operation run that does a lot of great work in supporting African farmers with land access, markets, tools and community as they grow their operations. Join Farm Buds as we show up to learn and support these farmers with weeding and harvesting okra!
Better Greens Farm is a collectively farmed operation run by the Minnesota African Immigrant Farming Association (MAIFA). They do a lot of great work in supporting African farmers with land access, markets, tools and community as they grow their operations.
Drawing from West Central/East African cultural practices with focus on preservation and medicinal agriculture, everything grown is with intentionality ensuring vegetables and herbs have high nutritional content. The farm honors African traditions of food as medicine
Rootsprings Farm Buds Trip
The Fields at Rootsprings is stewarding liberating space for BIPOC and LGBTQ+ artists, activists, healers, and community in Minnesota and beyond. The land features a diverse, beautiful landscape with pond, prairie and wet meadows, vegetable and medicine gardens, labyrinth, and trail in the woods.
This is a great trip for folks who are interested in alternative land use models, want to be support spaces focused on healing and growth for Black and Brown communities and just want to get your hands in the soil!
Aitkin Farm Extravaganza
The Farm Buds' Aitkin Farm and Local Foods Extravaganza is a one-of-a-kind weekend designed to reconnect people with the land, local food systems, and the farmers who nourish the communities in Aitkin County!
During the weekend, participants will:
Visit with and work alongside local farmers on projects they could use an extra set of hands with.
Experience the vibrant community of Aitkin County and see what they are doing to support agrotourism in the area.
Take a tour of American Peat Technology on the outskirts of Aitkin where they not only make peat responsibly, but support the local farming community
Perennial Project at Lucky Dog Farm
We will be helping out the Lucky Dog Farm with some project work in the perennial beds and picking some blueberries which you can take home! This a great opportunity for folks who want to support local food systems and appreciate hands-on projects. This is family friendly event and lunch will be provided.
Lucky Dog Farm is a family-owned, sustainable fruit farm located on a historic homestead site, offering an array of seedlings, berries, and produce, with offerings varying throughout the growing season