Turnip Rock Farm is our home and our livelihood. A whole farm ecosystem with annual vegetables, perennial grass pastures, and wildlife habitat integrated into the fold. We aim to create something lasting and to live by the tenant that the land does not belong to us, but that we belong to the land.
Our family is Josh, Rama, Otto, and Sadie. We are lucky to live in an area with many small, sustainable, and family farms. We are active in Wisconsin Farmers Union. We provide produce for Shared Ground Farmer’s Cooperative in addition to our CSA. Josh’s farm work is focused on growing vegetables and managing livestock. Rama is the cheese maker. Otto is the amphibian and reptile expert on the farm. Sadie is quality control and tastes all the vegetables and cheese to make sure they are good enough for the CSA! We are honored to be your farmers. And we couldn’t do it without the help of our farm crew who year after year prove to be great learners with real passion and curiosity, amazingly hard workers, and genuinely fun people to include in our day to day farming operations.
"We believe that food is a divine, biological gift to grow, animate, and repair the body. An emotional gift involved in the chemistry of passion, inspiration, and devotion. An intellectual gift to create the paradigms of human community and interaction with all of planet earth. A spiritual gift engaging humanity in accepting and using the resources of nature, society, and technology so far and they sustain and enhance the qualities of human life and create harmony with the world around us. Every time a person eats there is energy available to create the next story in the history of the universe."
- Carol Harder, CSA member
As vegetable growers we have over 12 years of CSA farm management experience and 6 years of internship experience. We farmed for 4 years in New Auburn, WI on the rockiest ground that anyone has ever grown vegetables on! In 2013 we moved to a Clear Lake WI. We are closer to our CSA members and are surrounded by a great community of sustainable farmers. We kept the name but left the rocks behind and added a farmstead creamery.
For the 2020 season we will grow 4 acres of produce for our 180 members. We will be milking around 15 100% grass fed cows and grazing 40 plus carbon sequestering acres. 100% grass fed means, we don't feed grain. ever. This increases the nutritional value of our cheese and cuts out the energy intense use of grain. We raise 20 pigs who are fed the whey left over from cheese making. We raise up the calves and mother cows in our wood lot, creating a great upland bird habitat by keeping a clear under brush.
2020 will be our fifth season offering a full diet CSA that includes Organic vegetables, cheese, and meat from our farm as well as eggs from a neighboring farm!
We are a family farm and we operate following our values which are rooted in the highest respect for the soil and our natural environment and resources. We also LOVE food, love growing it, and love sharing it with our CSA members.
Thank you for supporting small farms, local and sustainable food, and allowing us to be your farmers!
Click here to see Turnip Rock in a short episode of Around the Farm Table from 2012
And Click here to see our farm in a full episode of Around the Farm Table from 2015
