the farmers
Hannah grew up on a corn and soybean farm in Southern Minnesota and graduated from Mount Holyoke College in western Massachusetts in 2004. She worked in politics and government in St. Paul and Washington, DC, grew her first vegetables on rooftops in Brooklyn, and fell in love with grass-based livestock farming as an intern at Kinderhook Farm in the Hudson Valley of Upstate New York.
She returned home to Minnesota and began her pastured pig operation, Belly Rub Bacon, in 2015 at beautiful Dancing Winds Farms outside of Kenyon, MN, formerly a popular goat dairy run by Mairi Doerr. She also milked sheep at Shepherd's Way Farm, harvested garlic and ginger at Seven Songs Organic Farm, helped her dad plant and harvest crops, and sold cheesemaking kits at Roaring Brook Dairy.
Jason grew up in Wisconsin where he helped the neighbors with chores on their dairy farm, worked part-time in a commercial egg operation, and spent two years in his 20s at the mushroom farm River Valley Ranch. He is a skilled builder, having built a barn and straw bale house on raw land in the mountains of California, remodeled numerous homes in Minneapolis, and works freelance jobs building and decorating sets for advertising commercials around the Twin Cities.
When Hannah and Jason met, a bigger farm vision quickly grew.
our family
Together we traveled with the Practical Farmers of Iowa to Gabe Brown's famous no-till, rotationally grazed livestock farm in North Dakota, attended numerous field days and farm conferences through MOSES and the Sustainable Farming Association of MN, completed the Land Stewardship Project's Farm Beginnings course, and began searching for farm land of our own.
We were moved and inspired by what we learned about regenerative agriculture’s ability to heal the land, and in the spring of 2016, we bought 160 acres of beautiful rolling hay fields and wildlife-filled wetlands outside Finlayson, MN, and Medicine Creek Farm was born.
As raw land, Jason immediately began construction of our home with the help of his buddy Matt, while Hannah tended the pigs and a quickly growing menagerie of additional livestock.
In November of 2016, a new farmer joined the family -- Harvey! He often comes along for daily farm chores, has quickly become the resident farm expert in all things tractors, trailers, and trucks, and these days loves to give farm tours to visitors. We couldn't be more thrilled to have his spirit in our lives... and his stories and songs to keep us company while we put up fence.
We're also so very grateful for the help and support of our parents while we've built our dream together. From painting to baby-sitting, new tractors to entire electrical systems, and feeding both us and our dogs, we've received more help than we could ever imagine. And they didn't once tell us we were crazy!
our journey
Medicine Creek Farm has now been in operation for nearly a decade! The farm received two Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) grants to install permanent electric fencing and waterlines throughout the pastures. This allowed Hannah to scale up her livestock numbers, move the animals more easily, serve more customers, and occasionally manage to leave the farm (no more hauling 100 gallon water tanks to the cattle four times a day)! Recently, more pollinator and tree-planting projects are underway thanks to the NRCS Conservation Stewardship Program which will help us continue enhancing wildlife ecosystems on the farm.
Photo by William Paxton
In addition to the house, Jason, friends, and family have now completed building a pole shed, wood shop, sauna and the 1880s Timber Frame Barn that houses our Farmstay (check out the Farmstay page to read the epic tale of relocating and rebuilding the Timber Frame Barn)! The addition of agritourism to the farm has brought many new guests and visitors out to meet the animals and stay in Jason’s beautiful spaces. Jason has also maintained his off-farm work in set building and decorating where he continues to create lovely spaces and scenery for others.
Hannah also can’t quite quit her policy and advocacy work and has stayed extra busy lobbying and testifying on behalf of beginning farmers and regenerative agriculture at the state and federal capitol. She has served on the National Young Farmers Coalition Policy Committee, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture’s Emerging Farmers Working Group, and the Farm Service Agency Minnesota State Committee. She is currently the Pine County Farmers Union President and a member of the Land Stewardship Project Board of Directors.
staff
To help keep the farm running and animals moving, we hired our first farm apprentices in 2024 with the help of the Women Food and Agriculture Network’s Harvesting Our Potential Program. Autumn Eklund and Casidi Genadek were as life changing as our fences and waterlines, as we finally managed to take our first summer vacation with their careful watch over the farm! Farming encompasses both work and life, and it feels very much like our family has grown with their addition. Autumn has continued on with us for the 2025 season as well, and may be the one greeting you or giving your tour if you come for a visit!
Medicine Creek Farm apprentices Casidi Genadek and Autumn Eklund
Please join our mailing list for further updates on our progress and for an invitation to the annual farm party to meet us in person!
“Cook things, eat them with other people. If you can tire your own bones while growing the beans, so much the better for you.”