Our Story

There are six of us wrapped up in this adventure, Jonathan and Lori plus our four kids Elizabeth, Andrew, Erik and Abigail. Onto that you'll need to add two dogs, 9 cats, a horse, two miniature donkeys, 8 cows, one bull, two yearlings, four calves, over a hundred chickens and a couple of ducks.

Eight years ago we lived a not uncommon suburban life in St. Louis, Missouri. Jonathan worked in a corporate IT department. Lori stayed home and home-schooled our kids. All of our food came from traditional grocery stores. We tried to pay attention to ingredient lists, but generally purchased the cheapest brand.

While we've been blessed with good health, a bout of headaches made Lori take a closer look at what we were eating. In her reading she was amazed at how many chemicals in our processed food act like estrogen and can cause a wide range of health issues. She quickly switched us over to organic or at least less processed foods from Whole Foods and Trader Joe's.

But still some questions remained. Even if food has a healthy ingredient list, how healthy for the planet can it be if it shows up in a cardboard box and a plastic wrapper? And where does all this grocery store organic food come from? University of Michigan research shows that most organic brands have been bought up by conventional food conglomerates. Do those conglomerates really share our passion for healthy, sustainable food or are they just in it for the money?

We then began purchasing more of our food at farmers' markets. We got to know the farmers and visited their farms. We were impressed with their care of their land, their extensive, hard-won knowledge and their passion to produce quality food.

For Jonathan, spending his best hours in pointless corporate meetings was becoming an increasing burden. If we didn't trust corporations to make our food, why should we give them the best years of our lives? We read Joel Salatin's book You Can Farm and the wheels started turning. Momentum increased when a farming friend who had also once been in IT agreed to mentor Jonathan. Our longstanding enjoyment of winter and a visit to friends in south-central Minnesota made it easy to decide where to buy land.

In 2009 Jonathan's employer was bought out and layoffs quickly followed. Through a tumultuous summer God provided both a severance check and a good deal on a beautiful piece of land perfect for cows, chickens, orchards, gardens and a family. Here in 2011 we've now survived two Minnesota winters and are caught up in the activities of this third growing season.

Friends and customers are always welcome to stop by for a visit. Just give us a call first and we'll make sure to save a few chores for you!

Jonathan & Lori Lindstrom

Web site by Emmanuel Farm Web Tech