Bear River Farm sits on wooded land in the middle of five different state forests. Missy and Tom Roach bought it in 2001 from a man who had lived there for about 15 years. The 40 acres had a number of owners before that, going back to the 1860’s. In the Treaty of 1854, the Chippewa of Lake Superior ceded ownership of their lands in the northeastern portion of what is now commonly referred to as Minnesota’s Arrowhead Region, to the United States government. At approximately five and a half million acres, the 1854 Ceded Territory covers all, or portions of, six counties. The Chippewa ceded ownership of the territory but, as with most treaties, did not cede their rights to hunt, fish, and gather on those lands. It is against this historical backdrop that homesteading and the establishment of farms in the Arrowhead was undertaken by European settlers. In the Bear River Valley, a Canadian lumber company helped itself to most of the valuable timber before the land was finally surveyed and opened to homesteading.
The farm is small, with 20 acres of woodland and 20 acres of “pasture mix.” Perfect for the specialty crops and a few hogs and chickens who roam large areas on the farm. There’s a house that used to be a huge barn where the folks lived upstairs and the animals downstairs (good for heat, they say). Now its two stories shelter a family of four and a dog and a cat. Down the hill is a large greenhouse built of spare windows and doors that still has the remains of this year’s chard and kale, spinach and parsley. The soil, both here and in the gardens, is always covered—and most often contains living roots, cover crops in rotation with specialty crops like asparagus and garlic. The greenhouse (unheated) produces chard and many kinds of lettuce, kale, cucumbers, squash, greens, peppers tomatoes and onions in season.
Up the hill is a barn with a huge fenced area extending into the woods where pigs sometimes live when they’re not out in the larger fenced pasture. The pigs caught a flu and all died this year, so it’s quiet here except for the rooster. There’s a small greenhouse and a chicken coop, all within another large fenced area, and a colorful variety of hens are moving around. It’s winter and they’ve cut back on their laying a bit, but still provide the family with fresh eggs every day.
The large fenced “garden” is about 170x70 and that’s where most of the specialty crops grow. It didn’t used to be fenced, but the deer were constant visitors. And it didn’t used to be very fertile either—mostly clay. Missy and Tom brought in compost, peat, manure, and planted clover, winter rye, buckwheat, oats, and peas and let it sit for several seasons at the beginning. Now it is thriving. There are seven rows of asparagus, each 70 feet long, peeking out of the snow. Missy plants cover crops over the rest of the garden and carefully rotates the garlic on a 5-year cycle into areas that have been pre-cropped with buckwheat and oats. During the growing season, the garlic is interplanted with clover. Missy has the supplies to construct several large row cover structures so that the asparagus won’t freeze this June like it did last year. There’s a mini hoop house at one end of the fenced area for tomatoes and peppers. The garlic and asparagus are popular at the Cook Area Farmers Market where Missy sells in the summer. The market is open on Saturdays from 8-1 in the city park on River Street. It’s a bustling place starting in about mid-June.
Down the road a little, Missy planted a large pollinator area a few years ago with a grant she won in the Iron Range Partnership for Sustainability’s Community Sustainability Initiative contest. It will be buzzing in the spring. Missy and Tom tap maples too on nearby state land. They boil the sap over an open fire and this year made over 11 gallons of syrup. I bought some of their syrup last summer and it is wonderfully smoky. You open the jar and all of a sudden you’re in front of a campfire. Yum! I used it to sweeten the applesauce I made from the trees in my yard—great combination.
Away from it all a bit is a large dog yard for the two dozen sled dogs that Tom keeps. He has about seven different kinds of sleds and does quite a bit of mushing in the winter. There are miles and miles of trails throughout the area so the dogs get to run a lot. I remember last winter when Tom posted a video on Facebook that he had taken from the sled during a long run. He was out harvesting firewood and was bringing home a big load on a freight sled with a large team. They heat with wood, all harvested from nearby. They also enjoy winter camping and mushing in the Boundary Waters with the dogs.
It’s winter now and the gardens are put to bed, the garlic planted, abundant produce is canned and ready for soups and stews, and Missy is already dreaming of starting plants upstairs in the house next spring. Those plants eventually go to the greenhouse. Bear River Farm is like many small farms in northern Minnesota—a combination of a few animals and specialty crops. (That term “specialty crop” is a bit misleading—it is used by the USDA to distinguish anything that is not a commodity crop like corn, wheat or soybeans that are traded.) And, like most farmers, both Missy and Tom have off-farm jobs. Missy has been active in the Minnesota Farmers Union for a number of years, too. She’s a strong advocate for family farms and the direct marketing of farm products to local consumers. Find Bear River Farm at the Cook Area Farmers Market next summer!