Molly’s Story: I’m really not starting a farm, per se. The farm has been there, but I guess you could say I’m starting it anew. Caroline Mueller, the 89 year old woman who owns the farm and who I’ve come to think of as a favorite great aunt, farmed this piece of land with her husband Al their entire married life. Al’s grandparents settled it in 1883, and when Al passed away in ’99 Caroline didn’t have the energy to keep farming it herself. So she rented it by the acre. I’ve known about it since my high school years and always thought that one day I’d like to work on it.
Fate finally having brought me back to my hometown of St. Louis in 2007 after stints in Florida, Fiji, Santa Cruz, Ghana, and Thailand (mostly spent exploring the field of sustainable agriculture), I decided that the time was finally right to get rooted at the Mueller Farm. I also decided that I didn’t want to go it alone. I met Colleen Wilson there while apprenticing with John Wilkerson, an experienced tenant farmer who’d been renting from Caroline for 9 years. We joined forces and created EarthDance, an organization I’ve been dreaming up since college. Our vision is to incorporate the visual and performing arts and music into the farmscape as much as possible – to really celebrate the culture in agriculture. But as our mission is to grow and inspire local FARMS – Food, Art, Relationships, and Music, Sustainably – Food comes first. So with 14 apprentices joining us on the Mueller Farm this year, we’re hoping to grow lots of food while growing a learning community. I couldn’t be more excited.

Plan for 2009 and beyond: This year we’ll be growing about 15 different vegetables and fruits on the farm, plus some herbs and flowers. Our apprentices (“Freshman Farmies” as they’re called, in fact!) will gain the experience of not only working on our own 1 acre plot of the Mueller Farm, but also on neighboring plots farmed by John Wilkerson, Dave Horton, & Vicki Landers, for a total acreage of 2.5 acres. We’ll be selling our produce at 2 weekly farmers markets in the St. Louis area this year, as well as selling to a few local restaurants. We’re really thrilled to be developing a small farming community, with hopes to expand our acreage in production greatly next year. In year 2 or 3 we plan to start a CSA in addition to selling at farmers markets. Hopefully some ‘graduates’ of our program will even want to till their own piece of land somewhere, whether an edible school garden in the city, several acres in a rural area, or their own backyard. Also this year, to integrate the arts and music into our farmscape, we’ll be hosting Open Space: Open Studio sessions monthly, when folks can spend a Sunday afternoon on the farm creating their art or music in a peaceful open air setting and enjoy each others’ company.