Farmer Kate

BY ERIN CASEY

Amid the rolling fields of Solon, Kate Edwards (a.k.a. Farmer Kate) is hard at work harvesting fresh vegetables at Wild Woods Farm. This local farm has been providing community-supported agriculture (CSA) to Iowans since 2010, feeding close to 300 families.

Starting in June each year, Wild Woods Farm cuts, packs and delivers CSA shares once a week for its 16-week summer season. The farm also has a fall share later in the year. Along with produce, each delivery contains delicious, quick recipes and/or instructions for how to use and store the vegetables so recipients can make the most of a share.

Bread & Butter caught up with Farmer Kate to learn more about the work she does on the farm.

How did you get started with Wild Woods Farm, and what is your mission? I was walking to work one day, and I realized I would much rather be walking to a barn. It felt like an out-there idea, but over the course of the fall of 2009, and into that winter, I started researching it. I wanted to be part of the generation who brought [farming] back.

I moved back to Iowa and rented an acre of ground. I had that plowed up in the fall of 2010, and I started in the spring in 2011 with 11 CSA members and a stall at the farmer’s market. I stayed there for five years and then lost my lease, which is an issue for farmers. I had another location for four years before Solon. This year will be our 13th year.

How do you balance both your farm life and family life? It’s a cliché answer, but it takes a village. I have a young daughter who loves the outdoors and is willing to tag along with us. I think the first week I brought her home from the hospital, I was holding her in the field.

I started out doing this as a single person, and then back in 2018, my husband and I got married, and he’s really become part of what the farm is today. Although he has an off-farm job, he’s very much invested in what we’re doing and with the community. I feel like we’re really a family farm now, and it’s been such a joy. To go from one acre of farm to having a farm family and training the next generation really makes it feel like it’s come full circle. It’s a very special thing to me to be part of both the Iowa City community and Solon community.

What’s the best and hardest thing about running Wild Woods Farm? The interaction between people and the landscape. During the season, we’re working really hard to create an interaction between land and humans, and as we give the food out, we get to see the families who receive the food. I get to be a liaison between the land and our community.

When I first started farming, access and zone issues were the hardest thing. As time has gone on, climate change is the metanarrative of what’s hard. If I think about the big picture, every season is completely different, and I will never have the same season twice in my farming career, especially with the increasingly warming climate.

What do you wish the public understood better about Wild Woods Farm and the services you offer? One misconception is that people can’t get into the farm, but it’s important to get on that waitlist. It may take a year to become a member of our farm, but we don’t turn people away. People think it’s hard to use a CSA, and I want to assure people that we walk them through the process, through recipes and ideas. And I’m always available for questions. We have an opportunity to bring fresh and local food to people. If you sign up for our CSA, you’re choosing to eat with the season, and what the weather has provided that year.

Can we find your produce in any locally owned establishments? We sell some, and we also donate a lot of food to one of the local food banks so people who are low income can access it. We have a community fund people donate to, so if people have a hard time affording the CSA share, families can get a scholarship for it. Sometimes it’s a partial payment, or we create a payment plan. We like to have CSA as our market because we find that it gives our customers the best we have to offer.

How can the community support Wild Woods Farm outside of signing up for CSA? If anyone is interested, we’re always talking to people about volunteering. Word of mouth is wonderful. Even if you don’t want to get a CSA share yourself, someone else may. Buying direct from a farmer is always better than buying from a third party because 100 percent of that food dollar goes directly to the farmer.