ABOUT
Our Vision & Beginning
We’re honored for the opportunity to revive our great grandfathers homestead. Breathing new life into its fields and returning it to a viable buisness and sustainable farm is our vision. In 2012, we named our endeavor Homestead Produce and fenced in our first plot, ready to grow fresh produce for the farmers market.
When people ask what sparked this journey, it’s simple: our passionate “green thumb”, a farming dream, a trial for our livelihood, an appreciation for fresh food and finally, to enjoy our community through our local farmer’s market.
Our Journey
Being first generation farmers we began growing & experimenting with a wide variety of crops and methods, We determined to farm organically, convinced by the results of our experiments. We are growing all our produce organically and are working toward a USDA certification.
Our mobile pastured flock had small beginnings. We purchased 150 chicks in March of 2018 in speculation on selling eggs besides our produce at the farmer’s market. The response was so enthusiastic we expanded as soon as we could to satisfy the demand in our town.
Our first flocks were raised and housed in our old barn, built by great grandpa in 1939, with runs outdoors into our pasture, but our dreams were always with a mobile pastured system that would give us location options and fresher pasture daily. In 2023 that dream came true…
We have met encouragement, advice, and instructions from many farmers, customers, educators, and influencers on our journey to start and operate this farm.
Thank you to all for being part of what we are today!
Community is everything.
—
Your farmers,
Jordan, Kayla, Mackenzie, and Anton
Farm and Family History
Odes Unruh and his wife Sadie and family arrived on this stump ranch (now Homestead Produce) in the spring of 1936. In the Dust Bowl years of the Dirty Thirties, they had watched the wheatfields of western Kansas struggle for survival. A search for a new location with fresh clean air motivated their move to north Idaho. Railroad flyers aided them in pinpointing the land of their dreams.
Upon arrival they started their garden down in the draw of Bane Creek. Among the delicious garden produce were huge cabbages and celery with tasty white stalks. Stumps were removed and the land was farmed organically with the barnyard waste dressing the fields. Odes and his two oldest sons, Lawrence and sometimes Chester, and then little brother Odes Phil, left their mark on the farm over a period of fifty years, dairying and making hay, raising clover for seed, and always tending gardens of veggies, flowers, and fruit trees.
“Jordan and Kayla grow fabulous produce and always make sure the quality is farm fresh. I love their produce, but more than that I appreciate their attentiveness to sustainability, they are ensuring the farm will continue producing quality goods for generations to come.”
– Satisfied Neighbor
