John and Emily Beaton have created a multi-enterprise farming business in Northeastern Minnesota near Duluth and the shores of Lake Superior. They founded Fairhaven Farm with a spirit of community building, a focus on soil health, and a desire to see a thriving local food system.
They sell starter plants each spring for home gardeners, grow food for over 50 families through their CSA program, and are launching a new Pizza Farm enterprise where the couple will serve wood-fired pizzas on the farm featuring all locally sourced ingredients—including fresh tomatoes and vegetables right from their field!
"We can harvest a huge amount of food from a very small space. And just to contrast or explain more about what we're doing, we grow our vegetables on just about a half-acre, essentially. So we can pack 50 boxes of vegetables every week for 16 weeks on a half-acre and generate 50 percent of our income for our household on a half an acre."