The Farm Story

AT A GLANCE, COMMON PLACE FARM appears to be…well, rather common. From the county road you simply see a big red barn, a silo, a farmhouse, a couple of out-buildings, and forty wide-open acres. In days past the loft of the barn was for holding hay, the silo for storing corn, the fields for growing crops and pasturing cows, and the farmhouse for raising a big family. The farm served its purpose well.

TODAY, COMMON PLACE FARM no longer lends itself to the needs of a busy dairy farm. Now the loft of the barn, with room for a hundred-plus people, is typically used for barn concerts and occasionally for other special events. The lower portion displays antiques during the summer months and stores hay in the winter months for our three pleasure horses, who are really more like big dogs since we mostly just pet them a lot. We’ve renovated the old feed room into deluxe living quarters for The Common Place Chicks, our laying hens, and the old milk-house into a combination sauna and sleeping room. Some of the fields are now grazing pasture for the “big dogs” and many are home to a variety of native grasses and flowers that sometimes find their way into the summer flower-share bouquets. Tucked back in the northeast corner of the farm is Broken Elbow Pond, summer residence to The Common Place Farm Frog and Cricket Choir and winter residence to all who think they can skate – hence the pond’s name. Nearby, cut into the soft, sweet field grass is our newly created labyrinth – meditative and peaceful simply to look at and even more-so to walk. Any of the pathways from the labyrinth lead back to the farmhouse, which is now graced not only with the presence of our two “little dogs” and two house cats, but also with the farm’s latest and greatest addition, our son Reuben who brings much joyous laughter and pure bliss to the old homestead. Close by are the two large gardens that produce a multitude of flowers and an abundance of vegetables. The flowers are grown primarily for weekly deliveries to members of our small CSA. The vegetables provide us with many a feast throughout the year, as well as with the pickling cucumbers, dill, and garlic we use in canning the one hundred or so quarts of “Darlene’s Dills” we sell at nearby Duluth’s Annual Harvest Festival. Also offering their bounty, whether to be eaten fresh at picking time or put up for those long winter months, are the farm’s apple trees, cherry bushes, grapevines, and raspberry, rhubarb, and asparagus patches.

ALTHOUGH IT MAY SOUND like a bit of work for a life coach and a school teacher who are also new parents to an inquisitive and rambunctious little guy, we consider it truly a blessing to be allowed to care for this Common Place Farm.