MEET YOUR FARMERS
A warm country welcome to you!
I’m Farmer Esther and this is my heart & soul farm team.
We are “that” family. You know, the ones who have a gaggle of children, build their own furniture, butcher their own meat, collect their own eggs, tending to an array of fermented babies, baking the breads, milking the cows, making-all-the-things, homeschooling, and have an herb, or oil for just about anything!
We take our tea very seriously, we’re fond of butter, bacon grease, and too often than not, we’re whipping up something decadent and scrumptiously delicious in the kitchen.
We relish spending time together outdoors on the farm, getting our hands dirty in the rich farm soil, playing board games, riding horses, sipping tea, and enjoying the everyday graces and blessings God provides.
For 18+ years we’ve been growing food for our own family, and 8 of those years, we’ve been sharing it with families like yours!
Growing and raising food is one the hardest most labor-intensive areas of work we’ve ever done. We are delighted when farm-friends tickle their taste buds with our fresh organically grown produce and pasture-raised meats. We love knowing other family tables are being graced with healthy and nutritious farm to plate goodness, just like ours.
EDEN RIDGE
Our 26-acre farm is nestled in beautiful Prole, Iowa in the gorgeous gentle rolling hills of the Warren County countryside, located 15 minutes south of West Des Moines city limits. We’re a little but growing regenerative family farm. We’re using animals and plants to prune the pasture, rebuild the soil and revitalize the land.
We grow food the way God intended them to grow. No chemicals, no antibiotics or growth hormones, just nutrient rich soil and good clean water and lots and lots of weeding! We offer Des Moines and surrounding communities with a delectable pleasing array of organically grown seasonal farm-fresh produce, farm teas, raw milk & honey, pastured poultry, pastured pork, free-range chicken & duck eggs, farm tea blends, along with natural home goods.
The 1.5 acre pond at EDEN RIDGE
How it All Began
HOW IT ALL STARTED
Both my husband and I’s passion for growing things was birthed in each of our lives, with both of us having special family members who shared their love for animals, plants and farming.
In 2006 our first garden began. It was full of everything, including weeds! We learned quickly that reading and collecting information was helpful, but there was NOTHING like hands on learning!
Playing in the dirt was a hobby we quickly grew to love, and one that bloomed into ongoing learning about organic farming methods, herbalism, regenerative farming, and all about animals being raised on pasture, beekeeping, and all things homesteading. We dreamed of owning more land and having a “farm”, but we were also content with our cozy little homestead.
With 2,000 sq. ft. of raised-garden space we added over the years on our homestead, we had an abundance of tasty vegetables and herbs, fruit trees and a variety of berries scattered all over the property, and our bees to pollinate everything!
With sweat and tears, trial and error, our 2-acres became very much established. It’s where our enthusiasm for growing things kept on blossoming. Our daily living and everything we loved doing, began making a little income and eventually we ventured into the local farmer’s market.
LIFE TOOK A TURN
In 2017 our little haven at the lake became an official business in the state of Iowa. We began selling our garden produce, homemade teas and some of our herbal goods online.
However, just two weeks after arriving home from overseas with our newly adopted 6-year-old daughter, she was diagnosed with a life-altering condition that had us making trips 3x a week to Des Moines for medical appointments (2-hr round trips). During that time, it became very evident that it was time for our family to move closer to the Children’s Hospital.
Saying good-bye to our community, our friendships and the little haven we had built for over the years was incredibly painful. Yet, we trusted God that he had better plans, as we had no clue where we would even end up, and if our business would even be able to continue after we uprooted.
ABUNDANTLY MORE
We transplanted new roots in Prole, Iowa, to our gorgeous 26-acre farm. God gave us far more abundantly than what we dreamed, or even prayed for.
When we say “transplanted”, we literally mean just that. We brought small plant starts from our acreage to begin here on our farm. The very first year, we began planting were 2 orchard areas, and shortly after that began setting up the largest garden we’d ever had! After seeing the land for the first time, the name Eden Ridge fit even more perfect than before.
History of the Land
In 1854 the DeVotie family purchased the original Eden Ridge land from the United States Government. The farm was once part of several hundred acres, stretching from Churchville, Iowa to where Highway 92 now resides in Prole, Iowa.
For twenty-years, a portion of the land was mined for coal. It saw the Great Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Western Co. Railway make its way through part of the original property, now known as the beautiful Great Western bike trail of Warren County, Iowa!
Over the years, the land was passed down from family members to family members, parcels sold off and inherited through wills.
Today, we feel extremely honored to own such a treasure. Though we have no relation to these families – we have committed to cherishing these original precious preserved acres for God’s glory.
The best way we know how to “share” this little piece of haven with the locals, is to provide the community with the beauty and bounty of the land.
Esther’s grandpa on the family farm in Minnesota.
