We sit high above a small valley in southeastern Minnesota leading into the Zumbro River. Our animals graze our pastures every spring, summer, and fall, then munch on hay during the winter. The llamas Chachi, Zipper, and Tucker guard our flock from coyotes. Our chickens provide us with eggs. Our beef cattle come to us as young calves, drinking only milk. Then in a few months they’re able to ‘graduate’ to grass. During the winter, in addition to the main diet of hay, we feed our steers a small amount of corn for energy and growth. 

CURRENT SITUATION: While we are still farming, things are in what we like to call a ‘holding pattern’ as we recover from a few financial set-backs. To do this, we are both working off-farm, so time is tight and we’re unable to raise as many animals as before. The animals that we are raising are already sold, so we do not have extra meat at this time. We hope to have more meat available in 2014. Until then, we encourage you to seek out local sources of meat from humanely-raised livestock. If you’d like to be placed on a waiting list, just let us know with an email to info@risingmoonfarm.com.

BOOKS: Our farm has been featured in Catherine’s two memoirs: Hit by a Farm: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Barn, Sheepish: Two Women, Fifty Sheep, and Enough Wool to Save the Planet, as well as her novel for 8-12 year-olds, Barn Boot Blues.

For more information on her books, please see www.catherinefriend.com, or visit her Facebook page, www.facebook.com/authorcatherinefriend.

Thanks so much for your interest in our farm!

Melissa Peteler and Catherine Friend
Zumbrota, Minnesota