About the Farm
Prairie Birthday Farm, a small family farm in Clay County, Missouri, supplies sustainably produced fruit, vegetables, herbs, eggs, honey, and edible flowers to area residents and local chefs. Our mission is four-fold — at Prairie Birthday Farm, we are dedicated to:
- Producing food that preserves and protects humans, other species, and planet health
- Discovering/coaxing exquisite flavors from the Earth
- Imparting knowledge about and respect for the plants and animals that sustain our lives
- Advocating for sustainable food policy
Our story begins back in 1995, when farm steward Linda Hezel and her family purchased a small farm where previous owners had practiced intense, row crop cultivation, resulting in highly eroded topsoil and generally poor soil health. Linda is a career nurse and educator, having received a master's degree in nursing and a doctoral degree in education. She believes that growing and eating nutrient- dense, organic food and teaching others to do the same is the most fundamental nursing practice.
Over the years, the Farm has seen a rebirth thanks to our efforts to reconstruct native prairie, promote biodiversity, practice ecologically based farming, and resurrect our regional, food-based heritage.
Reconstructing Native Prairie
The prairie reconstruction on the Farm began with planting native, warm-season grasses and forbs on a gently sloped loess soil. To accomplish this reconstruction without using herbicides required methodical removal of non-native grasses, primarily fescue, and weeds using over-grazing with horses, intensive mowing, and annual mosaic burning. Then, we over-seeded and inter-planted with desired native species to create a prairie plant ecosystem similar to the vegetation that once occupied the farm landscape.
Promoting Biodiversity
This reconstructed prairie not only restores soil health to the level of native prairies, but also provides:
- Wildlife habitat
- Increased bird, butterfly, and beneficial predatory insect numbers and species
- Abundant nectar sources for honeybees
- A habitat haven for insects important for pollination of the diverse culinary plant species cultivated at the farm
As many as 43 species of wild birds and 30 species of butterflies and moths frequent the farm, coexisting with honey bees, chickens, ducks, horses, and a few grateful humans.
Practicing Ecologically Based Farming
Farming processes at Prairie Birthday Farm go beyond typical, ecologically based farming systems because the prairie ecosystem benefits organic production by:
- Integrating established prairie within the farm landscape
- Intercropping native prairie and wild edible plants with horticultural crops
- Focusing on creating micro-environments of native edible plants (e.g., persimmon, plum, and elderberry) around the farm
Climate change and land and water resource degredation demand planting crops and species adapted to difficult environments, such as those with poor soil or degraded vegetation or subject to drought.
Resurrecting our Regional, Food-based Heritage
Our native edible fruits and vegetables tolerate insect and weather stresses and occupy specialized niches, increasing the overall productivity and stability of the Farm. Their unique array of diversity in taste, color, texture, and modes of preparation represent a rich component of the disappearing cultural food-based heritage of Missouri. They are an important way of supporting cultural as well as plant diversity in a world of increasing globalization. Food culture — which encompasses taste preferences, cooking, presentation, and ritual uses — makes our lives more interesting and enjoyable.
Check out A Message from Farm Steward, Linda.
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