Our eldest Little Farmer, makes & sells farm soaps & flowers.
A family farm in Hershey, PA, dedicated to education, regenerative agriculture and edible landscaping coaching, permaculture, heritage breed conservation, community & seasonal farm products.
11/13/2025
In his latest article, our International Director André Leu explains how the movement began, why the term “regenerative” was chosen to bring together diverse voices, and how the shift to truly nature-based systems goes beyond organic certification.
We are OPEN today from 12-5pm! We’d love to see you at 606 North Riverfront Drive, Mankato, MN 🧡🌿
Or, visit us online anytime at lakotamade.com!
11/11/2025
11/03/2025
11/02/2025
🎃 FALL / HALLOWEEN FARM RECYCLE! ♻️
Since 2013, we’ve loved teaming up with our community and local businesses to give fall décor a second life — turning pumpkins, gourds, straw, and corn into farm animal treats and compost instead of landfill waste! 🌱🐖🐔
🍂 You’re welcome to drop off:
• Pumpkin guts
• Non-painted pumpkins
• Straw or hay bales
• Corn
• Gourds
📍 Drop items by the farm gates at 545 Hill Church Road, Hummelstown anytime through the end of November.
Your donations help feed our animals, build healthy soil, and support regenerative agriculture right here in our community. 💚
Thank you for thinking of us each year and being part of this simple but powerful cycle of renewal.
Please SHARE to help spread the word! 🙏
10/31/2025
From the very beginning — even before opening their storefront — Just Juice PA has been a proud supporter of our Farm-Recycle mission. Now they’re continuing to pour goodness back into the community. ❤️❤️❤️
We’re always cheering for you, Just Juice PA!
If you are facing food insecurity, we want to help you access fresh, healthy food to feed your family.
Please - even if you have never purchased from us before, and never do - we literally don’t care. Stop by our stand at the and show your SNAP benefit card and enjoy a FREE, fresh cold pressed fruit and vegetable juice and fill a bag of fresh fruit and vegetables of your choice to take home and cook for your family.
This offer will be available beginning Saturday, November 1st until benefits are restored. No purchase necessary. Our hours are: Thurs 9-4:30, Fri 9-6, Sat 9-4:30.
We are located on the Lower Level of the Fresh Market at Hershey Towne Square.
121 Towne Square Dr., Hershey, PA
Please share with anyone you know who may benefit from this.
Thank you, and please, let’s all try a little kindness. 🤍
10/31/2025
Day 3 | October Pasture to Plate Class
We began our third and final day together with New York–style bagels from The Savory Gourmet in Lititz, aronia compote from our farm, and a spread of quiches, baked oatmeal, and yogurt.
All the pieces we broke down into primals and sub-primals now came full circle — ground, cured, and transformed. Bacon, hocks, guanciale (jowl bacon), capicola, prosciutto, and speck were each coated in carefully measured cures and seasonings. Every participant received the recipes and tools needed to create their own cures by weight at home — continuing the craft beyond the farm.
As we cured and ground the final elements, we began setting the table for our Finale Charcuterie Feast — a culmination of three days of learning, labor, and shared purpose.
From Rock Hill Heritage Farm, we added our ’Nduja (spreadable salami) and a bounty of house ferments — kimchi, sproutchi, krauts, pickles, and pepperoncini from our gardens. 🌶️
We lingered in conversation, answering last questions, reflecting on what we’d learned, and savoring the warmth of new connections. This lovely group of souls made the weekend one of laughter, curiosity, and collaboration.
Our hope is that each participant left with more than recipes — with a renewed sense of wonder for the life behind the food, a deeper gratitude for the land that sustains us, and a desire to rebuild a direct, mindful relationship with the food on their own tables.
We cannot celebrate sustainability while avoiding the truth of an animal’s end. The way we process life — with dignity, respect, and purpose — determines whether our food system pollutes or nourishes. The choice is ours, and it begins with how we honor the whole.
Our gratitude continues for our dear friends at , whose teaching and spirit have shaped so many of these moments. We’re already looking ahead to 2026: a Beef Workshop in March and our next Charcuterie Workshop in October. We hope to see you at the table.
To borrow the words of Wendell Berry,
“We have lived by the assumption that what was good for us would be good for the world.
We have been wrong. We must change our lives so that it will be possible to live by the contrary assumption — that what is good for the world will be good for us.”
May we each continue this work — in our kitchens, our communities, and our daily choices — as an act of renewing the bond, our “wedding with the world.” 🌿
The Berry Center
Hand Hewn Farm
Pasa Sustainable Agriculture
Lancaster Farming
10/30/2025
Day 2 | October Pasture to Plate
We began the morning gathered around the table over warm baked oatmeal with our farm pears and berries — a quiet, grounding start before returning to our work.
The day opened with examination of the head and a review of the shot — accuracy confirmed, a clean and perfect placement. From there, students stepped forward, taking turns to mirror instruction and hands-on cuts for jowls (guanciale) before continuing into primals and sub-primal breakdowns.
Between lessons, Kelly shared his family’s biscotti, and conversation turned to the art of choice — the give and take of one cut over another, and how the goals of each class and context shape the final form.
For lunch, we gathered over BLTs on baguettes from The Savory Gourmet in Lititz, with roasted morcilla (Spanish blood sausage) — fuel for an afternoon of focused, rewarding work.
The class continued through prosciutto and speck, trimming hocks, and grading scraps for sausage and other uses. By the time evening came, we shared a late dinner of bacon-wrapped tenderloin and carbonara made with our own pancetta, served with roasted vegetables.
This particular class held something special — 4 sets of parent–child participants, each sharing the experience side by side.
It’s this spirit of family and friendship that brought us together with Hand Hewn Farm back in 2019 — a shared desire to learn, to honor the whole animal, and to return to the roots of nourishment itself by rebuilding a direct, sustainable relationship between food, land, and community.
And why we continue...
Beef Class- March of 2026
Next Pig workshop- October 2026
10/29/2025
✨ Farm-to-Table Charity Charcuterie Dinner | October 24, 2025 ✨
•A Delicious Evening of Education, Community & Purpose•
Through the years, so many have asked if you could just come to our classes and eat!
With that in mind, we partnered with Hand Hewn Farm to create an evening that celebrates the same values behind our classes — tradition, connection, sustainability, and community — while adding a deeper layer of local impact.
This was our second public evening dinner, and it was a resounding success. 🌟
We had such a wonderful turnout — and truly, my favorite table to date.
Hand Hewn’s Farm-to-Table Charcuterie Board featured their own: Capicola| Lonza | Pancetta| Rillette | Fiocco | Speck |Culatello Prosciutto | Salami-Lemon Pistachio | Salami-Alsace | Salami-Finocchiona | Salami-Fuego |
and, of course, Andy’s Famous Focaccia! 🥖
From Rock Hill Heritage Farm, we added our Nduja (spreadable salami) and a bounty of house ferments — kimchi, sproutchi, krauts, pickles, and pepperoncini from our gardens. 🌶️
We also shared the story of how Rock Hill Heritage Farm’s role of service has evolved since 2013 — from regenerative farming practices to education and community impact that challenges the standard climate change advocacy model by bringing the conversation back home to local farms.
💚 Proceeds from this dinner will go toward processing one of our donated pigs into nutrient-dense food for the Hershey Food Bank this winter.
A heartfelt thank-you to our educational partners, Hewn Farm, and to all of our amazing guests who joined us for an evening of delicious food, libations, meaningful conversation, and purpose.
Thank you all for making this evening unforgettable.
We can’t wait to have you back at the farm soon! 💫
10/28/2025
October Pasture to Plate: Day 1
“Let them stand still for the bullet, and stare the shooter in the eye…” — Wendell Berry, For the Hog Killing*
Students from West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York gathered here this October — drawn by a shared longing to understand, to work with our hands, and to remember what it means to be connected to the land and our food.
After morning introductions and setting our intentions for the day, we shared coffee, quiche, and sourdough donuts before stepping outside. Beneath the morning light, we read Wendell Berry’s “For the Hog Killing” — his reminder that in this work there is both gravity and grace.
“Let them go and be done with it. Let them be glad of it. Let them be grateful. Let them give thanks for the work.”
We stood in silence for a moment of gratitude — for the life before us, for the nourishment it would give, and for the chance to learn. The hog we worked with passed peacefully, asleep — not taken from its home or made to die in fear, but simply never woke.
Together, we collected blood and began the work — scalding and scraping, learning the language of anatomy, reading the signs of health and vigor written in each organ and line of muscle.
Lunch was ham and green bean soup with potato — hearty, humble, and shared in fellowship. In the afternoon, we examined the head to ensure our shot was true, and prepared the Spanish blood sausage, morcilla, for the next day’s lesson.
Dinner closed the day with deviled offal, toasted baguette, and salad — a meal that carried the story of the day within it. We ended in reflection and gratitude — for the animal, the work, and one another.
“Let them stand still for the bullet, and stare the shooter in the eye. Let it be done well, and with care.”
10/27/2025
✨ October 2025 | Pasture to Plate ✨
We begin each class with a toast and these words by Wendell Berry — a prayer for reverence, gratitude, and the bond between people, animals, and the land.
“For today we celebrate again our lives’ wedding with the world,
for by our hunger, by this provisioning, we renew the bond.”
This weekend, we honored the animal, the process, and each other — not as part of a commercial system, but as a return to something older and more human: feeding ourselves with gratitude and grace. 🌿
Over the next few days, we’ll share highlights from our October class — photos and stories with students from OH, NY, WV, PA, and our amazing educators from Hand Hewn Farm.
10/27/2025
October 2025 Pasture to Plate Class:
Honoring Wendell Berry — and the Bond We Renew
On the first day of our class, we begin with a toast — usually over bourbon or whiskey — and we offer these words by Wendell Berry as a kind of prayer. It’s our way of setting intention for the weekend: to honor the animal, the work, and each other.
Berry, a Kentucky farmer, poet, and philosopher, has spent his lifetime writing about the sacred relationship between people, land, and community. His words remind us that to live well is to live in awareness — of the costs and gifts of our existence. He calls us to live with reverence and restraint, to participate in the natural order as caretakers rather than consumers.
This poem, though simple and raw, captures what we aim to hold space for during this class — the humility of our human role in the life and death that sustains us. It’s a reminder that the transformation from animal to nourishment is not a transaction, but a covenant.
“Let them stand still for the bullet,
and stare the shooter in the eye,
let them die while the sound of the shot is in the air…
for today we celebrate again our lives’ wedding with the world,
for by our hunger, by this provisioning, we renew the bond.”
Through this communal work, we renew that bond — with the animal, the land, and one another. We do this not as part of a commercial system, but as a return to something older and more human: the responsibility of feeding ourselves with gratitude and grace.
So when we raise that first glass, it’s more than a toast — it’s a moment of remembrance and reverence. For the life given, for the labor shared, and for the community gathered around this sacred work.
For centuries, community thrived around churches, schools, and local farming — bonds dismantled by commercial agriculture over the past century. Through our Pasture to Plate class, we renew our sacred connection to the animal, the land, and each other. This isn’t commerce; it’s a return to the human responsibility of feeding ourselves with gratitude and grace.
Join us over the next few days as we share highlights from our October 2025 Pasture to Plate class, celebrating the vibrant community gathered around this sacred work!
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I spent my childhood in suburbia, gardening with my mom and growing vegetables and roses. She instilled in me the desire to have fresh food, and I took that inspiration with me into adulthood. When I had children of my own, I wanted to provide fresh and healthy food for my family. At that time, as a vegan and a new mom, I was horrified by the pollution of the commercial agricultural industry, and the impact it had on our health and environment.
Wanting to garden with my own kids, and with the support of my favorite Auntie, I began experimenting and learning how to incorporate edible landscaping, natives, and other sustainable principles into our lives. We lived in the city, at first in a townhouse, where I used containers to grow herbs and lettuce, then in a home on less than a quarter acre. At this house, I made our entire backyard edible: blackberries, raspberries, blueberries (of all different sizes and varieties), cranberries, herbs, and raised beds of vegetables.
As the kids grew, we took them to visit all different kinds of farms. We were avid attendees of the annual Farm Show in Harrisburg, learning about all different breeds of animals. When it came time to sell our city house, we looked for a year to find land. We knew we wanted to bring so much of what we had learned to our next property, on whatever scale we could manage. In 2012, we found a small agricultural conservation property in Hershey, PA, that had been owned by a Vocational Ag teacher. It was a smaller footprint than I had imagined, but it had a great number of plantings in place, including grapes and berries.
We bought guinea hens and chickens, and started to add to, and rehab, the property and the house. I began to learn about regenerative agriculture, working with nature and utilizing permaculture principles. I didn’t want to support commercial agriculture practices; I wanted to grow as much of our own food as possible. The kids began to explore 4H, which led to rabbits, ducks, geese, turkeys, pigs and sheep joining us on our farm.
We spent years going to Mother Earth News Fairs and any other learning opportunity we could, supporting our kids in whatever they wanted to pursue. My daughter fell in love with baking, flowers, herbs, soap making, and gardening, my son with a variety of animals, but mostly anything that required tools and equipment. Between the two, they developed a wide range of knowledge and skills.
My love for history and farming has led to travel, research and learning about our culture’s history in farming and agriculture. I traveled to the beautiful state of Virginia to complete a Permaculture Design Certification, learning and meeting some lovely people and farmers and bringing home much inspiration to share.
I have spent years seeking an education I never had the opportunity to receive growing up in a suburban environment. Agriculture was not in the curriculum. In my research, I have learned farms were once part of every city – vital, functional, and important parts of all communities. Until the 1940s, there were no grocery stores, everyone had their own chickens, gardens, etc. I genuinely think we evolved out of healthy personal and community practices… in the name of “progress”.
Ironically, our previous generations lived much more sustainably and healthily than we do, even with so many of today’s technological and commercial “advances.” Talk to your grandparents about farms – find out about your own farming family history!
In a world filled with technology and screen time, there is so much to gain by getting outside. This is my favorite way to spend time with my kids; following whatever sparks their interest and subsequently learning, working with them, and supporting their independent projects.
I continue to learn, fail, improve, implement, fail more, and keep on learning. I went from making the most of a city property as a vegan to adopting regenerative and permaculture principles on our small farm. I have seen and felt the profound positive impact that comes from getting outside, getting your hands dirty, and living as sustainably as you can on whatever scale you can. I’ve experienced how it can affect your health, both mentally and physically.
I have been blessed with wonderful neighbors, farmers, friends, teachers and mentors on my journey. My page is intended to share, inspire, collaborate within schools and the community, educate, and expose anyone who is interested to permaculture, regenerative agriculture, and sustainable living on any scale. Hopefully, you can learn from my successes as well as my failures, and discover for yourself a path to a healthy, sustainable life.
I do not bake, I am not a perfect parent, person, or farmer, but I love to learn, to laugh at myself, and support others. Above all… I want to inspire, to encourage, to help anyone I can get outside and get your hands in the dirt, for yourself, your kids, your family, your community, and the planet.
Thank you for taking the time to read my story. Get your hands dirty and keep your hearts full. Blessings to you and yours!
