Helping the community through The Farm

The weather may be cold right now, but here’s a story to warm your heart about a project Rick Abrahamson of Fergus Falls is involved with as The Farm Coordinator. Sit back with a cup of coffee (my favorite beverage) and enjoy this latest story of Rick’s work with plants..and how it affects the people in the area….

Whether Rick Abrahamson is at his Fergus Falls, MN farm or working at The Farm in Breckenridge, MN, he is doing something he truly loves - gardening.

Abrahamson is no stranger to The Local Growers. His story was featured over a year ago and can be found at thelocalgrowers.com/home/microgreens_make_great_mix_for_Homegrown_Garden.

Shortly after the story was published, Abrahamson and his wife, Christine, purchased the former Bluebird Gardens property. The house was not included in the property purchase, but Abrahamson was most interested in the buildings. The couple owns roughly 8 1/2 acres of land which is mostly wooded, but includes a quonset, two pole barns and a fourth building with utilities and water access. There are also a couple of cabins on the land which his children use when they visit.

The property was purchased two years ago at the same time he became project coordinator for The Farm at CHI St Francis Hospital in Breckenridge.

About The Farm at St. Francis….

The Farm at St Francis is an innovative program that provides much needed food security for the community and surrounding area. The goal is to increase food access, strengthen food security and advance food equity particularly among vulnerable populations while expanding opportunities for economic growth in the area through local foods initiatives.

It started a few years before Abrahamson joined the project. Monies from Cargill were used to install a well, Abrahamson said. His supervisor then applied for a grant from Common Spirit Health which helped to continue the work of The Farm. Through those funds, a high tunnel and greenhouse were built at St. Francis and land outside the hospital employee parking lot was developed for outdoor production.

Rick Abrahamson is farm project coordinator of The Farm, a program through CHI St Francis Hospital in Breckenridge, MN. Produce grown at The Farm goes to the Breckenrdige, MN and Wahpeton, ND food shelf programs and a Veggie Rx program gives boxes of produce to clinic patients who indicate they are food insecure. Abrahamson also operates Homegrown Gardens and sells produce from his Fergus Falls, MN farm at the Pelican Rapids, MN Farmers Market and Fergus Falls, MN Farmers Market.

Produce grown through The Farm is offered to the food pantries of Wahpeton, ND and Breckenridge, MN.

Patients of the hospital’s clinic can also utilize fresh produce. Through the clinic’s Veggie Rx project, patients can indicate if they are food insecure, he said. The individuals can receive a box of fresh produce form The Farm. He estimates around 100 pounds of veggies have been used by the program.

Abrahamson began the program from scratch and started plants at his Homegrown Gardens greenhouse for both The Farm and his own market gardening operation.

While the spring held challenges for all growers (wet conditions and late planting), Abrahamson was able to plant in a high tunnel at St Francis and in the gardens near the employee parking lot. Those efforts garnered 1,000 pound of produce given to the food pantries plus around 500 to 600 pounds used by the hospital’s cafeteria.

The local Chahinkapa Zoo in Wahpeton also garnered some of the veggies. Due to a hard rain in August, the cabbages began to split. While the cabbage was still good, it probably wouldn’t be picked by those utilizing the food pantry, Abrahamson said. As a result, about 70 pounds of cabbage went to the zoo. It’s reported that the vultures in particular loved the cabbage as they peeled it leaf by leaf.

Who knew?

An addition to all the activity is his e-bay business Rick started to sell the hanging baskets he grows.

I joked with Abrahamson that he probably has to schedule time to spit considering, during the growing season, he spends four 10-hour days at The Farm and about 20 hours at his Homegrown Gardens operation.

It’s a labor of love for him.

His love of plants started with his grandparents who operated a floral shop and garden center. Rick helped them start and nurture the plants. He attended North Dakota State University and earned a Masters Degree in soil science.

Rick’s next stop was at the University of Minnesota-Crookston where he taught horticulture. During his tenure at the college, Rick managed the campus garden where students grew micro greens used at a college chancellor’s dinner.

His position was terminated due to low enrollment and Rick and Christine moved to Fergus Falls.

Rick used his passion for plants and agriculture to teach, via zoom, a farmer training program through the 4-Directions Development which serves the Red Lake Nation. The classes were held via Zoom, five days a week for four hours a day.

Even though he was teaching part-time, Rick says he was technically unemployed after leaving the full-time teaching position of the UMC.

He had a small greenhouse that his uncle gave him and he set it up in the couple’s backyard. Then he got some micro greens from grower near Hoffman.

“…He got me thinking about growing micro greens,” Rick said. “He took me to a small greenhouse he’d built where he does some hanging baskets and he talked about micro greens.”

Rick purchased some of his supplies from E-Bay and he got a pallet of hanging baskets. Eventually he raised micro greens year-round with most of that production happening in the couple’s home thanks to grow lights and shelving units. The green house was home to hanging baskets.

He began sales at the Fergus Falls Farmers Market and added the Pelican Rapids Farmers Market this year.

High tunnel and greenhouse at The Farm.

Rick talked to Christine about purchasing some land - just an acre or two, he thought - they could grow more plants. Then, as fate would have it, he saw some land for sale on a Facebook post. The site would be great for storage of their E-Bay materials and it had a building that could be heated.

The rest is history. The property was the land and buildings he purchased two years ago. The closing came after his first week at The Farm in Breckenridge.

Rick sells microgreens, vegetables, hanging baskets and starter plants at the Fergus Falls, MN Farmers Market and the Pelican Rapids, MN Farmers Market.

He has also had groups help with the vegetable production at The Farm in Breckenridge.

Check out his Facebook page for info on Homegrown Gardens and to connect with him.

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