The People - Rock Spring Farm

Chris and Kim Blanchard have grown organic vegetables for almost 30 combined years. Indeed, vegetables have been the passion that tied them together from day one. Chris and Kim first met while studying at the University of Wisconsin's Horticulture Department. On their first date, Chris presented his wife-to-be with a copy of Stanley Crawford's A Garlic Testament; three years later, they had wedding bands made in the image of silver garlic braids.

Chris' passion for vegetables began when he begrudgingly took on the role of Garden Manager at Deep Springs College, in the high desert of California. Within two months, he was hooked. He has had the good fortune to work for many of the nation's best vegetable growers, from Michael Ableman at Fairview Gardens Farm in California to Richard de Wilde and Linda Halley at Wisconsin's Harmony Valley Farm. He has also spent time managing the Preservation Gardens at Seed Savers Exchange, and in the USDA's carrot breeding program at the University of Wisconsin. Chris and Kim also managed Beech Hill Farm on Mount Desert Island from 1997 to 1999 before returning to Northeast Iowa to start Rock Spring Farm.

Unlike her husband, Kim grew up in and around the farm country of Southwest Wisconsin, where her grandparents were dairy farmers. (About Chris, she notes, "He does all right for a west coast city boy") Her childhood memories are interwoven with the smell of the dairy barn and the drone of the tractor, but they are especially sharp with regard to the gardens her grandmothers kept. At Rock Spring Farm, she keeps track of many details that would otherwise go forgotten, as well as keeping the boys (Chris, Zane and Oliver) in food and clean clothes. She especially enjoys the empty spaces that allow her time to spin, knit, and weave the wool from the sheep on the farm.

Chris and Kim are actively involved with activies in the broader agricultural community. Chris serves as the President of the Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Services (MOSES), and coordinates the presentations at the Upper Midwest Organic Farming Conference, the largest organic farming conference in the United States. Kim and Chris have also authored a number of articles for publications such as Organic Gardening, Mother Earth News, and Growing for Market.

At age eleven, Zane is in charge of egg collection on the farm, and helps out in ways too numerous to keep track of. From replanting missed transplants to helping with onion harvest, Zane fills in many of the little holes on the farm, and makes a big difference in the process.

Oliver, age seven, is always the first to find a ripe and ready vegetable on the farm, whether it's a Sungold cherry tomato, a spicy winter radish, or a sweet, delicious carrot. His blonde mop is frequently sighted wherever the action is on the farm.

Born in December of 2001, Isabel is a huge bundle of energy and diapers now. Within a week of her birth, she was enjoying the winter greenhouse while Mom pitched in on the harvest. An early walker, she has become a rough-and-tumble traveler on the farm, and spends many hours with Mom and Dad in the greenhouse playing in the soil mix.

We have been blessed with a wonderful community of people at Rock Spring Farm, from neighbors to plant our cover crops to friends to help build greenhouses to employees to pick carrots. Without their help, the farm would simply grind to a halt.

The Farm

The People - making it happen