Ridgeland Harvest is a diverse, certified organic farm owned and run by Cate and Mat Eddy. This is our 9th year of raising vegetables and small grains on our 70-acre farm in southwestern Wisconsin. We believe in a holistic farming approach, which includes both crops and livestock. We think livestock are important— when a farm doesn’t have livestock, the nutrient cycle is lost and the dependence upon off-farm inputs takes hold. Our farm uses beef cattle to graze permanent pastures that are on our steeper hillsides. They also rotate through annual pastures where their manure is needed for fertilizer on cropland that will be used the following year for vegetable production. While we pasture animals during the grazing season, we collect their manure during the winter months which we later compost and apply to perennial crops and long-season crops.

Being a ridgetop farm means employing good conservation methods, which we are continually striving to perfect. We have permanent grass waterways, contour strips, permanent hay and pasture areas, use mulch for long-season crops such as garlic, and put perennial production in steeper areas not suitable for cropping.

We sell our produce through community supported agriculture (CSA) subscriptions at the Dane County Farmers’ Market in Madison, to Madison area restaurants, and to our local food cooperatives—People’s Food Co-op and the Viroqua Food Co-op. We had four years of previous experience as a CSA farm, and then took a few years off when our son, Paul, was born. This season, we again offered CSA subscriptions and are now serving 130 members with weekly boxes of fresh produce.

CSA is our primary focus throughout the growing season. Members who sign up between February and May provide early financial support, which allows us to purchase the seed and potting soil used to begin the season, pay helpers to work in the greenhouse, transplant seedlings in the field—and much more. Members benefit by receiving a wide selection of produce throughout the season. 

In this age of genetic engineering, seed patents, corporate control of farms, and food safety concerns, it appears that nature has been completely left out of the farming equation. Yet, despite the aspirations of agribusiness to dominate and control all aspects of farming, the complex natural system is ultimately what farmers must work with—not against. CSA allows for nature to return to farming. It gives flexibility to the farmer to select exciting seed varieties for flavor and color rather than storage life. Crops are harvested when they’re perfectly ripe, rather than weeks early to accommodate long-distance traveling. And family farms are able to earn a living doing what they love—farming! We do everything from marketing and sales to planting, harvesting, washing, and delivering our crops directly to our customers—with no middlemen.

Sharing food with others—whether an elaborately prepared meal or the simplicity and beauty of raw vegetables—is a coming together of people and evolution of a community shaped around the food, defined by the food. It’s a very humbling experience to receive such an outpouring of support for our family farm—often from complete strangers. We feel privileged to grow food and honored to share it with a larger community.

~Cate & Mat Eddy, Ridgeland Harvest Farm & CSA