March 2025 Newsletter
March is here, and with it comes a renewed sense of connection and momentum.
Recently, many of us had the chance to come together at the Marbleseed Organic Farming Conference, sharing space, ideas, and the joy of community. These moments of learning and collaboration remind us why we do this work and how much stronger we are together. In light of all the uncertainty surrounding federal funding, it felt even more important to be amongst colleagues, farmers, and conservationists continuing to strive forward with this important work.
Look at that crew!
**Share Your Story: The Federal Funding Freeze**
The federal funding freeze is creating real challenges for farmers, organizations, and communities—whether through stalled grants, delayed payments, or disruptions to essential programs. If you’ve been impacted, we want to hear your story.
Click this link to share your experience. Your voice helps us advocate for the resources and support our sustainable agriculture community needs now more than ever.
Farmland Transition Story Update: The Hoch Family
Harry and Jackie Hoch started working with Renewing the Countryside and American Farmland Trust (AFT) in 2023 to transition their 60.77 acre orchard near La Crescent, MN and its enterprises to a new owner who will continue farming in an ecologically sound manner. As part of the plan we worked with the Hoch family to re-farm some gorgeous piggies and energetic goats!
It was great to see Harry and Jackie Hoch, and Hoch Orchard and Gardens, awarded Marbleseed Farmer of the Year at the Marbleseed Organic Farming conference in February.
We have big updates on their farmland transition story coming in future newsletters - stay tuned! You won’t want to miss who will be bringing you awesome, fresh and organic fruits from the Driftless next! Until then, read more about the start of their farmland transition journey in a past blog post on our Farmland Access Hub site.
Minnesota Women in Conservation (MNWiC) will host the second part of its three part webinar series on Wed., March 26 from Noon-1 p.m. The theme for March's webinar is Pollinator Habitats featuring MNWiC North West Regional Coordinator Noreen Thomas, of Doubting Thomas Farms, and MNWiC West Central Coordinator Alex Kiminsky, of the Land Stewardship Project.
Attention: Cute Baby Animal Break!
Meet Spike and Rocky! This month's cute baby animal photo is provided by Michelle Johnson. Send us your baby animal photos/videos to be shared in upcoming newsletters!
Allison Rian is a farmer in Aitkin, MN, a farmer advocate, and local food champion. Allison has served as the Aitkin Farmers’ Market Hub Manager since 2020 and has no plans to stop shortening supply chains, championing local businesses, and working for the chaotic good! Now in an expanded role with RTC as the Northeast Coordinator of the Minnesota Women in Conservation project, she's excited to include a greater story of conservation, preservation, and production in the chaos.
"I love RTC's advocacy work for farmers and land use. The organization is such a good connector to resources by using creative approaches and by listening and adapting to its audience." Outside of work, Allison loves working on her farm in Aitkin, growing veggies and having her hands in the soil, reading, hiking with her dog, and hanging out with her family!
In the midst of all the work we do, it’s important to pause and recognize the things that ground us, inspire us, and bring us joy. Grounded is a space to share those moments each month—big and small.
Whether it’s a book that’s shifting our perspective, a meal that brought comfort, or an experience that filled our cup, this is what's been grounding us lately! What's been grounding you? Tell us what’s been grounding you and we’ll share with our community. Maybe you will inspire others?!
What's Bringing Maeve Joy
Crocheting! Maeve started crocheting when she was SEVEN, but picked it back up as a
consistent hobby in the past few years. "I love crocheting because it forces me to slow down. The repetitive action can be really relaxing and it's just a fun creative outlet!"
Maeve started with RTC in 2023 and works on many projects including Farmers' Market Hubs, Agrotourism, and is leading the efforts for our exhibit at the MN State Fair!
Featured Blog Post
Southeast Regional Coordinator, Maddy Bartsch, wrote a blog post that was featured on the Minnesota Women's
Woodland Network blog. Maddy touches on the foundation of MNWiC and what their region is focusing on. Maddy (they/them) is a natural dye farmer, art educator and organizer of local textile economies. They farm cooperatively at Get Bentz Farm in Northfield and live in the Prospect Park neighborhood of Minneapolis.
Read the full blog post here..
Bird Nest Build with Wild Farm Alliance
February, RTC staffer Matt Barthelemy worked with Courtney Tchida of the Wild Farm Alliance to organize a nest box build at the Minnesota Tool Library. 18 people gathered with the goal of building 10 next boxes for Urban Ventures Farm, a non-profit org in the Twin Cities.
The group exceeded their goal, building 18 nest boxes. 12 boxes went to two Urban Venture farm sites to help with avian pest control, five boxes went home with participants to install, and one went to the student garden at Macalester College.
The nest box build was part of a Rural Fund for America grant Renewing the Countryside received from Compeer Financial. The grant supports volunteer mobilization for emerging farmers' operations with a focus on mobilizing communities to connect and help with farming operations through hands-on experiences.
Read more about Wild Farm Alliance's work.
Q: Spring is just around the corner, which means bees, butterflies, and other pollinators will soon be buzzing back into action! Many sustainable farmers plant wildflowers and native plants to create pollinator habitats, but one common lawn care habit can actually make it harder for pollinators to thrive. Can you guess what it is?
Want to know more about pollinator habitats? Checkout MNWiC’s Wednesday webinar on March 26!