Medicine Creek Farm
Hannah Bernhardt grew up on a corn and soybean farm in southern Minnesota. She apprenticed on a large grass-fed livestock farm in upstate New York in 2014 where she fell in love with animal husbandry and managing livestock in a pasture-based system.
Hannah and her husband, Jason Misik, took the Land Stewardship Project's Farm Beginnings Course in 2015 and purchased their farm in 2016. They have 160 acres of raw land in east central Minnesota that was previously row-cropped and hayed. Jason built all the farm infrastructure including a house, machine shed, and wood shop and he reconstructed an 1880s timber frame barn that he took down and moved from southern Minnesota. Hannah has transitioned the ground to permanent, fenced pasture, where she now grazes sheep, cattle and pigs.
Medicine Creek Farm raises 100% grass-fed and finished beef and lamb as well as pastured pork supplemented with organic grain. Hannah uses adaptive management-intensive rotational grazing, moving the ruminants to fresh pasture daily. She sells all the meat she raises directly to consumers through her website. She delivers locally and to the Twin Cities and Duluth. The operation aims to farm alongside thriving wildlife by using livestock guardian dogs as predator deterrents.
They work to improve the ecosystem with soil health practices that benefit the air and water. Medicine Creek Farm is Minnesota Ag Water Quality Certified with endorsements for Soil Health, Climate, and Integrated Pest Management. Since 2022, Medicine Creek Farm has offered agritourism including two farm stay rentals and weekend tours to give an up-close look at a working farm and to educate the public about regenerative agriculture.
Hannah is the full-time operator of Medicine Creek Farm. Jason works off-farm but has built and maintained all infrastructure and handles equipment repair. Their 7-year-old son, Harvey, enjoys sheep shearing day and helps give farm tours in the summer. Hannah's dad and retired farmer, Kevin, is a trusted farm sitter and frequent farm hand on livestock working days. Hannah's mother, Brenda, has contributed countless hours of child care. Jason's parents, Ed and Katie Misik, have also provided child care, support and meals during lambing season and have offered skilled electrical and construction work for many building projects.
Hannah and Jason are members of the Minnesota Farmers Union, Land Stewardship Project, Sustainable Farming Association, Climate Land Leaders, and the Practical Farmers of Iowa. Hannah is the Pine County Farmers Union chapter president and serves on the Farm Service Agency State Committee. She has served on the National Farmers Union Climate Change Policy Advisory Panel and the Land Stewardship Project's Federal Policy and Soil Health Committees. Harvey is a Cloverbuds member of the Kettle River Explorers 4-H club.