Knowing Your Neighbors: Clover Valley Farms

Local Northland Farm Looks to Continue Tasty Revitalization

It all started nearly 20 years ago. One couple in the Northland, looking to put their minimal knowledge of farming to the test, eventually making mouth watering products while revitalizing the land.

For this week’s Knowing Your Neighbors we motored up the North Shore, taking a pit stop at Clover Valley Farms.

“A lot of serendipity and just chasing our passion,” Cindy Hale, Owner of Clover Valley Farms chuckled.

“It was an old farmstead that hadn’t been farmed in 40 years.”

A piece of land, which hadn’t been acted upon until 1996.

“As you come up the Highway 61 Expressway you look for the Homestead Road just past the Sucker River hang a right away from the lake four miles up on the right and that’s us,” Hale said.

Tucked away on the Homestead Road, Cindy and Jeff Hale have been working on rejuvenating the land, for nearly 20 years.

“We’re a small diversified farm; our primary thing is fruits and herbs,” Hale said.

Being the founders of Clover Valley Farms, isn’t a job for everyone, but these two have the passion.

Starting with chickens, eventually sheep, pigs, and rabbits came along.

“Our goal is that all of our animals have a wonderful life, everybody has to die at some point, and our goal is to make sure their life is as good as possible,” Hale explained.

A farm, full of love, and filled with goodness from the Earth.

Hale says, “Because I’m a forest ecologist I’m really interested in the ecology of the farm, it really is a living ecosystem.”

The beautiful animals at Clover Valley, have a purpose; one that creates a cycle.

“We grow all kinds of fruits. Tree fruits, small fruits, some that you’ve heard of and some that you haven’t,” Hale said.

A hefty harvest typically includes pears, apples, cherries, along with currents, June berries, high-bush cranberries and chokecherries.

“A lot of our customers, they look at our basket of beautiful red currents and they think, oh this is so beautiful and then say, well what do I do with it?” Hale said.

Curious Customers, receiving rewaring answers.

“We use all of our fruits to make our specialty fruit vinegars. We also raise some pastured animals and they are a really important functional part of the farm,” Hale explained.

A cycle of production on this farm, all created with the cycle of life.

“The sheep help us to rejuvenate pastures, keep things mowed.”

Rotating electrical fences, to maintain healthy pastures while breaking the internal parasite cycle.

“They’re not picking up live flukes and round worms because they are grazing on the same pasture for months and months and months and as a result we have really healthy animals without using chemicals,” Hale said.

Clover Valley Farms produces a wide variety of goods, including specialty infused fruit and herb vinegars.

“Our products are exceptionally delicious. Once people taste it, they get it. They are like wow! This is exceptional,” Hale said.

Working together with local businesses to develop theirs, stimulating the local economy.

“All the work we need to do to make this and bring this product to fruition goes in to our local economy,” Hale said.

Rejuvenating the Northland economy, while cultivating the land, once again.

“It’s when customers tell us this is awesome, we love what you’re doing, and why you’re doing it and how you’re doing it and that’s so rewarding!