KYN: Little Waldo Farm Has Large Community Impact

TWO HARBORS, Minn.– Oftentimes in life, you can get lost trying to figure out different times of hobbies to get into.

This was the case for Jadell Cavallin of Two Harbors. When back in 2013, she decided she was going to dabble into gardening.

“I loved gardening, mostly because I loved food. And so realized that the best tasting food is actually the stuff that comes out of your own backyard. So, I started a little plot. And from there, I fell in love with everything connected to it,” said Jadell Cavallin.

And with many hobbies, you tend to find yourself getting more and more invested.

Little Waldo farms started out pretty little. With the typical peas and carrots blueberries and apples.

“Every year you tend to add things. So certainly, the space has increased a lot. And just falling in love with growing plants. And learning more about them, I’ve just continued to explore that,” said Cavallin.

And with adding on additional produce, she realized just how much effort it takes to keep up.

“It’s a constant cycle, you’re rotating between filling and planting seeds, and transplanting into a new space until June or July,” explained Cavallin.

Lately, she has shifted gears from fruits, to flowers, to now pollinators.

But as she went through trials of gardening types, she had the idea to spread that knowledge.

“I started holding my own classes through our community education program here in Two Harbors. I’ve done tours and other sessions on the farm here. I’ve done outreach for different groups. We recently just held a monarch winter sewing program at the Two Harbors Public Library that was free for everybody,” said Cavallin.

And throughout the years, Jadell has quite literally seen the fruits of her labor. Her hard work has paid off.

“It’s a lot. It’s definitely a labor of love. It’s one of those things that people do because they’re definitely passionate about it. And really, it boils down to you know, what we’re putting into our bodies. So, we’re really cautious on how plants and grown, and what they’re grown in. I think it makes a huge difference,” said Cavallin.

And if you do decide to get into gardening, whether that be a little farm, or a full-blown business one piece of advice from Cavlin, is to just keep at it.

“Because we have such long days up here given, we’re so far north, there’s vegetables that are better suited for that. It’s all about experimentation. So, keep going for it, keep trying. You just never know what you could be good at,” beamed Cavallin.