It is the co-op’s vision to support and strengthen community connections with our local producers – so here are their stories! In this Meet Your Producer series, we will highlight our neighborhood farmers, ranchers, and producers so you can see and hear what they’re all about. Support local!
Moon on the Meadow Farm
Jill Elmers
1515 E. 11th Street, Lawrence, KS
jelmers@moononthemeadow.com
About the Farmer
Jill Elmers of Moon on the Meadow didn’t know anything about vegetables until she started growing them. She moved from the suburbs of Dallas to Indiana, and then the Kansas City area where she worked as an engineer for 27 years. One summer, her firm invited her to take a summer off – “So I looked at my bucket list and there was ‘work on an organic farm.’”
Elmers reached out to Mark Lumpe with Wakarusa Valley Farm and worked for him during the summer of 2000. That’s when she caught the local food bug.
“It’s really thanks to Mark that I got started. After that first season I said, I want to do this. So Mark traded me a little land to grow for their CSA. I was still working full time and leasing little bits of land to farm on.”
In 2006, Jill purchased the farm they are on now – 3 ½ acres and their home. She also has shared ownership of acreage with a neighbor down the road. She’s expanded their operation from veggies, adding grains and flowers. She has been a full time farmer for about 7 years now.
About the Farm
Moon on the Meadow is a certified organic operation. Elmers and her five employees grow most of their own crops from seed on the property or at the Sunrise Project greenhouse. Organic operations rely on a variety of methods to maximize soil health and sustainability, and Elmers uses them all: cover cropping, crop rotation, and utilizing tarps to kill weeds through solarization. They are working towards no-till around the farm and use a small walk-behind tractor and broad fork to prepare beds for planting.
Elmers aims to grow in all four seasons (at least for now). There are four large high tunnels, which are imperative for season extension and for protecting some of their most valuable crops. She is always experimenting with ways to make things simpler.
When the farm began, she grew primarily vegetables - but then a friend of Elmer’s approached her about using a small square of land to support her flower arranging business. The experiment didn’t go as planned, but a few years later,
“I think I got bored with vegetables. And so I approached her again but as a business partner. I’ll grow the flowers, you harvest and arrange. That was 6 years ago.”
Normally the summer is booked with weddings and events, but not this year. Instead they’ve relied on selling bouquets. They’ve also grown heirloom wheat, and this year rye for 1900 Barker.
There’s lot of places to find their produce! Elmers started Common Harvest CSA in 2007 – which has grown to a mulit-farm CSA with around 200 shareholders this season. She also sells produce through the Lawrence Farmer’s Market app, on their website for delivery, at The Merc Co+op and to the KC Food Hub. Pre-pandemic, she also worked with several local restaurants and the school district. But what she likes best is selling directly to the consumer. “I’ve met my all my friends through the market, and I like seeing customers and interacting with people. It’s not like that this year, but you’ve got to adapt.”
She says everything that’s happened this season has her considering the future – she feels strongly about supporting the next generation of farmers and their vision (“whatever that might look like – education? Land?”), and particularly how to increase their ability to support local pantries through donation. “Everyone has a right to local, healthy food. So how do we get it to them?” Elmers is involved in policy creation and advocacy, as a member of the Lawrence Farmer’s Market Board and previously as a member of the Douglas County Food Policy Council.
In addition, her farm crew (“just the best people”) began Community Organized Gleaning - LFK this season.
What has farming taught you?
“How to manage and motivate people. What it takes to get veg to someone’s table. Patience. Adaptabiliy – rolling with Mother Nature. And I don’t want a desk job for sure.”
Favorite cook books or resources?
“Simple is always the best with fresh vegetables.”
Elmers says she is not the cook in her household, but some favorite resources from her wife, Terry, include: The Flavor Bible, Milk Street magazine, Nancy O’Connor’s Rolling Prairie Cook Book, and New York Times recipes.
Anything else we should know about your farm?
“The biggest thing we’re trying to do is thank folks who are buying our stuff – especially now. Spending your dollars locally is so critical – and knowing where your food comes from. You’re supporting our employees, a small family farm, it’s supporting land that was so graciously shared from the Native Americans who made it what it is. You get to know the whole story when you buy your tomato locally, what it does for your community. It’s a lot.”