Durand farm builds community ‘one organic bite at a time’

Judith Munson

Contributor

March 17, 2025

PEPIN COUNTY – When the COVID-19 pandemic caused disruptions in the food supply chain nationwide, it had many looking locally – sparking an increased desire for folks to know where their food comes from.

Chris Kees-Winkler with Wheatfield Hill Organics – a 123-year-old, fifth-generation farm located just south of Durand in Pepin County – said the trend not only sparked the launch of its Thursday on the Farm events but has supported its longevity.

Planting a seed

Now approaching its fifth year, Kees-Winkler said the farm’s weekly Thursday on the Farm events – held seasonally – showcase an array of food grown on the farm.

By hosting folks on the farm, she said, they are able to go above and beyond in terms of experience.

“What’s special about the Thursday markets is we serve a complimentary food plate featuring 100% foods grown and produced on the farm,” she said.

Kees-Winkler said visitors are treated to foods such as mini-grilled burgers, chocolate zucchini cake, melon salad, vegetable salads and other items to give them a taste of what they can take home.

“In 2022, we started a complimentary, do-it-yourself flower bar,” she said. “So when you spend $35 at our market, you can create your own flower bouquet.”

Kees-Winkler said the farm grows and sells more than 20 fruits and vegetables from blueberries, raspberries and pumpkins to cucumbers, tomatoes, herbs, peppers and squash – as well as grass-fed organic beef.

Furthermore, Kees-Winkler said she and her family operates an on-farm kitchen – which is located in a building known as the Bee House because it once housed her grandpa’s honey business – where they make popcorn, tea, ice cream toppings and confections – such as pecan turtles and toffee – from the produce grown on the farm.

The on-farm market, she said, opens in July and runs through October as the early season berry displays transition to the garden-fresh sweet corn and other vegetables, which are later replaced by pumpkins and squash in the fall.

Kees-Winkler said the family opens the kitchen in December – complete with decorations – for the farm’s holiday gift sales, which include the ice cream toppings, tea and popcorn, as well as gift baskets and other items.

“It’s really fun,” she said. “Just seeing the excitement from young to old. Kids love it.”

Kees-Winkler said Wheatfield Hill Organics attracts people from a fairly large geographic radius, with some folks traveling from Eau Claire, Bloomer and Hayward, as well as from several locations in Minnesota, including Minneapolis, Stillwater and Rochester.

A pivot of sorts

Kees-Winkler said the pandemic-related disruptions to events and buying habits spurred the Wheatfield Hill Organics family to rethink how it connected with customers.

“We would back up to the loading dock and load thousands of pounds of melons and hundreds of dozens of sweet corn and then pull away,” she said. “We never really got to (see) those faces or meet those families.”

Kees-Winkler said bringing customers – many of whom have become weekly regulars – to the farm is especially meaningful to her and her family.

“We have always stressed the importance of knowing your farmer,” she said. “Do you know who’s feeding you? We know our doctor, our kid’s teacher – we should know our farmer. And sometimes, like with the flowers we provide, I feel like we’re feeding the soul. We’re feeding the whole person.”

In addition to its on-farm offerings, Kees-Winkler said Wheatfield Hill Organics is the longest-running vendor at the Eau Claire Farmers’ Market.

She said Wheatfield also sells its beef and asparagus in Menomonie Market Food Co-op stores in Eau Claire and Menomonie.

Kees-Winkler said the family works other events on occasion as well but has pulled back over the years.

She said winter markets for Wheatfield beef are held in the off-season.

Kees-Winkler said 2025 marks 22 years of managed intensive grazing (MIG) where Wheatfield’s herd of certified organic Black Angus cattle are rotationally grazed through a series of pastures and paddocks every 24 hours.

This type of system, she said, benefits the environment in a number of ways, including:

• Sequesters carbon from the atmosphere and holds it in the soil
• Increases soil organic matter, which in turn increases the water-holding capacity of the soil
• Promotes biodiversity for both animals and plants.
• Provides a nutrient-dense food that is high in omega-3 fatty acids and conjugated linoleic acids
• Decreases soil erosion
• Improves animal health
• Protects surface and groundwater

A foundation rooted in hard work

Kees-Winkler said Wheatfield’s history dates back to 1902 when the farm was founded by Irish immigrant and her great-grandfather, Robert Simpson. 

“My great-grandpa built the house,” she said. “My grandpa grew up in this house. My mom grew up in this house, and I raised my two sons in this house.”

Originally a dairy farm, Kees-Winkler said the same struggles many small farms experienced in the 1970s and 1980s – particularly with low prices – prompted a shift in the farm’s focus in order to stay afloat.

She said the transition to beef cattle and vegetable crops then was followed by a move in the 1990s to becoming a fully organic farm.

Kees-Winkler said the shift was driven by her parents’ concerns about the growing use of chemicals on crops and soil degradation caused by single-crop corporate farms.

“In the early ’90s, my parents actually went to one of the first organic farming conferences that was held in this part of the country,” she said. “They learned that there was so much more we can do to keep crops healthy other than synthetic pesticides.”

With being located in West Central Wisconsin, Kees-Winkler said “the soil around here is sandy, really fragile, so pesticides and nitrates leach easily.”

“There’s just so little organic matter to keep anything in place,” she said.

Over the years, Kees-Winkler said her family’s passion for growing healthy food was passed down from generation to generation.

She said the foundation laid by her grandfather (who advocated for fair prices for farmers in the 1960s and ’70s) and subsequently by her mom (who served on the Cornucopia Institute board, which supports organic growers and brands) laid a strong and inspirational foundation for her.

Kees-Winkler said her mother and father continue to work with her on the farm, along with one of her sons.

Though the life of a farmer is accompanied by “serious dedication and lots of hard work – for example, the farm’s blueberry crop alone tops 600 bushes, all of which are picked entirely by hand” – Kees-Winkler said she definitely inherited the passion for supplying the community with healthy, fresh food.

For her, she said, “it’s all worth it.”

“We want to build community here, to give back – one organic bite at a time,” she said.

Kees-Winkler said Wheatfield Hill Organics is currently preparing the farm for the upcoming spring planting season in anticipation of the growing and harvesting seasons ahead – with the weekly Thursday on the Farm events getting back underway before they know it.

Last month, she said 82 varieties of seeds arrived at the farm.

“In total, more than 150 varieties of annual fruits, vegetables, herbs and flowers will call Wheatfield home this season,” she said. “Even though (these are) our ‘quiet’ months here on the farm, excitement is building for the 2025 growing season.”

Visit Wheatfield Hill Organics on Facebook for more information.