Meadowlark Acres is a 15-acre pick-your-own food farm outside Watford City, ND. Folks and families from around the region can come pick their food fresh off the farm and in the Fall enjoy a bountiful selection of pumpkins.

I began fruit and vegetable farming in 2024 after 10 years of small grain farming and ranching. When my wife was suddenly diagnosed with a grade four brain tumor in Spring 2023, we spent the summer at Mayo Clinic away from our four little boys. It was in Rochester, MN I was inspired by the local farm stands and berry farms to grow food as a service to my community for the support they showed my wife and my family during difficult times. I sold my interests in cattle, quit farming and began teaching Building Trades after we returned but on our return visits to Mayo, in true farm fashion, we began collecting specialty equipment from around that area and hauling them back to our farm. The calling increased to a point where I quit my teaching job, homeschool our boys and grow as much food in as many varieties as we can. We utilize plasticulture.

With Western ND’s shallow top soil and dry conditions, our RainFlo 2470 shapes a 5” x 30”raised bed, lays high efficiency drip tape subsurface and covers it all in plastic mulch. Then, I can hook up each row to a header line that supplies water and nutrients. Each row has a valve that controls each row. I use Dosatron Injectors to carry water soluble fertilizer to the root zone directly. It’s a highly efficient system that works for our region. However, not everything here utilizes plastic since it’s just too fun to hop on our 1953 Farmall Super C to cultivate some of the corn and potatoes!