We are Ben and Chloe Janesky, the farmers here at Janesky Farmstead. Our farm is 45 acres located in the rolling hills of picturesque Madison County, Iowa.
We are passionate about regenerative agriculture - we care for the land and ecosystem as a whole. No pesticides or synthetic fertilizers here! We use various methods such as rotational grazing, cover crops, no-till, composting, crop rotation, interplanting, and silvopasture to achieve abundance for our family and yours!
We started our homesteading journey in 2017 when we purchased a completely bare 1/2 acre and built a house using skills we learned on the internet. There, we raised meat rabbits and coturnix quail, and started our first vegetable garden. In 2018, Chloe grew a 84 lb pumpkin that she entered in the Iowa State Fair Big Pumpkin Contest and placed 12th out of 13 entries!
Then we moved to Madison County on 9 acres and raised goats, pigs, chickens, and miniature cattle, and developed a love for native plants. A project that started with converting 1/4 acre of corn field to a native prairie garden, led to a full blown restoration project of the wooded creek line on the property.
As our family grew, we moved to our current farm in St. Charles. We now raise children, a flock of 60 hens for egg production, heritage breed pigs for pork production, and manage a large vegetable and flower garden. Chloe loves canning the abundant harvest and baking breads and sweets from scratch. We specialize in growing unique produce you won't find at the grocery store, especially funky heirloom and hybrid tomatoes. We plan to continue expanding our crop offerings as the years go on.
We decided to offer on-farm pickup to bring fresh, local, sustainably grown food directly to you. You pick up your food just feet from where it was produced!
Our eggs are our best selling product, and we are very proud to offer them! Our hens are raised on green pasture with access to vegetation, bugs, sunshine, and scraps from our spray-free garden.
Pigs are our favorite livestock to raise. We do not follow conventional practices, such as raising them 100% of their life in an indoor confinement pen, stressed out and having to compete for food and space. Our Berkshire hogs are raised in a wide open, lush pasture, under the shade of 150 year old burr oak trees with room to run (and boy, do they love to run!). They roll in the mud and wag their tails while eating garden scraps, vegetation, and grain. We currently offer half and whole shares in the fall, available for pickup or delivery from an outstanding local meat locker.
We have many long term ideas for the farm. We have been planting perennial crops like fruits trees, berry bushes, and asparagus, but these crops take years to produce. We plan to offer classes and seasonal events, and expand our product offerings as time goes on. Follow along to see what we do next!