Our Story

Welcome to the blog for the Thompson Family Farm!

We are Laura and Michael Thompson and we own and operate the Thompson Family Farm, located in rural Farmington, Minnesota.  We purchased this farm from Laura's parents and after one season of growing only for us, we decided we wanted to start our farm business.

I (Laura) do the majority of the work on the farm.  I do about 90-95% of the planning, planting, and weeding as well as all of the baking and canning.  Michael works full time in the finance industry, and I work part time as a band director.

This whole thing all started with a "small" idea to offer produce to family and friends.  That idea grew into me wanting to sell home canned goods.  At the end of 2019 I took a food safety training to become a registered cottage food producer in Minnesota, which allowed me to legally sell select homemade baked goods and home canned goods.  Unfortunately the limitations of the cottage food law do not allow me to ship my products.

I am not one who is known to keep my ideas small.  Ask Michael and he will tell you how making "a couple" Thanksgiving pies turns into five, or how my 30-some tomato plants turned into over 60.  I dive in head first; life is short and it is well worth living with enthusiasm!

Our mission is to provide high quality food to our community.  We only use organic practices with our growing.  We are not currently certified organic growers, however food tastes so much better when grown using natural practices!  Canning and food preservation are also a deep passion of mine.  I love the taste of home canned products especially when the cold, long winter months hit here in Minnesota.  I only put up produce when it is in season; you will not find me canning strawberry jam with berries purchased in October.  The taste simply does not compare!

Our mission is to educate.  Gardening, canning, and making food from scratch are some of my all-time favorite things.  Having grown up on this farm where gardening and food preservation and food from scratch was prioritized, I was lucky to be surrounded by it from an early age.  No matter what your living situation, you can make these things a priority if that is something that interests you.  No one is too old to learn new skills!

As I type this the gardening season for 2020 is wrapping up.  We have been pulling plants that are done for the season as we start to put our garden to bed.  This marks the end of our first growing season as a business.  We are always learning and always striving to improve on our knowledge and skills.

One of the best parts of gardening is you are always learning; one of the most challenging parts about gardening is...you're always learning!

Follow along on our journey!