The farm spans both sides of Highway 53 and borders on several lakes. It eventually covered 400 acres with vegetables, fruits, cattle, hay, chickens, pigs, and rustic log buildings. Mark Peterson’s grandfather came to Minnesota shortly after ore was discovered and homesteaded this land. He opened a general store in Eveleth and sold real estate, too, and added land to the original farm. Peter Peterson hired folks to tend the farm during the week and came out every Sunday to survey the operation. When the City of Eveleth moved to allow mining under its original site, Peterson’s store moved too. He sold his farm’s local produce in the store. Mark remembers working there as a child and doing home deliveries every evening.
The farm stayed in the family but changed character. Today, the 11 acres west of Highway 53 are Peterson’s Berry Farm, a u-pick operation, and those east of the highway operate as tree farms. Mark and other family members live on the part of the old farm that is rich in maples for tapping, and planted with asparagus, apple trees, straw-bale tomatoes, Christmas trees, and a high tunnel full of beautiful fall raspberries. Wood piles are stacked high for this winter and for next spring’s sap boiling.
The 11-acre berry farm sits adjacent to Harvey Lake and contains a small natural pond and two that mark has dug for irrigation. The soil is sandy and well-drained, partially due to a network of ditches dug by workers that Mark’s grandfather hired during the depression. The day I visited it was 68 degrees and in full fall color, everything was glowing yellow and gold. The blueberries were turning deep red and the cover crops of oats and winter rye were vivid green. Everywhere there were strawberries, raspberries, juneberries, blueberries, honeyberries and a few hazelnuts and currants. I noticed strawberry patches alternating with cover crops. Mark tells me that he harvests a strawberry patch for about two years and then lets the land lie fallow under a cover crop and plants new strawberries into last year’s cover crop on a waiting patch, rotating around the acreage.
Mark worked on this farm as a child and has always lived here. He started out as an Ag teacher at area high schools and retired, after a 30-year teaching career, to tend this farm. He took an Extension class in growing strawberries in the late 1980’s, then started planting and harvested his first crop of blueberries in 1990. When a bad year left him with almost no blueberries, he knew he had to diversify and cleared more of the land. He grows North Country, Killarny, Nova, and, more recently Superior Blueberries and Bluettes. I learn that the key to blueberry success lies in the fall before you want to harvest them. They need enough snow cover to protect them while the ground freezes, allowing them to continue to draw moisture. When the ground is finally frozen, they are ideally protected by a thick snow cover. Mark places snow fences and arranges his plantings strategically to accomplish this.
It’s almost time to prepare for winter. When the temperatures average 40 degrees, the strawberries get a straw blanket. The blueberries get a foliar nitrogen feeding. And then it’s time to harvest and freeze the large high tunnel full of fall raspberries near Mark’s house across the highway on the larger part of the farm. There are patches of things growing everywhere—tomatoes still ripening in straw bales, asparagus shining bright green and MN-hardy Frostbite apples that are as deep red and as sweet as can be. This is former pasture, so it’s pretty decent land. Both the berry farm and the residential portion are surrounded by beautiful woods. And just down the road, the tree farms begin. It’s too wet to drive in, but I can see row after row of tall Norway pines reaching up to the autumn sun.
Speaking of autumn, Halloween is just around the corner and harvest time is upon us. Check out www.pumpkinpatchesandmore.org for listings of corn mazes and hay rides as well as pumpkins. In St. Louis County, visit Mr. Ed’s Farm outside of Hibbing or Simek’s Farm near Kelsey for all kinds of fall fun for the whole family. A sister website, PickYourOwn.org lists eleven u-pick farms in Northeast Minnesota, including Peterson’s Berry Farm, all in St. Louis and Itasca Counties. Mark says there used to be many more growers in our area. And maybe there will be in the future, too, as our growing season lengthens and moisture increases. Visit one of our local u-pick farms and tell them you appreciate what they grow!