Wild Goose Farm

Meg Runyan is the owner/farmer of Wild Goose Farm in Grayslake, IL, a two-acre farm Meg rents through the Prairie Crossing Farm Business Development Center. She grows delicious vegetables using sustainable practices and the farm will be certified organic this year. 

What is your growing philosophy?
As a follower of Jesus, I believe we ought to be stewards of Creation. We need to treat the land with care and respect. That means we need to farm in ways that are sustainable, ways that improve the health of the land. This holistic method will ensure that the food we grow is healthy for us, the land is able to continue growing great produce and ensure the health of the surrounding plant and wildlife. Good stewardship creates a beautiful place to live and gives meaning to our work. It puts us in a right relationship with the land and honors God.

What's your favorite part of being a farmer?
I love being outside and being a part of the day. By being a farmer I experience what is going on outside. I don’t look out the window and say, "Oh, it’s sunny and a little windy today." I actually feel the sun on my face and feel the wind blow by. I get soaked by the rain and chilled on the cold days. But, those days are great too, because you get to appreciate hot chocolate and hot soup even more.

What's your least favorite part?
My least favorite part is hard to say. There are things I don’t always like and yet there are always good lessons to learn from those things. Such as learning to persevere when it’s hot and humid and you just don’t want to harvest another zucchini. There is patience and trust to learn when it doesn’t rain for a long time. Of course these are easy to talk about comfortably typing on a computer. Farming is a difficult challenge, but those challenges can be the most rewarding.

If you farm organically, why do you choose this path?
I farm organically because those farming practices closely resemble my philosophy. People don’t always ask farmers how or why they farm. Having my produce be organic just puts my farming practices out there. People don’t have to ask. They can see that I’m organic. I still think those conversations need to happen though. People need to be actively involved in agriculture, they need to ask questions about how their food is grown or raised. Our complacency with food has a lot of dire consequences from dying rural communities to growing rates of heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

What makes your farm special?
My farm puts my faith into action. I believe we are to be stewards of Creation, that farming should improve the health of the land as well as our health. I may not be able to change the whole world but I am able to take care of this little part of the world. Not only that, but through my farm other people are able to re-connect with the land through volunteering, purchasing produce, and even through conversations. By farming, I can offer an opportunity for others to support the kind of agriculture they believe in. People want to know what they can do to lead healthier lives and to take better care of the earth. Health, economic, environmental problems are huge and we are so small. Yet, here I am, and other farmers too, offering people opportunities to answer these seemingly impossible problems. We offer healthy, wholesome food that is grown and raised locally and in sustainable ways. Investing in this kind of food is investing in yourself, the land, the community and generations to come.