Bicycles and growing cycles—everything’s a-spinning to keep this small-scale farm in business.
Why reinvent the wheel? While that might seem unnecessary, farmers like Trish Jenkins and Jeremy Smith often have innovative minds, dreaming up ways to do things more efficiently and, well, simply better. Their Cycle Farm, in the northern Black Hills of South Dakota, is a small, diversified mixed vegetable farm. With over 40 different crops and an active CSA, the duo is committed to building community through the use of human-powered and regenerative farming practices. We spoke with Trish Jenkins about the creative ways they use bicycles on their farm to keep things in motion.
1. Why did you name your farm Cycle Farm?
Trish Jenkins: We’re excited about bicycles as transportation and smart, efficient tools for small scale farms— they’re also irresistibly fun, engaging and offer a great way to interact with your community, neighborhood or city. The name Cycle Farm encapsulates our love for bicycles, as well as honors all the profoundly important natural cycles that we work with as farmers—everything from days and seasons, life and death, to soil nutrient cycling and the hydrologic cycle. We’re committed to producing food in a way that fosters soil health and promotes a diverse local ecology, and part of this is minimizing our inputs and fossil fuel use by using bicycles and human power.
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