Heritage & Harvest
In the small town of Gary, MN (pop. 227), big ideas have taken root. On Mike and Brenda Chisholm’s fourth-generation family farm, the harvest isn’t just about crops — it’s about cultivating healthier soil for healthier people. Embracing regenerative agriculture practices, they’re letting the soil do what it does best: thrive naturally. Think of it as farming in harmony with Mother Nature’s original blueprint. From their fields to your fork, the Chisholm family is serving up a bounty of naturally bred buckwheat for fresh stone-milled flour and pantry staples as wholesome as they are sustainable.
Fertile Soil When Mike Chisholm’s great-grandparents first tilled the fertile soil of Gary, MN, 125 years ago, they built the foundation for a legacy of farming excellence. Today, the family’s pride and a growing field of knowledge are carried into the future by Mike and Brenda. Together, they’re filling pantries around the country with farm-fresh ingredients grown with care, packed with nutrients, and bursting with Mother Nature’s goodness.
Brenda, who is originally from Watertown, SD, met Mike while attending Moorhead State University (MSUM) in 1993. Eventually, she settled an hour away in the small town of Gary, where the two married in 2001. While their two older daughters pursued other career paths—Savannah as an LPN and Morgan, a senior at NDSU, majoring in accounting—their 20-year-old son, Alex, farms alongside them, helping carry on the family tradition.
Cultivating & Regenerating
In the early years, Mike and Brenda farmed more conventional crops like corn, soybeans, small grains, and alfalfa. When Mike started hearing about regenerative farming practices, he dug into the research and couldn’t ignore the homegrown logic of healthier soil and grains. Ten years into building their family and farm, the Chisholms took the leap, officially shifting their operations to more sustainable, regenerative farming practices.
Buckwheat & Berries
Chisholm Trail Farm, which opened in June 2024, specializes in growing, milling, and packaging buckwheat groats and flour, hard red spring wheat berries and flour, and rye berries and flour, all grown through regenerative agricultural practices. Their farm’s staple is naturally bred buckwheat, grown without genetic modification and without glyphosate-based herbicides — making it cleaner and healthier to consume.
“Chisholm Trail Farm had been a dream of Mike’s since he was 18 years old,” said Brenda. “He has always wanted to process, package, and sell direct to consumers. There was never a right time until then; it just felt right. Prior, we raised our crops, harvested them, and hauled them into the elevator. We now keep our crop, clean it, package it, and sell directly. People know where they are getting their product from and from whom.”
Fresh Flour
The Chisholms are currently milling flour from home, but to meet the demand, they’ve recently raised a new building on the farm. By the end of 2025, this building will be the headquarters of the farm’s cleaning and processing equipment, stone mill, and test kitchen.
Brenda’s expertise in milling fresh flour is primarily self-taught, catalyzed five years ago by ordering an attachment for her KitchenAid mixer. “I had Mike bring in wheat from the bin so I could try milling to see if I was able to eat whole grain wheat versus store- bought wheat,” explained Brenda. “We kept researching over the years as to how to mill our wheat and buckwheat into flour. Earlier this year, we bought two commercial stone mills that we are using to grind our flour.”
“We wanted to be able to provide food that was more nutritionally dense and easier to digest,” explained Brenda. “By milling the whole kernel, we keep the two essential parts of the kernel, the bran and the germ — these two are typically removed during commercial milling and synthetically added back in. We grind them in the flour and do not add anything else.” Dedicated to continuing their craft and learning new techniques, the family has worked with NDSU’s Northern Crops Institute (NCI) over the last several years. Last spring, Brenda participated in the Stone Milling Course and spent a week at NCI learning about wheat, stone milling, and baking with fresh-milled flour.
Pantry Powerhouse
Fresh from the farm, the family’s buckwheat is a popular ingredient known for its nutty, earthy flavors, offering a powerhouse of naturally high fiber, gluten-free nutrients. It’s also an excellent source of prebiotics and essential amino acids, making it a complete protein. The Chisholm family regularly incorporates it into their daily diet, including cooking or toasting the buckwheat for salad toppings, oatmeal, and granola. Their buckwheat is also stone milled into flour, which makes excellent pancakes and waffles.
The family also crafts wheat flour, which is ground from the entire wheat berry kernel, including the bran, a fiber-rich outer layer, the germ, a nutrient-dense core, and the endosperm, a starchy middle consisting of mostly carbohydrates and protein. When all three are milled together and stone-ground, the result is a less-processed wheat flour that retains its natural flavor and nutrition.
The family will soon be adding ancient grains to their product line, including Einkorn, Emmer, and a heritage wheat, Red Fife. Emmer wheatberry is a nutty-flavored, chewy cereal grain with a rich history dating back to the Mesopotamians and Egyptians. It’s often referred to as a farro grain, which encompasses three ancient wheat varieties: emmer, spelt, and einkorn. Emmer wheat— with a robust flavor that pairs well with vegetables and herbs—is commonly used to make soups, stews, salads, and pilafs. Additionally, Emmer wheatberries can be milled into fresh flour and used to make bread, pasta, pancakes, and other baked goods.
Family Favorites
Hands down, the Chisholm family favorite is rye flour, which Brenda uses to make cookies, brownies, cakes, and breads — all recipes that can be found on the website. “Most of my goodie baking is made with rye,” added Brenda. “My kids love the chocolate chip cookies and brownies.”
According to Brenda, popularity varies depending on the region. “When we ship to the east, south, and west states, our most popular are buckwheat groats and flour. In the Midwest, I would say that hard red spring wheat edges out because it is used a lot for baking bread.”
Brenda Chisholm’s Rye Chocolate Chip Cookies
1/2 C. (115 g) Unsalted butter
1/2 Packed C. (110g) Brown sugar or cane brown sugar
1/2 C. (100g) Granulated sugar or cane sugar
1 Large egg
1 tsp. Vanilla extract (See notes)
1 1/2 C. (180g) Chisholm Family Trail Rye Flour
1 tsp. Baking powder
1/2 tsp. Kosher salt
6 Oz. (90g) Chopped dark chocolate or 1/2 chips
1/2 C. (90g) Milk chocolate chips
STEP 1
Heat oven to 375°. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, set aside.
STEP 2
In a large bowl, mix together the butter and sugars. If you are using a mixer,
you do not need to worry about your butter being at room temperature. Stir
in the egg and vanilla extract until smooth. Add the flour, baking powder,
and salt, and mix until thoroughly combined. Lastly, mix in the chocolate.
STEP 3
Portion the cookie dough into balls that are roughly 70g. You may roll with
your hand or use a medium-sized melon scooper. Place on the prepared
baking sheets. Press gently into a circle about 1 in. thick.
STEP 4
Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes. Upon removal from the oven, let cool on
the cookie sheet before moving to your wire rack to cool completely.
Brenda’s Baking Tips
#1 This is purely a preference, but I use cane brown sugar and cane sugar because it is less refined than granulated sugar — it also gives a more caramelized flavor.
#2 I have discovered that bourbon vanilla adds a beautiful flavor when I bake.
#3 If you wish to make a double batch, I double the butter, sugars, rye flour, and egg. Then I increase the vanilla extract and baking powder to 1 1/2 tsp. You may up your salt to 1 tsp. or leave as-is. For the chocolate chips, I use 1 C. of each or 170g of each.
#4 I prefer to weigh out my ingredients versus measuring to make sure I get the exact amount needed for the recipe.
Caring for Crops
If there’s one thing the Chisholms wish people knew about their life’s work, it’s the importance of taking care of the soil. “We are strong believers in cover crops. As soon as we’ve harvested a field, we go in right away and seed with a cover crop,” said Brenda. “This may be oats, rye, turnips, radishes, and clovers. We want to always keep a living root in the ground, so the microbiome keeps getting fed and keeps flourishing to maintain soil health. By using cover crops, we are armoring the soil to protect it from the elements, preserving our topsoil.
This way of farming provides healthier and more nutritious food because we are taking better care of the soil. By nurturing the soil, we are leaving the earth in better shape for the future.”
Shop Chisholm
Trail Farm For now, the family’s farm-fresh products are primarily available through their website, with shipping anywhere in the country. If you live in the Gary area, orders can be picked up straight from the farm. You can also find their bounty at local farmers’ markets throughout the year. Keep your eye out for Chisholm Trail Farm products, planting roots in select Midwest retail stores soon.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Chisholm Trail Farm
316 2nd Avenue E., Gary, MN
218.556.5781
Shop: chisholmtrailfarm.com
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Insta: chisholmtrailfarm