We’ve all known a lifelong farmer who moves to town after turning over the farm to the kids, or sells it to an eager young person ready to live off the land. No more early morning livestock feedings, thawing frozen water troughs, no racing the sun and season to get everything planted, harvested and stored away for another winter. No more vegetable garden that needs weeding (so much weeding!), harvesting and canning. A rest has been well-earned.
Except, the farm never leaves the heart of the farmer. The knowledge, love and legacy are crucial to spur the next generation of farmers to greatness. The saying applies, “necessity is the mother of invention.” I am convinced that farmers are the original “mothers” of invention.
My Dad, who wasn’t a farmer but he was clever, would say, “A guy could….” and then share his latest idea to create, fix or solve a challenge. A guy (or gal!) could put a screw and washer here, flywheel there, pound posts, hammer boards, frame up or mark out the exact details for the thing-a-ma-jig. To make the work, work. To get-er-done.
Hi – I’m Jayne, owner of The Greensted Grocery store in Zumbrota. In 2018 my husband, Dean, and I started a small “urban farm” growing microgreens in our garage. No, we’d never heard of microgreens; we had no plans to start up a farm business. We had no investors, tools, infrastructure, nothing. Not even a shovel. We didn’t know a darn thing about what we were doing. We bought some soil, seeds and plastic growing flats. We planted the seeds, you know, trying out all of our YouTube best tips, tricks and how-tos. They grew! They were delicious. But we had so much to learn.
We bootstrapped everything. We tried and failed. And succeeded. We took risks, asked questions, dug deep into all of our mental, physical and spiritual reserves. We cried, laughed, got mad and glad. We showed up at Farmers Markets, took opportunity and knocked on doors. In the end, we created a registered trademarked brand – The Greensted®. Under the brand we had five microgreen products, packaged, labeled, barcoded and ready for retail sales. By 2021 our microgreens were offered in 50+ grocery and co-op stores. We set up large scale production, harvesting, packaging and distributing 200+ pounds (1000+ packages) of microgreens per week. Like farming the production schedule was rigorous, planting and harvesting our field of dreams every week. There was no wiggle room. No vacations. No “off the clock” time.
Then we learned vegetable gardening (we had to buy a shovel first) and offered produce share boxes. Soon after we opened our locally sourced grocery store, The Greensted Grocery, in July of 2021. Turns out three enterprises were kind of a lot, though.
In October of 2025 we had the opportunity to move our “farm to town.” We created a new brand, The Greensted Fresh-n-Local® -- a name that suits the vision of binging the best in regional, wholesome, clean and authentic foods to our community. It is great being part of the buzz and vibe of downtown Z-town. Our farm products (dairy, meat, eggs, produce) come from local farmers. Packaged goods are sourced from small businesses throughout Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin. The mission: Your hometown source for all things local.
A guy and gal could, so we did. What’s your story?
I look forward to sharing great stories behind the products in our store, in future The Farm that Came to Town columns.
~jayne
The Greensted Grocery
224 S Main Street
Zumbrota, MN
thegreensted.com
