Farm + Market: Meet Linda Hezel of Prairie Birthday Farm

Fence Stile Vineyards and Winery is highlighting the farmers featured in our upcoming Farm + Market Local Food and Wine Experience. Tickets are still available for this exciting new wine and food event on Sunday, November 18th, 3:30-5:30 PM. $35 per person. RSVP at events@fencestile.com or call 816-500-6465. Limited seating available. Reserve a seat today!

This week, meet Linda Hezel of Prairie Birthday Farm.

"The mission of Prairie Birthday Farm is to inspire and empower others to enjoy, consume, and produce nutritious food and the native ecosystems upon which its production depends," Hezel says. "Efforts to achieve that mission are encompassed in a multifaceted food literacy enterprise involving:  1. Production/demonstration, 2. Education/sharing, 3. Evaluation/research, and 4. Creativity/innovation."

Based in Kearney, Missouri, Hezel established Prairie Birthday Farm in 1993 at first to feed her family and then the broader community.

"The farmscape and gardens have been designed to mimic nature in food production and reconstruct native ecosystems necessary for the balance and synergy among plants and animals," Hezel says. "Using native plants in food production offers many benefits including adaptability to local soil and climate conditions, maintaining healthy and diverse ecosystem services, the conservation and propagation of local flora types, and creation of aesthetic wealth."

The farm's bounty is "produced without synthetic chemicals and sold to dozens of area residents by arrangement and as many as 25 area chefs," says Hezel. 

Hundreds of pounds of herbs, edible flowers, vegetables, and fruit (including wild and Slow Food Ark of Taste varieties) are available from February through November without the use of season extension structures. Hezel adds, "As a small-scale producer, I focus on the most flavorful and unique herbs, flowers, fruits and vegetables."

Farm products and experiences include flowers (36+), fruit (25+), herbs (40+), and vegetables (15+); native plants: 140+ (forbs, grasses, bushes, vines, and trees). Together, they yield  fruits, vegetables, herbs, flowers, eggs, honey, and art in the form of photographs and tablescapes, research, classes, aesthetic wealth, and nature immersion experiences.

Prairie Birthday Farm has played host to guests from the culinary community, including chef Pete Dulin of Fence Stile Vineyards and Winery. 

Hezel says, "Hundreds of volunteers and learners as well as chefs and their culinary teams interested in the concepts operationalized by the farm have taken tours, participated in 1-3-day immersion experiences, and taken part in the seasonal and daily rhythms of activities required to steward the complex systems of food production."

For the upcoming Farm + Market local food and wine event, our chef will use wild plum wood to smoke leeks, fresh turmeric leaves (pictured below) that will be combined with sweet potato and ginger in samosas, and dried dahlia petals as a garnish for dessert. 

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At this point in the harvest season, the first killing frost has occurred but some production still continues at the farm.

"Many hardy plants remain, some improved greatly with the rain and cold," Hezel says. "Available now: Organic, baby ginger and turmeric tubers and leaves as well as a mix of foraged herbs and greens that require as long as an hour per pound to harvest, and foraged from gardens, fields, and orchard. Foraged herbs and greens may include, but is not limited to Italian parsley, clover, cutting celery, horseradish leaf, hyssop, lemon balm, wild arugula, sorrel (French, wood), dandelion, dead nettle, bronze fennel, chive, bergamot, fava bean leaf, wild chicory, radish leaf, borage, chickweed, thyme and mint."

To attend the Farm + Market event, RSVP to secure a seat today. Meet your local farmer, taste local dairy prepared in several dishes, learn how Fence Stile owner-winemaker Shriti Plimpton paired dishes with wine, and take home some some wine and fresh dairy products.

Farm + Market: A Fence Stile and Local Farm Food and Wine Experience
Featuring Fair Share Farm, Prairie Birthday Farm and Borgman’s Dairy Farm
Sunday, November 18th, 3:30-5:30 PM
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Welcome Glass - Enjoy a glass of apple sangria or mulled wine.

First Course
Sweet potato, ginger, and turmeric samosa with curry goat’s milk yogurt. Paired with Vignoles.

Second Course
Leek smoked with wild plum wood and lavender, grilled radish, oven-roasted turnips, and Chinese broccoli with spelt, topped with escabeche and goat’s milk cheese. Paired with Backpack Red.

Third Course
Honey and apple sweet grits topped with Fence Stile blackberry compote and goat’s milk caramel sauce. Paired with Vidal Blanc.