The storms held off for us as we headed north to a new pizza farm on the banks of the St. 
Croix River. We knew it was our first time at this pizza farm, but we didn’t realize until we arrived that it was the Women’s Environmental Institute’s (W-E-I) first ever Pizza Night. They did a great job and I look forward to attending one of their future Wednesday night events.
A couple different friends who know of my Pizza Farm enthusiasm had forwarded me the email with W-E-I’s Pizza Night information. It was shorter notice than usual and many people were interested, but in the end a small group of three were the only ones that could make. We got a bit of a late start, but since it was the longest day of the year, we had plenty of daylight to find our way. We were surprised that the last mile or 2 of the drive was on a dirt road. The GPS also told us that we had arrived and should just 
walk the rest of the way while we were in the middle of this dirt road. We forged on ahead despite what the computer voice was telling us and found a driveway with W-E-I marking it, although the marker was set back a ways from the road. We continued along this dirt driveway to the orchard and parking area. We were excited to be greeted by Pride flags and member of the Minnesota House of 
Representatives, Karen Clark. It turned out that we also knew the pizza chef, Nick Schneider, because he is a regular shopper at the food co-op where two of us work. We saw a few other familiar faces around. It felt like being in the Seward neighborhood of Minneapolis except on a beautiful farm.
You have the option to save a few dollars per pizza by pre-ordering online, but I wasn’t sure how many people would be coming and I sort of forgot, so we paid the reasonable full price of $22/pizza for our two once we arrived. Salad with greens from the farm was provided and since we were in Minnesota, we could bring our own beer. We were told at check-in that the salad dressing was fantastic and I would have to agree that it was. The pizzas had a whole wheat crust, a really nice tomato sauce, and perfectly melted fresh tasting mozzarella. We went through the Sausage with mushrooms and the Marghertia.
After dinner, Karen Clark took us on the best personal tour of the farm and the farmhouse. The house is beautiful and the highlights included the front porch full of Adirondack chairs and beautiful flower garden. The farm interns and caretakers live there during the summer months, but the space is also available for retreats, room rentals, and weddings! See the website for details. Inside the garage and covered with a heat lamp, we also got to meet the three week old baby chicks. Separated from them were the two resident farmhouse cats. As for other livestock, W-E-I had a flock of adult chickens and several bee hives on the other side of the driveway.
The tour moved outside as dusk was settling, so none of my pictures turned out very well, but Karen showed us the spiral garden of herbs, the hoop houses of kale and lettuce, and the rows of broccoli. She showed us some of the techniques they used as organic farmers and discussed the local group they are working with to help farmers in the area, many of them immigrants and people of color, to practice organic farming and increase their selling power by working together. We also got to see the deer fence in action as I spotted the white tail of one deer that realized despite the proximity of tasty greens, dinner was not reachable through the tall wire fence. Around 10pm, when the daylight was pretty much gone, our tour was over, and the fields were full of lightning bugs, we closed the deer fence behind us and drove the hour home.
