Partridge Creek

Community Farm

Farm Vision

Aerial drone photos taken by Lindsay Bean. Aerial photo of the Community Farm in downtown Ishpeming

The Community Farm is a 3.75 acre farm centrally located in downtown Ishpeming. 2.75 acres are designated for intergenerational community programs and educational facilities, featuring amenities such as a produce cooler, a produce washing and packing structure, Jasperlite Community Garden Beds, and eventually a Geo Thermal Greenhouse and an outdoor classroom.

The remaining acre is devoted to cultivating produce for the Ishpeming Community.

In 2024, we embarked on our inaugural growing season at the site! Our goal was to cultivate 9000 lbs of fresh food for the Ishpeming Community. This year, our primary focus will be on producing an abundance of fresh produce, enriching the soil with topsoil, putting up a protective fence to deter wildlife, and establishing essential electricity infrastructure on-site.

Learn more About Where Our Food Goes

Farm Milestones

Building a fully functional farm takes time, planning, and observation. We broke ground at the Intergenerational Farm in fall of 2022. Since then, the following milestones have been reached with many more to come!

In April 2024 Melissa Meldrum’s Ishpeming High School English class helped put the plastic covering on the 30’x72’ hoophouse. This class is apart of the LIFT UP program aimed towards connecting students with a local farmer to help with a farm specific project.
Read More Here
Cooler function: This critically important infrastructure component marks a milestone for the build out of the Community Farm. This repurposed shipping container will function as a walk-in produce cooler which will safely store harvested produce and keep it fresh so it can be distributed to out community.
Local muralist, Chloe Lea Creations wrapped up the cooler mural in June of 2024 , we celebrated this accomplishment with a ribbon cutting.
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Nutrient rich top soil has been added to designated spots on the site to prepare the soil for the growing season. In addition to topsoil 30 cubic yards of compost was placed on the ⅓ of an acre of food production beds to contribute to soil health and positively impact production during the growing season.
In the fall of 2023 Andrew Henseler’s High School construction class helped construct the tool shed that is now situated on the farm site.
Temporary fencing was installed around the growing areas to deter animals, with plans to add a permanent deer fence in 2025 through grant funding.