Crop mobbing Lighthouse Farm

A.J. Olmscheid

Sustainable-farming enthusiasts put their muscle where their mouth is, as they put it, when they join crop mobs, groups of urbanites who spend a day working on small sustainable farms. The Twin Cities Crop Mob, part of the group Fair Food Fight, recently hauled hay, cleaned brush, and removed thistles at Lighthouse Farm, a grass-fed beef, pork, lamb, poultry, and egg operation in Princeton.

Here is a look, in text and photos, of how the day went:

A.J. Olmscheid

Farmer John Mesko

​Seventeen crop mobbers joined the Mesko family for the day, getting more done "in four to five hours than our family could in two to three days," said John Mesko. The group took time to socalize, of course, and over scalloped potatoes with ham (made with your choice of cow's or goat's milk--from the farm itself, naturally), Mesko shared the story of leaving a job with Purdue University--"a good job in the city"--to start Lighthouse Farm.

A.J. Olmscheid

Now, Lighthouse markets to about 85 households in the Twin Cities, from students and singles to large families and people who order for special occasions like hog roasts. "The goal all along is to provide food for people we know, " says Mesko. "We want to be people's farmers, and we want to know them."

A.J. Olmscheid

The Meskos also sell meat to The Local, an Irish pub on Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis. The Local sells Lighthouse Farm Meatloaf ($14.99), a lamb dish made from Lighthouse lambs in the fall and pork dishes in the winter from a hog it buys each December.

The next Crop Mob is July 31 at Zweber Family Farm, a certified organic dairy.