Who is Mindful Nourishment Matters? Several years ago, Iowa native, Mikol Sesker purchased 20 acres of farmland in Marion County with a family dream to operate a sustainable organic farm. The property includes a historic home that was moved from Central College and is undergoing renovation. Mikol partnered with her siblings, Nathan Sesker and Megan Sesker Enriquez, to work on Mint ‘N More, the micro-scale organic family farm strategically named to represent the initials of the three siblings. They got to work creating buffer zones and planting beds before Nathan’s death from cancer in May 2017. Today Mint ‘N More is pushing forward with refined vision and action in honor of the family dream and a renewed spirit to prevent and minimize chronic illness through healthy food and growing practices. In the fall of 2024, Mikol hired Megan McKay, a native Knoxville entrepreneur, to help define the vision and purpose of the organization and start putting ideas into action. To break it into action, there are three main themes:
-Connecting Eaters to Food Sources with education on healthy eating, promoting home and community gardening as well as supplying plants and seeds.
-Operating a Regenerative Organic Demonstration and Incubator Farm to produce organic foods and plant medicine with regenerative practices and provide farm incubator space and resources for new farmers
-Convene Farmer Resources by aggregating research from the best sources, provide business support services, develop markets for regenerative organic products and maintaining a focus on soil health
The refined vision of Mint ‘N More is Cultivating Health by Nourishing Agriculture. The organization is now structured into two parts: Mint ‘N More Farm which will focus on a demonstration farm and incubate new farmers and Mindful Nourishment Matters, outreach to consumers on healthy eating and creating markets for locally grown healthy foods. After initial research, it’s clear that before Mint ‘N More can incubate new farmers we first need to shore up the market for local, chemical free foods produced with practices focused on soil health. To further this goal, we will be hosting quarterly free public education events that present new ideas on health and wellness topics as well as other outreach projects to be announced.
