Mindful Nourishment Matters

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Mindful Nourishment Matters

Cultivating Health by Nourishing Agriculture. Helping our community connect with local, sustainably grown foods for the health of people and the soil.

Brought to you by Mint 'N More Foundation. 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.

04/08/2026

What local foods are easy to find and prepare?

04/06/2026

Tomorrow is Produce Safety!

04/04/2026

Did you know the food we eat in Iowa travels an average of 1400 miles from field to plate? Did you also know that nearly 90% of the food we consume in Iowa is grown outside of our state? What can you do? Source local as much as possible to reduce the miles traveled, support your local economy and have fresher foods!

03/31/2026

Go on, invite someone to have a meal with you! Bonus if you learn about and share a locally grown food with your guests... it's a great conversation starter!

03/30/2026

We focus on produce safety at our next class, great for home gardeners or market producers. Sosia will share the knowledge she's gained while getting her produce safety certificate so you can keep your veggies fresh and safe!

03/29/2026

What are we learning? 👩‍⚕️🏥🌱

In 1850, life expectancy in the U.S. was 39 years. Today it's 80.7. We doubled it — not by luck, but by using science to identify the root causes of death and then changing the environment through policy.

Ricardo Salvador, the keynote speaker at the Harkin Institute Symposium on Wellness: The Treatment and Prevention of Cancer, mused that if he told you he wanted to double life expectancy in the next 200 years, we would likely all think he was crazy. But yet..... we just did it over the past 200 years.

Today's top killers — heart disease, cancer, stroke — are largely driven by long-term environmental and lifestyle factors. We already know pesticide exposure correlates with cancer rates. We know nitrate contamination in our waterways isn't improving despite decades of voluntary action. We know that colorectal cancer, the second leading cancer killer worldwide, is over 50% preventable — and that screening alone has already averted millions of deaths.

The blueprint from 1900 still holds: science finds the cause, policy changes the environment. The question isn't whether it's possible. The question is whether we'll act.

03/28/2026

Soon you can sow seeds directly in the soil. Reseed every 1 to 2 weeks to have a continuous crop of greens through June!

03/27/2026

The Community Garden layout looks a little different than what you see at most gardens. Instead of rectangular beds, ours are shaped to mimic the leaves in nature. We were inspired by the permaculture principle of designing from patterns to details and wanted to reflect the nature around us in they physical structures. We hope it inspires others to look at the simple patterns they see and use them to create beautiful spaces.

03/26/2026

Breaking Bread, our sourdough demo class, is on Saturday! Sign up before Thursday night to make sure you have a spot. We are using local grains and have gluten free options available too. Link in Bio for event sign up!

03/25/2026

You don't need a massive garden to make a difference. A small raised bed can produce a nice amount of food. Or just some herbs in a pot on a balcony can be a great way to enhance inexpensive meals.

03/24/2026

Saturday is our Sourdough Demo class! Make sure to sign up now so you don't miss out. We can't wait to host our first cooking class!

03/23/2026

How do you know if your soil is healthy? Try the 30 second soil test!

Grab a handful of soil from your garden and check:
• Is it dark and crumbly like chocolate cake?
• Do you see earthworms or small insects?
• Does it smell earthy and fresh?

If not, your soil may need more organic matter (compost, leaves, green table scraps) and less disturbance — and that’s something gardeners can improve over time.

Address

PO Box 208
Knoxville, IA
50138

Website

https://hopp.bio/mnmfarms, http://www.mnmfarms.org/

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