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.

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 mic

ro-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.

07/24/2025

Improving soil health is possible and takes little effort. Increasing soil organic matter by 1% can reap great rewards for water infiltration and erosion control, not to mention more nutrient dense foods. And we all can improve our soil whether we live in town or have farm. Here's how:
🌿Compost-adding compost increases organic matter and can be done on a small scale by composting food scraps at home
🌽 Cover Crops-Cover crops protect soil during non-primary crop periods and improve soil structure by adding organic matter
🌱No Till Farming-reducing or eliminating tilling preserves soil organic matter and saves energy
👩‍🌾 Crop Rotation-rotating complimentary crops adds nutrients back to soil and improves organic matter content
🐛Microbiome-healthy soil has good bacteria and bugs that enrich soil

🔗link in bio for more info on soil health!

📸: First year growth of a native prairie planting. Replacing part of a lawn with native grasses and forbs (flowers) adds to soil health by having a deep root system and plants that are well adapted to our climate reducing need for herbicides and irrigation while adding organic matter from decaying growth each year. Bonus is they are a great host for pollinators!

07/23/2025

Soil health is an important focus for us! In addition to providing more nutrients to our food, healthy soil also:
💦helps resist drought by making root systems more resilient and potentially increasing yields
🚱 conserves water so we use less irrigation and reduce energy costs to grow food
🍉leads to better water quality with less erosion and harmful run off.

🔗link in bio for more info on soil health!

📸: Farm in southern Iowa showing difference in hill top soil vs where good topsoil has settled in the bottoms. Keeping soil covered year round helps prevent erosion and increase

07/21/2025

How far does your food travel from field to plate? How many people touch it before it gets to you?

When you purchase local food the average distance is less than 50 miles but when you purchase conventionally, the average is over 1500 miles and it may make several stops on the way. Shopping locally saves energy, provides fresher food and keeps money in our communities!

07/19/2025

What we Do:
Cultivating Health by Nourishing Agriculture-We aim to enhance community health by focusing on food grown locally to improve soil health and benefit our local economy and environment.

07/18/2025

Can you name these native plants? Answers are in our newsletter today!

Native plants help attract pollinators, require less water due to their deep root structure, and are well adapted to our soil and climate among other benefits. As you add to your yard and garden, consider going native! Link in bio to our native plant supplier resource.

07/15/2025

Eating local can be easy! Check out our Beginner's Guide to Eating Local for tips and tricks now that Farmer's markets and vegetable gardens are in full abundance! Check the link in bio for details!

📸Parisienne Cornichon de Bourbonne Cucumber-a tart crunchy style cucumber perfect for pickling when small. This one got a little out of hand but so much variety is available when you grow your own or shop with local vendors!

07/13/2025

We made a big step toward becoming official this week! We had our first board meeting to take care of all the behind the scenes business of becoming an official non-profit. Being a non-profit allows us to put mission first and support the community in ways a for profit might not be able to like promoting our local producers and providing free or low cost education on nutrient dense cooking and eating. We will profile our board soon!

To celebrate the occasion, we kept to our values of promoting whole grain, nutrient dense meals with a giant quinoa bowl full of local veggies, chickpeas and raisins topped with a homemade lemon basil dressing. To cap it off, we had black raspberry basil shrubs! Check out the link in our bio to make your own delicious beverages and follow us for more recipes like this one. Healthy, local food is so great for your mind and body!

07/10/2025

What we Do:
Cultivating Health by Nourishing Agriculture-We aim to enhance community health by focusing on food grown locally to improve soil health and benefit our local economy and environment.

07/08/2025

🍽Cooking with local foods means cooking with seasons and trying new things!

Skirt steak was one of the cuts from the locker when we purchased a share of pasture raised beef from our farm neighbor. It's not one a lot of people use but the key is to cook it hot and fast and slice against the grain. I found this recipe that also uses zucchini and parsley which I happen to have in my garden and are readily available from local farm vendors now. Seems a great time to try this recipe from America's Test Kitchen!

Skirt Steak with Zucchini and Scallion Sauce
Ingredients:
1 cup fresh parsley leaves
8 scallions, white parts minced, green parts cut into 1-inch pieces
½ cup plus 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
¼ cup water
4 teaspoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
Salt and pepper
1 (1 1/2-pound) skirt steak, trimmed and cut into 4 equal parts
2 medium zucchini, cut into 1/2-inch chunks

Instructions:
1. Process parsley, scallion greens, 1/2 cup oil, water, vinegar, mustard, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in blender until smooth, about 1 minute. Set aside.

2. Pat steak dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking.* Cook steak until well browned and meat registers 120 to 125 degrees (for medium-rare), about 2 minutes per side. Transfer steak to carving board and tent with foil.

3. Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil and zucchini to now-empty skillet and cook over medium-high heat, without stirring, until zucchini is well browned, about 2 minutes. Stir and continue to cook until softened, about 3 minutes. Off heat, add scallion whites and 2 tablespoons scallion sauce and stir to coat zucchini. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Slice steak thin against grain. Serve with zucchini and remaining scallion sauce.

*You could also adapt this to your grill by searing meat on a med high grill and cooking zucchini in a foil packet.

Address

Knoxville, IA

Website

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

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