My name is John Batteen. I began work in fall of 2016 on what will eventually be an operation producing high quality, specialty, and value-added plant and animal products. It is located in Faulk county, South Dakota, on my family farm near Cresbard. It will be a slow and steady ramp up of production, with each new aspect being done first on a personal scale to work out the kinks and technique, then replicated on a larger scale in subsequent years.
Spring of 2017 saw grapes, raspberries, strawberries, gooseberries, and currants planted, along with a small vegetable garden. 2018 I will be planting nanking cherries, juneberries, and aronia berries. I'm going to experiment with mushroom cultivation. Mostly I will be focuising on building a house out of a grain bin. Then 2019 I will be getting livestock and greatly expanding the fruit area.
It will be several years before I have enough of anything to sell. But I will have samples here and there to taste starting this year, 2018. When I have time I will beautify this website and post pictures of things as they grow. It will be fun to watch.
johntrap@batteen.com