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A New York couple receives a Farmer Veteran Coalition grant to improve their operation.

Jennifer Kiel, Editor, Michigan Farmer

December 13, 2021

6 Slides

Editor’s note: This is the third in a series of stories highlighting the Farmer Veteran Coalition and its 2021 Farmer Veteran Fellowship Fund grant awardees. The coalition awards grants to help veterans advance in the ag industry. Read more about the coalition at farmprogress.com.

Jack and Miki Balstad had a pretty sound 10-year plan for their 4-acre, specialty crop farm just outside of Albany, N.Y.

Their permaculture-based farm included meat birds, eggs, fruits, vegetables and herbs.

Miki has a master of science and environmental policy and management degree, with an undergrad minor in environmental engineering. “So, when it comes to agriculture, I really want to do it in a respectful and mindful way, with due diligence toward taking care of the planet and animals and everything involved in the process,” she says.

This Army veteran couple, who both work full time for GE with different aspects of onshore wind turbines, focused on using their acreage in the most efficient way possible, looking at different zones and how to use them.

The property had its limitations. "You could dig down somewhere between 3 to 18 inches, and you would hit bedrock," Miki says. "Most of our vegetable gardens are in raised beds. Building infrastructure or installing electricity or waterlines or anything was expensive and time consuming.”

In early 2021, the Balstads applied for a Farmer Veteran Coalition grant, designed to help advance veterans in the agriculture industry. Later that spring, they received a $5,000 grant to help purchase a Bobcat CT2025 tractor that came with a free bucket to facilitate moving rocks and also debris from an old, landfilled barn. They also used the tractor to clear the land for the orchard.

“We had berries growing and had planted an orchard with peaches, apples, pears, and sweet and sour cherries,” says Miki, noting it complemented their very successful maple syrup business.

Everything was laid out. Meat birds were on chicken tractors going between the orchard rows; they had recently dug a pond for the ducks and built additional raised garden beds. "We had a lot of overlapping systems to try to figure out how we could use the property in the best way, to provide the most food as sustainably as possible,” Miki says.

They were in the process of applying for high-tunnel systems for season extension when they realized COVID-19 and remote working had changed things — their mindset.

New direction

“By being able to work remotely, we were not tied to this area,” Miki says. “We decided to find a place that we loved.”

They knew where to start looking, as they have been visiting the Catskill Mountain Range area for eight years. After much evaluation and deliberation, they bought an 18-acre remote farm and relocated two hours West in Walton. “We talked to our leadership at GE and worked out a remote-hybrid working arrangement,” Miki says.

The 18-acre farm included a spring-fed pond, barn, woods and 4 acres of open land for their chickens, turkeys and ducks.

The Balstads moved this past fall and are yet to get fully established, but one key focus is expanding maple syrup production. They are scrambling now to get the tap lines and the infrastructure built, including a sugar shack, before heavy snow arrives.

“The tractor has been super helpful to help clear paths through the woods to lay the maple lines and to bring in foundation materials for the sugar building,” Miki says.

They had 85 taps on their previous farm. “I see 60 taps just 200 feet into our woods,” she says. They plan to continue marketing their product through a local winery, Galway Rock, and potentially expanding.

Sugaring is enjoyable, Miki says, and with two full-time jobs and a 2-year-old son, Darby, it allows for a balance of work and family. “With maple syrup, it’s a one-month push for the entire season in the spring. It’s one month where the attention is divided away from our son, and then we're back to normal after that,” she says.

It’s also a product that consumers appreciate, Miki adds. “With meat birds, you need customers who see the value, allowing you to price your product for the care in raising it,” she says. “Maple syrup is just one of those things people innately understand the value and are willing to pay more for a small bottle of maple syrup than for a whole, farm-raised, local chicken.”

While the Balstads still plan to raise meat birds and a few layers, they are going to drop their focus on vegetables because the market is heavily saturated in their new location. “Instead, I think we're going to focus on cut flowers,” she says.

Military connection

Miki grew up in Missouri — next door to Fort Leonard Wood — on a cattle and hay farm with a long family line of military service. A couple years out of high school, she enlisted in the Army and served two years in human resources before getting a recruitment letter from West Point.  She had scored very well on her Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) test and West Point wanted her.

“I had no clue what I was getting into, or I probably would have been more terrified,” says Miki, who got in and met her now husband, who came from large crop production farm. In 2013, Jack commissioned infantry, while Miki became military police.

The Balstads were stationed in southern Georgia, Fort Benning, right along the Chattahoochee River. They lived on an acre of land, and in their off time started farming, raising chickens, eggs and vegetables sustainably.

"With literally everyone around us being a farmer, we wanted to differentiate ourselves,” Miki says. “We thought, we should name the operation Yankee Acre, because everyone knows we're the transplant yanks in town.” When they moved to New York, they had 4 acres, so an ‘s’ was added — Yankee Acres.

Miki’s first overseas exposure was to Korea, and then Jack did a tour in Afghanistan in the Ranger Regiment for a few years. Soon after he returned, they were expecting a son. After a very scary delivery that threatened the lives of both mother and son, “we reflected on giving our lives to the military and with a new son, it wasn’t what we wanted,” says Miki, noting she had been in nine years and Jack seven. “We both really enjoyed the military while we were in it, but we didn't want it to be the last thing we did.”

Both at the rank of captain, they knew the step to major would mean reassignment.

Leaving the military was a tough decision. "Jack, hands down, loved everything about it,” Miki says. “He is the type that likes to fast rope upside down out of a helicopter and other really cool stuff — that's his jam.”

For Miki, it was the people. "I grew up in Missouri, in a very closed-off sort of world, so being able to meet so many different people in different parts of the world was amazing.”

Their 10-year plan has been modified. But as soon as things settle in, they intend to write a new one, biting off right-sized pieces to continue to do what their time, energy and happiness allows.

About the Author(s)

Jennifer Kiel

Editor, Michigan Farmer

While Jennifer is not a farmer and did not grow up on a farm, "I think you'd be hard pressed to find someone with more appreciation for the people who grow our food and fiber, live the lifestyles and practice the morals that bind many farm families," she says.

Before taking over as editor of Michigan Farmer in 2003, she served three years as the manager of communications and development for the American Farmland Trust Central Great Lakes Regional Office in Michigan and as director of communications with Michigan Agri-Business Association. Previously, she was the communications manager at Michigan Farm Bureau's state headquarters. She also lists 10 years of experience at six different daily and weekly Michigan newspapers on her impressive resume.

Jennifer lives in St. Johns with her two daughters, Elizabeth, 19, and Emily 16.

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