Tom & Maren Beard - Luna Valley Farm
2 Minute Read
Published on Dec 14, 2023
If you can follow a dirt road through the rolling bluffs of the Driftless region just 10 miles north of Decorah you will find Luna Valley's 300-acre organic farm tucked into the valley, where owners Tom and Maren Beard grow organic crops and care for sheep, cattle and pigs, using rotational grazing methods to build soil health.
About Maren (Pizza Farmer/Glamping Host): After a youth spent in rural Wisconsin, Maren attended Luther College in Decorah where she studied Environmental Studies and Spanish. She fell in love with the area and went on to earn a Masters of Science in Sustainable Food Systems and joined the team at Luther College as the Assistant Director for the Center for Sustainable Communities where she worked for ten years on issues related to campus sustainability. These days Maren works full time on the farm!
Maren spends a lot of time in the kitchen during the week, making dough, rolling dough balls and preparing pizza ingredients using our wood-fired oven. You’ll usually spot her behind the bar greeting customers on pizza nights.
About Tom (Farmer): Growing up just a half mile up the road from Luna Valley Farm on his parent’s Organic Valley dairy farm, Tom always knew he wanted to farm. He built upon his experience with organic dairy farming in college where he studied agriculture.
Tom keeps busy caring for our cattle, sheep and pigs and enjoys taking Fritz with him whenever he has the opportunity! In 2021 we were humbled to be named as our region’s Conservation Farmers of the Year for practices like rotational grazing and flood mitigation. When he’s not farming, Tom plays pizzaiolo, cooking every single wood-fired pizza that gets served on our pizza nights.