OUR FARM
The six of us moved to the farm in May 2011, ready to roll up our sleeves and create a little farmstead together. With a machete and a hammer, our vision started coming to life. We cleared some trees and removed some fencing to get a start on a nice little one-acre pond and dock. It’s stocked with blue gills, catfish, large mouth bass and plenty of frogs. It’s a great place to relax in the summer!
We've had a few enterprises over the last decade plus here on the farm. Some have evolved and some we have let go. Chickens have come full circle - from a small backyard flock, to a larger pastured flock, and back again. We currently produce eggs mostly for our family and farm guests. Over the span of ten years we have also raised several hundred turkeys for Thanksgiving and, as of 2024, have decided to end those operations as well. During that time, the turkeys of Lucky Star Farm were featured on season 10 of Iowa Ingredient on Iowa PBS! Click here to view this five minute segment.
More recently, we have chosen to concentrate our efforts on duck eggs and raw milk. Our expanded duck flock provides eggs for our standing customers, folks visiting the Coralville Food Pantry, and those dining at The Webster downtown. And finally, our goat herd. Originally we began with a small herd of Nigerian dwarf goats for the girls to show at the county fair. Since raw milk became legal to sell here in Iowa in 2023, we have expanded to include other milk producing breeds to meet consumer demand. We also meet the demand for goat yoga each spring!
We strive to be a sustainable farm and to make choices that are best for the welfare of our livestock and the planet. Through a program with Johnson County we were able to add an array of solar panels to produce some of the power for our farm. Another way to help combat climate change is a concept of silvopasture, where trees, livestock and forages are integrated as a whole system. The combination of trees and pasture work symbiotically to provide food and shelter for livestock as well as regenerate the land. This blog post written by the Practical Farmers of Iowa offers more detail.
Another component of our vision is to provide opportunities for education and agritourism. We were thrilled to enter into 2020 with overnight lodging for guests! We want our farm to be a place where people come to learn about where their food comes from, explore the land, and experience rural living.
THE FARM
CONTACT US | (319) 683.4042 | susan@theluckystarfarm.com | *Visits to the farm are by appointment only*