Wing Over Farm

By Terri Schmidt, Co-op volunteer writer

I asked Jenny Parker, the owner of Wing Over Farm, where the farm’s unique name came from. She told me it’s a beautiful falconry term referring to when a falcon changes direction in mid-air and flips. Jenny feels that is what she did when she left New York to come to Idaho.

Jenny studied art, particularly sculpture, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she earned degrees in Art and Anthropology. After college she was working at a charter school in Washington DC, and was in charge of the gardening and science classes. She had no experience, but worked on ways to incorporate sculpture into gardening. Later a friend was working at the Potomac Vegetable Farm and Jenny decided to join her there. It was a time when it was popular for young people to work on organic farms. Jenny didn’t expect to be a farmer, but that winter she felt she was starving for good vegetables and farming drew her back.

“It felt powerful to work with my body and keep it well fed. It felt like an addicting kind of work; it’s hard to do anything else after experiencing that. It’s related to sculpture, you build and craft living things,” she said. She likes the practical aspect of the work, growing good food to feed people.

Jenny moved to Moscow in January 2018 to be with her partner, Paul, who is getting his masters in education. Driving down north Mountain View, she saw an empty green house and land that was not being used. She was desperate to have her own salad greens, so she knocked on Steve Street’s door and before long Wing Over Farms was established. Steve raises chickens and sheep and Jenny raises 58 kinds of produce including tomatoes, carrots, onions, leeks, garlic, summer and winter squash, shoots, broccoli, salad greens, fennel, cabbage and herbs.

Last year Steve built a small store which is open 24/7 for the public to drop by and purchase fresh produce, eggs, and other items. It’s only closed a few weeks in the winter when Jenny and Paul travel to visit family. Wing Over Farm also sells items at Saturday Market and to the Moscow Food Co-op, One World Café, Lodgepole, Maialina, Nectar, The Black Cypress, O-Ramen, and Cellar Door Cooking. Jenny also creates CSA boxes for 34 members who receive a box of fresh produce each week for 22 weeks.

Jenny believes the best benefit of eating organic is consuming clean, pure food that is not tainted by chemicals and that taking a piece of land and making it healthy is good for the earth.

“Because you do so much by hand in organic farming, there is a lot more care and closeness to the plants. A lot of love goes into it and that relationship makes a difference,” she said.

During the growing season Jenny spends 70-80 hours a week working the farm. When the season slows, she enjoys playing the banjo, reading (especially farm books), watching movies, hiking, camping and white water rafting, and hopes to re-cultivate art projects. She loves being with family and friends, and sitting by the fire on cold winter days planning for next years farming.

To learn more about Wing Over Farm and Jenny’s story, check out her webpage: www.wingover.farm