Locally Grown

Val Jorgensen turns passion into produce

If you saw Val Jorgensen out and about at, say, Easton, you might peg her as one of those energetic cardio-boot camp instructors.

An attractive blonde, she’s sun-kissed, trim, muscular. But this mother of four sons, ages 21 to 30, has earned her deltoid definition and that healthy glow through sweat equity of a different sort – the sheer hard work of organic farming.

By Rhonda Koulermos

“I know it’s unexpected,” she says with a laugh. “A woman owning a farm.”

The former nurse and stay-at-home mom has cultivated 65 bucolic acres on the western edge of New Albany into a successful business, Jorgensen Farms. Behind a tidy yellow farmhouse, landscaped with rosemary and pineapple mint, Jorgensen – along with a small support staff – raises organic poultry and pasturefed Romney lamb, tends row upon row of golden yellow sunflowers and colorful zinnias, collects delicately-scented honey from her creekside apiaries, and harvests fresh herbs by the truckload for area restaurants.

Jorgensen originally purchased the property in 1992 with her then-husband, Kevin Karikomi, as nothing more than an amazing backyard for sons Matt, Michael, David and Dan. But the property gradually grew into an ideal spot for them to learn about gardening, and eventually morphed into a full-blown certified organic farm by 2002.

It was no surprise, really; tilling the soil and raising livestock are part of Jorgensen’s heritage. As one of six children growing up on her family’s dairy farm in Webbersville, Mich., Jorgensen saw her steely work ethic develop quite early.

“We did whatever it took – my two sisters and I would clean the house top to bottom, drive the tractor, unload hay, rake out the barn,” she says.

They also helped prepare the noontime meal – “a full farm dinner,” she says, for 14 family members and hired hands.

The same nonstop, work-‘til-you-drop approach continues today. Not only does Jorgensen supply lamb for Mezzo Ristorante and Bar in Dublin, pollenless sunflowers for arrangements at Le Chatelaine, herbs for Northstar Café and 80 pounds of Robert Mitchum peppermint per week for

Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, she also finds time to host community outreach and educational programs at the farm.

The first Sunday afternoon of each month is set aside for family activities, where she demonstrates things like sheep shearing and starting a garden from seed.

Her favorite event, though, is the monthly Third Sunday Farm Table.

“It’s a farm supper – I love the term supper – where we sit together at one long table and enjoy a meal,” Jorgensen says. “A professional chef has prepared everything using fresh ingredients from our farm.”

Reservations are scooped up quickly, she notes, and for a small additional charge, guests can purchase a box of seasonal produce to take home.

And yet, despite all the success Jorgensen has enjoyed as a sustainable organic farmer, she wants more – a year-round growing environment, to be exact. Creating that environment has driven her to extraordinary lengths.

Each week since the beginning of March, she’s been quietly easing out of the driveway at 2 a.m. on a Monday morning to make the six-hour drive to Michigan State University, where she’s a full-time college student. Jorgensen is enrolled in an intensive nine-month program to master year-round organic farming using hoop houses and passive solar energy.

“There are only two programs like this in the U.S., and the other one’s in

California,” she says. “Forty-five hours of the week are given to on-farm training. The rest is reading and writing business plans.”

Jorgensen is one of 15 students in the program, and the only farm owner. “It’s totally worth it,” she says. “I’m completely present once I’m there.”

On Nov. 19, Jorgensen is slated to obtain her MSU certificate and return to Jorgensen Farms. There, she’ll begin construction on the winter’s first hoop house, with several more on the drawing board.

“Just think – fresh spinach, chard and kale for area restaurants, all harvested that day,” she says.

Recently, as the sun began to drop behind the lush fields surrounding Jorgensen’s post-and-beam barn, she welcomed a group that had gathered on her farm for a cooking class. In describing how the farm runs, she touched on her Michigan upbringing.

“My dad’s in his 80s and is still going strong, still farming,” she says. During phone conversations, they’ll talk shop –mending a pasture fence, too much rain.

She paused as she fought back tears. “Sorry,” she says as she laughed and struggled to regain composure. “It’s all such a big part of my life.”

New Albany resident Rhonda Koulermos is a contributing writer. Feedback and comments welcome at editor@ healthynewalbany.org.

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By Lisa Aurand