Beautiful countryside, fresh ingredients, roaring fires, and pizza? What more could a girl ask for?
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you: The pizza farm.
A growing trend that has popped up in recent years, this Midwestern staple has exploded in popularity during the pandemic due to its organic ability to bring farmers and food lovers together for a socially distanced outdoor dining experience.
Over the past two decades, dozens of farms located along the length of the Mississippi have built wood-fired ovens, mastered the basics of crust, sauce, and cheese, and begun serving freshly crafted pizzas to be enjoyed amidst peaceful, outdoor evenings. The premise is simple and yet simultaneously ingenious: Farms leverage their crops to create fresh, seasonally-appropriate pizza toppings and utilize their space to host experience-hungry diners who willingly travel a few extra miles—especially if it means leaving a bustling, jam-packed city—so they can spread out on a grassy field and savor a warm slice of decadent Americana.
Pizza is typically the only thing on the menu, but that is more than okay for the eager patrons searching for a meal served up with a healthy dose of novelty and authentic experience. At pizza farms, the freshly grown toppings evolve with the changing seasons—from baby onions and roasted carrots in spring, to zucchini and fresh red peppers during the fall—ensuring diners will experience something different and delightful with each new visit. The most advanced locations even raise their own cattle for cheese and pigs for meat. It doesn’t get more “farm-to-table” then that, provided your setting is literally a farm and your “table” is the very soil on which your food came into being.
Families flock to pizza farms with stacks of folding chairs and picnic blankets in tow, couples sip on wine and casually take in the picturesque scenery over date night, children throw footballs and chase each other through an expansive meadow, reveling at the wide open space and the inherent freedoms it provides: Perhaps these are the iconic staples, the best ingredients, the “secret sauce” that truly define pizza farms.
It is no surprise that these venues have experienced unprecedented attention and traffic this year, amidst the onslaught of a pandemic. During a time when many traditional restaurants have either closed permanently or temporarily shuttered their windows in hopes of weathering the storm, pizza farms, which are naturally designed for inherent social distancing, have had a block buster season. Pair this with opportunities around sustainability and community, and you hit a natural dining sweet spot for the wildly unpredictable year we call 2020.
As there are over a dozen pizza farms within driving distance of the Twin Cities, we had no shortage of options of where to begin our farm-fresh taste testing. After some quick, preliminary research I came across one locale I knew we had to try. Located in Waseca, Minnesota, Pleasant Grove Pizza Farm is a 55-acre rural paradise that strives to provide visitors with an unforgettable dining experience inclusive of delicious food, breathtaking landscape, captivating live music, and unmatched social company. Notably, this establishment was featured in a New York Times article last month as one of five must-see locations in the Midwest. According to the article, owners Emily Knudsen and Bill Bartz had a love-at-first sight reaction as first-time pizza night attendees at a nearby farm. According to Knudsen, Bartz—enthralled by the scenery and delicious food— had a “Sound of Music moment” where he became “like Julie Andrews twirling around on that mountain,” inspired, energized, and ready to dive headfirst into bringing his very own version of this then emerging dining concept to life.
The couple didn’t start Pleasant Grove Pizza Farm with any formal training, but what they lacked in direct experience they easily made up for with passion and untiring work ethic. Knudsen and Bartz started from scratch in 2014 and began by growing products they could easily influence: Basil, tomatoes, peppers, and farm-fresh honey. Since then, the property has expanded to include family-friendly attractions such as baby animals and adult-focused entertainment inclusive of live music and delivery partnerships with local craft breweries.
Pleasant Grove Pizza Farm specializes in indulgent toppings and famously serves generous portions to create lavish, mouthwatering pies. Take for example the “Buster,” which features two different kinds of mozzarella, sausage, caramelized onions, mushrooms, and hand-picked basil, or the “Sweet Georgia” which boasts a litany of mozzarella, prosciutto, arugula, goat cheese, and farm-made honey: These pizzas are simply dripping with decadent, locally-grown fixings. Looking for something meatier? Try the “Pig and Pork,” which combines hearty tomato sauce, mozzarella, sausage, pepperoni, and green olives to pack a hearty punch. Pair this with a wood-burning brick oven that cooks up your pizza in what seems like a matter of seconds and a classic dinner bell that nosily summons you when your order is ready, and you have reached a pizza lover’s paradise.
Since learning of pizza farms only a few months ago, I’ve become captivated by the concept and have unofficially made it my personal mission to visit as many local joints as I can in the next year. High on my list is Two Pony Gardens in Long Lake and Red Barn Farm in Northfield. Two Pony Gardens specializes in dahlias and heirloom tomatoes—again, what more could a girl ask for? —as well as the occasional pizza night. The joint has significantly altered its operating model in response to Covid but still hosts regular “pizza events” where pie-loving aficionados can place pick-up orders up to secure seasonally-appropriate flavors amidst an authentic farm setting. The next scheduled pick-up dates are October 11th and 12th, and I’ve already marked my calendar in hungry anticipation.
There’s something deeply appealing about visiting pizza farms. I don’t know if it’s the accelerated nature of the farm-to-table concept, the freshly served ingredients, or the novelty of simply dining al fresco and enjoying time outside (or all of the above), but the experience can’t be beat, particularly for those looking for creative ways to savor these dwindling days of warmth. And, while you won’t find an actual “mountain meadow” in the Midwest, I am confident that sitting in the middle of an open, grassy field while savoring the decadent richness of freshly served pie will do you wonders. In fact, like Bartz, it may even leave you singing as part of your very own Julie Andrews-inspired “mountain moment,” thrilled by the natural grandeur that surrounds you and reveling in the inherent, simple beauty of the present moment.
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