The oldest family farm in Livingston County, IL is Spence Farm. I met Marty and Kris Travis, seventh generation farmers, on this unique farming operation during the CTIC Indian Creek Watershed Project field tour. The farm specializes in a lot of heirloom vegetables among other products. You can see a list of their products on their website.

Marty says the quality of water is very important to him and he is serving on the steering committee for the project. He’s excited to see neighboring farms become aware of the project and hopes they’ll participate in it. He says that he’s hoping to “continue to increase the quality of our cropping area.” In the last year he says they had ninety five percent of their crop land covered in cover crop. He says it’s really cool to come out and see that the farm is still green in the winter.

I believe Marty is picking a stalk from some radishes they let go to flower and seed. They were just one of many types of vegetables they grow for chefs in the Chicago area. Apparently the radish creates very tasty seed pods!

You can listen to my interview with Marty here: Interview with Marty Travis

Besides specialty heirloom vegetable crops the Spence Farm also raises some livestock. We were shown their guinea hogs. These are small size pigs that they keep in movable pens. They get moved as they eat weeds and other growing stuff under them. I recorded a video clip of Marty and Kris explaining this part of their operation.

CTIC Indian Creek Watershed Project Field Tour Photos