Press & Recognition
MY BIZ: Over the Moon Farm and Flowers
Female farmers carve out niche in rural Delaware County, Cedar Rapids Gazette. May 9, 2023
LGBTQIA+ Voices in Midwestern Ag, Part 1 of 3: Over The Moon in Iowa
"Over the next 3 episodes, we're highlighting individuals that are both involved in agriculture and identify as part of the LGBTQIA+ community. We'll meet an agriculture educator in Michigan, flower farmers in Iowa and a fifth-generation dairy, grain and beef farmer in North Dakota. Agriculture is becoming increasingly more inclusive thanks to the leadership of people like our guests.
This episode features Anna Hankins and Shae Pesek; Co-owners of Over the Moon Farm and Flowers in Iowa."
Why Buy Local Flowers? Four Flower Farmers Explain
"Anna and Shae say people may be surprised to know most flowers on the market are imported. That means when you buy local, you’re getting a fresher and high-quality product to enjoy longer."
Some of Iowa's queer farmers are taking a different approach to agriculture
Featured on Iowa Public Radio, WBUR Here & Now, National Public Radio, and Harvest Public Media June & July 2022
"Shae Pesek and Anna Hankins’s farm is off a gravel road in Coggon, north of Cedar Rapids. Pens for chickens, ducks, and turkeys are woven through yard space, in between a farmhouse, buildings, and sheds. After a rainy morning, the chickens are coming out of the greenhouse and starting to sunbathe in the yard."
August 2022
"Over the Moon Farm and Flowers, located in Eastern, Iowa, is co-owned by Anna Hankins (she/her) & Shae Pesek (she/her), queer farmers who are partners in both business and life. In 2019, Over the Moon Farm & Flowers began as a cut-flower enterprise, and later expanded into livestock with Over the Moon Meats. Anna and Shae currently pasture-raise turkey, chicken, duck, laying hens, and heritage pork, in addition to marketing beef that’s raised by their brother/brother-in-law. Over the Moon is committed to serving their rural neighbors by keeping livestock on the land, supporting the local economy, and offering their community (and beyond) access to delicious, high-quality, humanely raised meats."
Something Fresh in Delaware County
Telegraph Herald, July 2020
“It really feels great to come back and reconnect with the community and people I did not know prior,” Pesek said. “It feels good to be making a connection and making an impact in my hometown.”
Shae Pesek and Anna Hankins are Bringing Good Food and Flowers to Their Rural Iowa Community
“We have focused deeply on the people around us,” Anna explains. More than 50% of the farm’s sales are to the local, rural small towns around them. “The range of customers we have in our CSA is amazing. They are rural, they are in-town, they are people who have bought shares as gifts for grandmothers, they are local businesses—insurance agencies, hair salons, auto repair shops, yoga studios, you name it.” Anna declares, “People who live in rural areas and smaller towns also deserve this luxury and beauty.”
Queer Farmers Are Changing the Landscape
"However, for other queer farmers, the pursuit of farming was about chasing a dream that didn’t necessarily have to do with queerness, but was influenced by it all the same. Shae Pesek and Anna Hankins own and operate Over the Moon farm in northeast Iowa, which produces everything from eggs to meat to a flower CSA, and which is attached to Pesek’s family’s more conventional farm. She had always had a love for agriculture, participating in 4H and FFA (Future Farmers of America), but went to college in San Diego because, she figured, that’s what you did if you were gay. “I came out [in San Diego] and I really didn’t realize that there was necessarily a place for queer adults in agriculture,” she said. “It was just not something that I had seen. Most people that were queer that I knew moved to cities and I thought that that would be the path for me as well.
But she missed her parents’ farm, so she moved back, which is where she met Hankins. Hankins studied agriculture in college and worked in food and agriculture activism networks, and she too did not see a future in city life. “I wanted to be somewhere rural and where I wanted to actually pursue growing for people and for the community,” she said. Over the Moon came out of that shared desire to lead a rural life and to bring a more holistic approach to farming, which in many ways, is a queer desire — the drive to pursue what fulfills you, even if it’s not considered the norm."
Awards and Recognition
2021 Second Place Winner of the Iowa Farm Bureau's Grow Your Future Award, recognizing innovative ag. businesses throughout the state
2022 Brighter Future Fund Award Winners through the American Farmland Trust
2022 Competition of Practical Farmers of Iowa Savings Incentives Program
2022 Participated in the Food Animal Concerns Trust Financial Training Program
2022 FruitGuys Community Fund Recipients
2022-2023 Participating in the Practical Farmers of Iowa Business Training Program
2022 Business is working with students at the University of Iowa Business Consulting Course
Leadership
Practical Farmers of Iowa Livestock Steering Committee Members
Practical Farmers of Iowa Welcoming Committee Members
Manchester Chamber of Commerce Members
Anna Hankins, Practical Farmers of Iowa Board Member 2023-
On Farm Research
2021 Snapdragon Variety Trial with Practical Farmers of Iowa
If you are a media outlet interested in contacting Over the Moon, please email overthemoonfarmandflowers@gmail.com