Mighty Small Farm lives up to its name. The ½-acre organic farm, located at the edge of Allegheny County and run by Susanna Meyer, is a small-but-strong production that focuses on niche, high-value crops, and filling in the produce gaps missed by large farms.
Carrying decades of farming experience with her — Susanna has been working and living on farms since she was a child — she and her husband, Neil, started Mighty Small after leaving a large-scale, multi-acre, high-production farm in Washington County. It felt like the right time, Susanna said, to take on their own venture.
Susanna does 95% of the farming (Neil, her husband, works full-time as a Sourcing Manager for Harvie), finding practical and sustainable ways to balance farm work with her capacity. Landscape fabric cuts down on the amount of labor needed to manage their short, raised beds, which — while also concentrating fertile soil and warming up growing areas faster in the Spring — keep Susanna from having to start the fields from scratch every year.
“Using shorter beds gives us more total beds, which makes it easier to plant a diversity of crops in small blocks,” Susanna said. “Plus, picking (or planting, or weeding) a 50′ bed feels very manageable.”
Mighty Small’s fields are focused on simplicity, things Susanna can harvest and pack herself: lightweight herbs, high-value crops that can grow in small spaces, and perennial crops. And, because the yield is so small, the farm can capitalize on kits, bundles, and other consumer-friendly, creative produce groupings — stir fry kits, curry kits, herb bundles, and more — that may not make sense for large farms, but allows Susanna to sell small amounts at a time.
“It’s almost like a European take on getting what you need for a meal, or just for a short time, instead of filling your fridge with big amounts of different. It’s something more easy-to-use,” Susanna said.
A deep relationship with Harvie has been instrumental in the continued growth and success of Mighty Small. At the start, Harvie provided Susanna and Neil with a small loan to help with equipment purchases and, since then, has acted as a primary retail outlet for the organic farm.
“We knew all along that Harvie would be an exclusive outlet for Mighty Small, and it allows us to collaborate. Neil can say, ‘I have tons of X, Y, and Z, but no one is growing any okra.’ So I’ll grow okra,” Susanna said.
“This year, no one was growing cipollini onions, so we thought, ‘Why not grow those?’” Neil added.
“I often use Mighty Small as an example to other small producers,” Neil continued. “Just because you’re small doesn’t mean Harvie doesn’t make sense for you. In some ways, this is ideal. It works for Susanna because it takes the other hats she can’t wear off of her plate.”
“Without Harvie, I wouldn’t have been able to run the farm without hiring people or expending a lot more energy,” Susanna added.
Harvie also offers Susanna a chance to “complete the loop” with her community: “Because I’m not going to a market, I’m not directly interacting with people… which is what makes the work fulfilling. I could grow carrots all day long, but who cares? The thing that makes it worth it is the people and feeding the community. With Harvie, I’m not just selling to a wholesaler like Paragon… I know my product is going to individuals and landing on people’s doorsteps.”
Susanna and Neil are always thinking about expansion and running test beds to see what is possible to add on in their next harvest season. But this season, keep an eye out for the farm-fresh produce coming out of Mighty Small: cippolini onions, eggplant, hot peppers, fresh ginger, herbs, and more!