The summer months are a time of gatherings: cookouts, pool parties, lake days – we know how to get together here in Wisconsin ☀️😎. Amidst the catching up and playing in the sun, mealtime emerges as another opportunity for connection and community. Firing up the grill and dishing out juicy burgers, hot dogs, and other delicious meats is a core part of many of these occasions, giving everyone the protein and energy they need to keep having fun with their loved ones.

No one understands the connection between nourished bellies and family more than our August 2026 Featured Vendor, Seven Seeds Farm!

7 Generations of History

Seven Seeds Farm is a small, 7th-generation family farm located in Spring Green, WI (in the Driftless Area). Today, 3 of those generations are currently active on the 400-acre farm, with the newest members of an 8th generation growing up there.

The farm was founded in 1872 as a dairy until it was later rented to a neighboring farmer who practiced conventional corn and soy production. In 2006, Lea Stroncek and her late husband, Greg, purchased the farm from her mother and transitioned it into an organic, regenerative one. Lea’s son, Michael Dolan, and his wife Chloe joined the farm full-time in 2015, and today work alongside Lea and Greg’s son, Frank, as the primary operators of the farm.

What had begun as a farm intended to only meet the family’s needs has since blossomed into a flourishing business with the work of Lea, Greg, Michael, Chloe, and Frank. Today, Seven Seeds Farm finishes roughly 75 beef, 200 hogs, and 2,000 chickens annually. They also run a farm store, sell to select restaurants and grocery stores, do local deliveries in southwestern/southern WI, and ship to states across the Midwest.

“If we wouldn’t eat it, we wouldn’t raise it”

Organic is one of Seven Seeds Farm’s guiding principles. When Lea and Greg initially bought the farm, they quickly decided to convert it to an organic one. They believed in the organic movement’s ability to support their family’s health and champion environmental sustainability, and they consequently applied these ideas to their business model.

Seven Seeds Farm’s meat is often praised for its exceptional quality; this begins with the breeds of livestock they select and the conditions they raise their animals in. Their Murray Gray and British White Park cattle are organic, grass-fed, pasture-raised, and rotationally grazed. Their hogs are heritage breed (Berkshire Boar, Gloucester Old Spot, and Red Wattle Sows), organic, and pasture raised. Their chickens are organic, pasture-raised, and rotationally grazed using mobile greenhouses.

Young chickens on pasture in a mobile greenhouse.

Raising animals on pasture allows them to exhibit normal behaviors and get more exercise, both of which contribute to higher quality meat. In Seven Seed’s pork, this manifests as flavorful, red meat with excellent fat marbling. Their beef has slightly less fat than typical grocery store beef because their cattle’s diet is rich in grasses and forage, rather than the corn that is typically used to fatten them.

Seven Seeds Farm uses food labels to explicitly state their commitment to responsible stewardship of their animals and the land, and to further build trust with their community. They are certified USDA Organic by MOSA (Midwest Organic Services Association), who is also our certifier!

They are also “Certified Animal Welfare Approved by AGW.” This means that their animals are all raised, transported, and slaughtered under the highest animal welfare standards according to best practices. In other words, they prioritize their animals’ physical and mental wellbeing by allowing them to exhibit normal behaviors on pasture and/or rangeland.

As an add-on, Seven Seeds Farm also boasts the “Certified Grassfed by AGW” label. This means that all of their beef comes from cattle that were raised outside on pasture/rangeland and that ate an entirely grass and forage diet. Seven Seeds Farm also follows specific land management guidelines as part of their adherence to their labels.

Seven Seeds Farm’s three certifications: USDA Organic, Certified Animal Welfare Approved by AGW, and Certified Grassfed by AGW.

Farming for You and the Planet

Seven Seeds Farm describes its operation as a “regenerative farm.” The term regenerative refers to the practice of “regenerating” soil through farming practices that contribute to and protect it. They care for their land and animals by using sustainable practices like:

Cover cropping → Planting crops whose primary purpose is to protect the soil from wind/water erosion and deposit nutrients and organic matter back into the soil.
Silvopasture (i.e., trees on pasture) → Incorporating trees into the landscape to protect the soil from wind/water erosion, improve forage nutritional quality, and create shade for grazing animals and plants.
Management-intensive rotational grazing → A strategy designed to spread out the impacts of animal grazing, resulting in a more even manure distribution, reduced soil compaction, and more optimal forage regrowth.

Cattle grazing on pasture with trees (silvopasture) at Seven Seeds Farm.

All of these practices also encourage carbon sequestration, which is the process of taking carbon out of the air and storing it in the soil. Carbon sequestration is one strategy that can be used to mitigate the effects of climate change.

Seven Seeds Farm is committed to conserving their environment while nurturing the health of their animals and their community – this pledge is what sets them apart from larger Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) that generate significant pollution with little regard for animal wellbeing.

Available at the Farm Store

Seven Seeds Farm has been one of our long-time partners. When asked about their connection to Vitruvian Farms, Michael shared,

[We] have a flourishing relationship with Vitruvian Farms. They have been a great partner in helping bring our regeneratively raised, nutrient-dense meats to the local community. We choose to partner with them because we share many values including organic, locally, high-quality produced food.

We carry a wide range of cuts of Seven Seeds Farm’s beef, pork, and chicken, with exact offerings depending on availability. All of their meat is organic, pasture-raised, and kept frozen in our Farm Store. We freeze our meat to preserve it for longer, allowing us to reduce food waste without reducing quality.