John-Paul’s Farm is operated by spouses John-Paul Runyan and Jane Kaminski. Since founding our business in 2021, we have been aiming to care for the land we farm in ways that will make it more enjoyable for plants, animals, and people. Producing and sharing food makes us happy.
Jane‘s background is in bicycle and pedestrian advocacy and non-profit operations. Jane has been serving as the board president of the farmer-volunteer-run non-profit Indiana County Farmers’ Market since fall of 2022, and completed a Land Advocacy Fellowship with the National Young Farmers Coalition from 2022-2024. On the farm, Jane serves as the field crew manager, and marketing, sales, and business manager. She is motivated by task completion and community connections.
John-Paul is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh with degrees in Philosophy and English. He worked many years in grocery observing problems with the food system and says he knew he would someday live on this farm and produce food. On the farm, John-Paul serves as the grower and crop planner, disease, pest, and nutrient manager, and equipment operator. John-Paul is motivated by learning.
Jane and John-Paul produce vegetables for markets in Indiana, PA and Squirrel Hill Pittsburgh, collaborate with other local farmers, and contribute thousands of pounds of produce annually to local organizations that help address food insecurity.
Located in East Wheatfield Township, Pennsylvania, John-Paul’s grandpa, Paul, farmed this land from the 1960’s until 1987 (RIP). The farm stayed in the family for decades after, but didn’t see agricultural production by the family during that time. The farmland is co-owned by multiple family members, and Jane and John-Paul operate a farming business on this land as first-generation farmers.
Now, using climate-smart growing methods, taking insights from organic practices, we’ve been investing in the soil to grow delicious vegetables. We have planted dozens of trees and shrubs, and look forward to the fruits and nuts they bear.
When not tending to the farm or preparing food, John-Paul and Jane enjoy riding bicycles on the quiet roads surrounding their farm.
Methods
We started growing food on our farm with little more than a walk-behind tiller. Since then, we have repaired some of the equipment that was here and acquired much more, all in an effort to scale-up, increase efficiency, and better manage our crops, in order to provide the best possible produce to our customers, all while doing the best we can for the land we use.
We use cover-crops, both during and between growing seasons to add organic matter to our soil, increase fertility, suppress weeds, and prevent erosion. We use reduced-tillage implements to protect soil structure, and utilize drip-irrigation for efficient water delivery to our crops from the spring-fed pond. We only use organic-approved pesticides on our crops.
The acreage we farm has doubled every year since we started selling vegetables in 2021. We are now at a place where we are comfortable and not too overwhelmed with the amount of land we are farming.
Currently, all of our produce is grown in open fields. As our farm continues to develop, we look forward to adding more infrastructure, especially for protected culture. Growing crops in high tunnels, for example, will increase the quality and availability of our offerings throughout the year. We also look forward to investing in more perennial crops, including berries and tree fruits, as money and time allow.
