History

Red Fern Farm is run and owned by Tom Wahl and Kathy Dice. It is a family owned farm  and the site of ongoing research on a variety of tree crops and forest farming systems.

We are located in Southeast Iowa. In the past we raised and sold trees, meat goats, turkeys, ducks, geese and broiler chickens.  Now we run a you-pick to harvest the nuts and fruits from our mature  trees of chestnut, pawpaw, Asian pear, American persimmon, heartnut, and much more. Our Katahdin hair sheep help us maintain our groves and provide the fertilizer.

We also offer advice. We have a  consultation service on planning, growing and maintaining your own forest garden, forest farm, agroforestry system, tree crop farm or whatever you want to call your way of growing perennials.

One of our goals is to promote sustainable agriculture. We are pretty passionate about the role of trees in this. Tom has lectured about his study and the use of tree crops. If you are interested in using him for a speaker, give us a call.