The Farm at Mistwood Golf Clubâs 12 raised beds cover 8,000 square feet and provide fresh produce â and more â for the patrons of the clubâs McWethyâs Tavern. Photo by Ben Hutchison
Though The Farm is invisible from all the buildings at Mistwood Golf Club, it would be impossible for a golfer to play a round on the Romeoville, Ill., course and not catch sight of the 8,000-square-foot Farm.
And Angelica Carmen, Mistwood GCâs sustainability specialist and first-year GCSAA member, wouldnât have it any other way.
The Farmâs 12 raised beds are tucked behind the clubâs driving range in an area previously covered by native fescues. Itâs secluded enough, Carmen says, that âI donât feel worried when Iâm out there working,â
but prominent enough to be seen from any of several spots during a round.
âThe differentiating factor is, weâre on the golf course. That way, we have total transparency with every single golfer,â Carmen says. âThatâs a huge part of this whole thing, and it makes the educational component that much
more robust.â
Carmen was the subject of an October 2020 GCM article about a similar facility, Fairway Farms at Cog Hill Golf & Country Club in Palos Park, Ill. The Farm at Mistwood GC is like that program turned up to 11. And Carmen, who next month will have been
at her new digs for a year, helped grow it literally from scratch.
The plants at The Farm started as seedlings in the new solar-powered greenhouse located along the ninth holeâs tee box.
âWe can do all sorts of things there,â says Carmen, noting that Ben Kelnhofer, Mistwoodâs GCSAA Class A superintendent and 22-year association member, has his own turf nursery, âbut we work together. Nothing is off the table. Weâre
looking at growing our annuals, rather than outsourcing it. We grew all our Motherâs Day herb giveaways there. The tavern does specialty dinners, so weâve grown things like microgreens for those.â
The clubâs McWethyâs Tavern is the beneficiary of more than microgreens.
âThis year was so fun,â Carmen says. âIt was so experimental. As we were finding our footing and figuring out how to work with each department, the chefs gave me a clean slate. They said, âGrow whatever. Surprise us. Weâll
go with it as it comes.ââ
The result was a cornucopia of âstandard summer ingredientsâ â squashes, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, herbs, greens, radishes and beets. Farm-grown gourds and pumpkins were also used around the grounds as dĂ©cor.
âIt was a massive learning season,â Carmen says. âWhat varieties make the most impact? What works well in dishes?â
Asking those questions is just part of Carmenâs biodynamic approach to growing. She uses only organic inputs with no chemicals and follows strict integrated pest management protocols, along with crop rotation and companion planting.
To highlight The Farmâs guiding principles, Carmen took one look at Mistwoodâs links-style course and the clubâs green and brown colorways and established a multihued swath of pollinator-friendly plantings to ring The Farm.
âI wanted it to be the Emerald City in the middle of the course,â she says.
Speaking of pollinators ⊠The Farm has those, too. Thanks to an innovative agreement between The Farm and local beekeepers, 10 hives, with an estimated 60,000 per hive in the peak summer season, have a home near the maintenance building. The club
gets the benefits of all those pollen haulers and then buys the honey they produce â 500 pounds so far this year, with another harvest coming. That honey finds its way to the tavern and is available for purchase.
âThe bees are a huge component of this. They generate so much buzz for the whole program,â Carmen says with a laugh. âHaving that product advertised, in your face, helped a lot. People are always asking about the bees. Itâs been
a great partnership for us. I canât say enough about it for golf courses wanting to get into it. Golf courses present an awesome opportunity for beekeeping to take place. Theyâre so expansive. Beekeepers can face so many restrictions with
townships or villages or cities, it gets to the point itâs not really worth doing it in your backyard. But the way we arranged it, we contracted with local beekeepers. We house their apiary and their equipment. We get all the benefits and buy
the harvested honey from them at wholesale.â
All the tasty treats, however, are just a small part of Carmenâs overall mission. She envisions The Farm as ground zero for a community environmental movement that transforms Romeoville and beyond.
âA big part of this is the on-course programming, making this a hub for field trips, whether thatâs for schools or gardening groups,â she says. âWeâre building out where the greenhouse is to make that the main field-trip
site. The whole point is to get this in front of people. Thatâs when we start making a difference.
âWhere weâre located, we touch a lot of different townships. McWethyâs is open to the public and has such a large following. The golf course has a different following. This touches so many different subgroups. Thatâs when it gets
exciting.â
Andrew Hartsock is GCMâs senior managing editor.