About Stone’s Throw
“We harvest at least 300 pounds of food each summer
from less than one-tenth of an acre.
If we can do this, on land this rough, anyone can.”
— Anika Hanisch
Permaculture Designer & Founder of Stone’s Throw
The Microfarm Story
Anika Hanisch and her partner, John Hosking, purchased the property that would become Stone’s Throw in 2015. The one-third acre residential lot and its house and outbuilding were fixer-uppers. The 40-year old lawn was scrappy. The neighborhood had been built on top of glacial moraine and river rock (Translation: “a vein of fist-sized rocks and clay, 10-25 feet deep”). Tree nurseries won’t plant here, because they break their equipment! There is no soil. It’s that bad.
Digging was impossible. So plans focused on sheet mulching and raised beds. Anytime we tried to dig, even a few inches to trench around the edge of a garden bed, we unearthed buckets of stones with every swing of a pick ax. (Yes, pick ax. Shovels didn’t cut it.) Hence, Stone’s Throw. Yes, our name hints at how permaculture principles aren’t hard to reach—while giving a wink to our love affair with a local pass time: building ornamental rock piles.
In just three years, we began reaping the literal benefits of our labor. Salad greens, rhubarb, peas, honeyberries, broccoli, tomatoes, raspberries, cabbage, carrots, zucchini, winter squash, herbs, and teas.
Now we harvest at least 300 pounds of food each summer, from less than a tenth of an acre of planted space. If we can do this, on land this rough, anyone can. Come learn how!
Anika Hanisch, Stone’s Throw Founder
Anika has been organic gardening in urban and rural spaces for over 20 years. She’s also a ghostwriter and author coach in the natural health world.
In 2015, she purchased the property that became Stone’s Throw and began building soil by sheet mulching over the old dying sod. Anika unified her interests in health and gardening when she began studying Permaculture—which pairs food-growing systems with lifestyle choices that increase the health of plants and people. This includes composting, capturing rainwater, seed saving, sharing abundance, and embracing fallow times. As a member of a regional educational cohort, Anika was mentored by Kareen Erbe at Broken Ground Permaculture in Bozeman, Montana. She earned her Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) in 2019.
In the off season, Anika continues to work with integrative medical doctors, naturopathic doctors, and other practitioners, helping them write books about health-oriented topics. But during the growing season, you’ll find her outside planting, transplanting, tending, harvesting, preserving produce, drying medicinal herbs and teas, and teaching others how to do the same!
“The plants will tell you what works and what doesn’t. Even failure is useful information. Take notes and learn! Just start. Plant one seed. Water, tend, wait. You’re not the only force at work here. ”
— Anika Hanisch, PDC