Our Family

19×1950 Family Farm is owned and operated by DeAnn, her three daughters, Lauren, Corrie, and Elise, and their families.

DeAnn Heck

DeAnn grew up on the farm with her two older sisters and older brother. The youngest daughter of Marvin and Pat, DeAnn has had a varied career in education where she was a classroom teacher before moving into administration.

John and DeAnn Heck, with Lauren, Corrie, and Elise. Lauren Reedy

Lauren Reedy

Lauren has felt the black earth of the farmland calling to her since she was a young girl. Early memories of walking the beans with her grandfather still bring her joy. Life's adventures saw her move to southern Illinois then overseas to Switzerland before settling down in California, where she lives with her husband and four children. Lauren co-manages the farm from her home in California and travels to Illinois to oversee projects and get her hands back in the soil as often as possible.

Corrie Scott

Corrie Scott

Corrie's love of the farmland drew her back to Illinois after many years working for the government of Hawaii. She and her husband purchased the homestead adjacent to the farm land where they are now raising their two children. They have embraced the joys of homesteading and are bringing life of all kinds back to the homestead. Corrie works for The Nature Conservancy as the Director of Global Communications. She locally co-manages the farm, observing the day to day needs of the regenerative practices being performed.

Elise Pani&cacute

Elise Panić

Elise finds peace along the crop rows and among the sunflowers that grow on the farm. She, her husband, and her three children often travel to the farm and Scott homestead to participate in farm activities including spring planting, summer weeding and autmn produce harvests. Elise is a nurse outside Kansas City in addition to working with 19×1950 Family Farm. She remotely manages the farm's social media accounts on Instagram and Facebook.

 

Corre, Elise, and Lauren

Corrie Scott, Elise Panić, and Lauren Reedy

The Farm

Ashton and Tess Reedy driving the tractor in the field.

Located at the corner of County Road 1900 East and 1950 North in Woodford County, 19×1950 Family Farm is a family-run business focused on regenerative and perennial food production. For many years it was conventionally farmed using practices in common place. In 2021 the process to transition to regenerative farming practices began. Organic certification is underway for the row crops of soybeans, corn, and wheat. Approximately 3 acres is dedicated to diverse products like asparagus, elderberry, rhubarb, and other market vegetables, herbs, and cut flowers.

The original barn with the star filled night sky.

Farm Family Foods

Farm Family Foods  Shop Now

We farm outside a very small Illinois town built in 1873 on the railroad, which then boomed with coal production in the early 1900s, and is now sustained by the grain elevators that tower above the humble buildings along Front Street. But there is no grocery store or convenience shop, not even a gas station in this village which is home to a few hundred families. The parents and their children, the elderly community members, and the small business owners who call Benson, Illinois their own have no local place to get even the most basic food or household items.

In 2022 we purchased the former grocery store that has sat empty for at least a decade. Several years ago the roof failed and the interior has been suffering in the Midwest weather. Our dream is the community’s dream: a functional, accessible grocery store to feed the community and support local farmers. With a lot of grit and hard work, some working capital (hopefully a grant or two), and great support from our community, we will finish the necessary renovations and open our brick-and-mortar storefront: Farm Family Foods.

In the meantime, we are building a food hub operation to connect local producers throughout the central IL region with the community. Currently, customers order online from the seasonal products offered by farm families and businesses. We offer weekly on-farm pickup, other pickup locations in nearby towns, and optional delivery for those grocery orders of fresh produce, pastured proteins, regionally-milled grains, and preserves to their kitchens.

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