Working for Wildlife Habitat Hero: Sobremesa Farm by Mary Welz, Pollinator Partnership

March 4, 2025

As part of Pollinator Partnership’s Working for Wildlife series we have interviewed and are sharing the experiences of agricultural producers who have successfully undertaken projects that benefit pollinators and other wildlife with the help of technical and/or financial support through conservation provisions of the USDA’s Farm Bill. We hope their stories encourage and empower readers (including you!) and help foster a better understanding of the programs available to help support thriving food- and eco-systems that we all rely upon!

In this installment, it is our privilege to feature Habitat Heroes Robert Frew and Juan Carlos Arango of Sobremesa Farm. We invite you to join us in learning about Robert’s and Juan Carlos’s habitat journey in the interview below. You can also watch the accompanying video featuring the story of these inspiring Habitat Heroes below:

Tell us about your farm

Robert: We have 9 acres of diversified cropping system, a lot of perennials, fruit trees, bushes, shrubs, and then we grow annuals. Basically, vegetable crops that are in a high tunnel and gardens outside. We are an organic operation, and we have various animals, including goats, cats, chickens, guineas, and ducks. Many of those are free range and we allow them to just distribute their glory everywhere.

We also have 4 hives of honey bees. Thanks to some swarms this year, we have been able to expand our hives and add another nuke to the boxes. We captured the swarms and put them in new boxes. It looks like we got the queen in almost all of them.

It’s exciting because sometimes you go through the winter and you only have maybe one hive that survives, if any. We've also had times when we didn't have any survive. So, we feel really blessed this year.

Juan Carlos: All the animals we have integrated into the system have a role, and that's really important. We have seen how all the components help the farm be sustainable.

Why is this operation important to you?

Juan Carlos: I would say the farm is important to us for several reasons. We want to be healthy; we want to engage with our community; and we want to contribute to the big issues right now environmentally speaking. And we also feel it is important for our farm to follow and demonstrate the principles of permaculture. Even if our farm is small, the abundance is incredible so we cannot eat that much so we want to share with the community.   

Now about the impact, I would say we have different levels.

Firsthand, we hear from customers how they enjoy the food we provide. They are excited to come to the farm to get the produce and are inspired by seeing how their food is grown. We grow a huge diversity of crops here. A lot of them are very unfamiliar to people and can add something new to our customers’ diet. We also take food to pantries. Since we don’t meet the recipients, we don’t know the exact impact, but we know it's going to households in need.  

We've pulled in the community in a way that most farms don't. By arranging to have a market on-site, it really gives different people of all ages an opportunity to come out to a farm and see how it works. They can learn what modern farming is like and how things are perhaps a little different than what they may remember from their grandparents' farm.

It's been a great opportunity in the fall when we host events here for the Monroe County School Corporation. Some of the schools bring their students here. We include tabling opportunities with various like-minded organizations such as our local Soil and Water Conservation District, Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and Urban Soil. Then we all work together to create an experience for the kids that's not just about seeing. It's also about experiencing and really getting into some of those basic STEM areas for them. For example, after we installed our compost facility, we partnered with the Bloomington Arts Commission, and they helped paint a beautiful mural on it. The mural depicts soil microbes, and I think that, for kids, it is a very intriguing view of what's in the soil and helps them to connect with microbes in a way that's not so negative.

How long have you been farming and why did you want to be a farmer?

Robert: We got started farming 10 years ago. It started in our residential backyard but then we thought it would be great to get a bigger piece of land that wasn’t so shaded where we would be able to grow more food. When we first got the land, we really had to come to a decision about what we were going to do with it. Having a background of volunteering with the National Wildlife Federation (NWF), we didn’t want to just grow food for us, but also for wildlife, pollinators in general, and to be able to connect with our community in a way that we couldn't when we were just a private residence versus a farm that's open basically to the public.   

Juan Carlos: And I would add too that I didn't choose to farm. I was a professional musician, so I would say that the farm kind of came to me. I was familiar with gardening from my grandma and my family. We also had a huge garden of native plants that we took care of at our old house, but when it came to running a farm and learning those practices, we had to start from scratch. It’s been a journey!

Since you started farming, what differences have you observed in farming practices or food access in the community?

Juan Carlos: I can't speak for Robert because he has more farming background than I do. We started with what a lot of people probably do in terms of the basic NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium) system. Slowly we transitioned to a more holistic system that is really focused on life and not just synthetic inputs, and that really transformed the farm. We saw from the beginning how quickly the land recuperated and got better and better every year through those practices. We have seen the health improvements of the plants, the animals, and the soil.

Robert: With regard to food access, I would add that in the last year and a half, we've been able to grow food for local pantries and pantries outside of the county. Which is made possible through the USDA Local Food Purchase Assistance Program (LFPA).

Juan Carlos: It's been exciting. It's been a great opportunity for us to expand upon our original model, which has been a good learning lesson for us in how to make that work. We're making good connections and we're getting ideas about how we can continue a similar model towards the end of 2025. I think that's been probably one of the biggest changes, not just growing for a CSA style market but also trying to get food to pantries and the impact that's had on the overall food landscape.

What pollinator-friendly or other conservation practices have you implemented on your land and when did this take place?

Juan Carlos: We divided the farm into zones right at the beginning. The basic zones were east, north, south, and west, and within each area are various components such as orchard, market garden, or water sources. We thought we needed to bring insects to provide pollination services and natural pest control because we didn't want to use any pesticides.

Each section has an area where we have grown different types of native plants or other flowers to move those insects through the farm. We have a big pollinator planting on the east side that was funded by the NRCS through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). We see a lot of different insects here besides honey bees. We have tons of native bees. They visit the hoop house, the market gardens, and the orchards. So, we have seen that definitely it worked.

Robert: Farming practices have changed for us. We were novices when we started this. We had to learn what were the best techniques based upon the terrain and the location. How was this land laid out? What grew well? Where were the resources on the land? Where are resources most optimal, and how could you work to improve, expand, or reallocate resources to benefit the entire farm? It was a huge learning curve for us, and we've gotten better and better on this piece of land. I think the important component for every grower and producer is that you have to learn how to work with the piece of land you have and the different formulaic approaches that you're going to use to make that land produce and prosper and regenerate. That has really been our overall goal, to take a piece of land and regenerate it and make it better than how we found it.

Juan Carlos: It becomes another entity, like another being that you relate to. Sometimes, we have a nice time. Other times, we disagree on many things. But when we start to understand each other, the land really helps us.

What first made you interested in pollinator and wildlife conservation?

Robert: We really embraced this idea of planting native flowers, shrubs, and trees because we saw the overall benefit it would have around where we lived, and the beauty that it brought to a place, and this sense of cohesiveness. We really liked working with local and state organizations that provide native plants and supporting different bees, butterflies, and predatory insects that can help in the garden. You get pleasure from it, you get food from it, and we really saw that there were huge benefits. It was almost immediate. Everything came together well. Plants supported each other; they were good companions for one another; and we enjoy the beauty of this natural landscape that it creates versus a very manicured industrial sort of look.

Juan Carlos: We knew we didn’t want to use any pesticides. At the beginning, we bought and introduced beneficial insects that we didn’t see here like ladybugs and a type of wasp, but that didn’t work because we didn’t have the environment for them to survive. Now, slowly through the pollinator zones and all the diversity, they have returned and are established here. We don’t have issues with aphids that a lot of people complain about, and if there are some, I don’t worry because that is food for the beneficial insects.

What was your motivation to implement these practices and why do you care about pollinator conservation now?

Juan Carlos: As mentioned, we were interested in managing pest issues and hope people will change their minds about killing and eradicating pests. We don't mind seeing flea beetles on the eggplants. Though the leaves don't look pretty, if the plant is healthy, there will be enough resources to put into the roots and later to the fruit. Even if it is not nice looking, it tastes good to me. Setting thresholds for pest damage has helped us to reduce labor rather than to try to create that immaculate fantasy of perfect produce that people are used to getting in supermarkets. We used to spend hours covering the beds because of flea beetles or other pests. We don't do that anymore and we also try to educate people about that. It’s not about the look, it's about what the plant offers you in nutrition and taste. And some people have really shown a positive response to that.

Robert: I think that sometimes we forget that a lot of our ancestors were able to successfully grow most of these same vegetable crops and perennials around the world. Unfortunately, a lot of that past knowledge got abandoned when technology entered into modern farming. People shifted their focus, and we lost a lot through that cultural shift.

Do you notice a positive impact to pollinators and other wildlife?

Juan Carlos: Yeah, we have talked about insects a lot, but we haven't touched on birds. Now we have a huge number of different types of birds coming to the farm, which also helps as part of pest management. We have also seen more snakes and turtles. We just saw one turtle crossing!

What other types of changes, positive outcomes, and/or benefits have you seen after implementing these practices?

Juan Carlos: Under the soil, we know there is more diversity.

Robert: When we started employing a lot of these permaculture practices, one of the first things we saw was an improvement in water quality and moisture levels in the soil, and that for me was a game changer. I realized, wow, we're able to control some parts of what nature is giving in the form of resources on our land. You can take charge of that, and I really didn't know how to do that well before I understood a little bit about permaculture.

Juan Carlos: We didn’t even need to wait 5 to 10 years. It was within a year and half that we started to see these changes.

Describe how your farm benefitted from USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD), and/or other programs and how did you first learn about this support? If applicable, which type of NRCS Programs did you choose to work with?

Robert: One of the first things we did to access those federal programs was to work with our local USDA Service Center to get a farm track number. Then we were able to apply through NRCS for assistance We really jumped on board with the EQIP program, and that helped us to purchase a high tunnel. Also, it helped us with the compost facility, a pollinator area, as well as fencing and water systems for the animals.

The Monroe County Soil and Water Conservation District really helped us tremendously with rainwater collection. We got a grant through them for above ground collection of water on one of the barns, and we continue to work with both of these entities closely.

Juan Carlos: Project Wingspan (PW) is a great program through Pollinator Partnership. I don't remember how we initially got connected, but we were very happy to get the support. I think this is the 2nd round we have participated in. We initially planted this area here from seed provided by PW.

From your experience, what would you say other landowners can expect when working with NRCS, SWCDs, or other programs?

Robert: One of the things that a lot of growers can benefit from with all those different organizations is that they can get a lot of great advice and science-based information, which helps them to figure out what direction to go where are they going to have the greatest success. Not everyone is trying to think "How can we make the land produce income for us?”. Some of them are really approaching it from the viewpoint that we want to have a beautiful piece of land that is benefiting us, benefiting nature, and maybe we get some food off of it. Programs and support offered by organizations and agencies like NRCS, Pollinator Partnership, Soil and Water Conservation District, and Urban Soil Health Team can help everyone meet their goals.

Juan Carlos: I would also add when you start that relationship with them, you also get a lot of information, pretty much for free. The programs have evolved a lot. When we started, there were not that many practices included, and now it's expanded. There is so much that you could get from these organizations.

What is something you wish you knew before going through the process, especially in terms of habitat establishment and/or management?

Robert: When you first start all this, you don't know what you don't know. Every day you're learning something new. This farm has really been a laboratory.

Juan Carlos: Since I didn't have any background in farming, when I started to understand a little about ecology and biology, that was the starting point for me to understand that every little thing on this planet eats, thrives, and contributes to others; from microbes to humans. Understanding how plants work with the sun and the importance of healthy soil are the basic things all people interested in farming should know.

What is some advice you would give to others interested in implementing pollinator-friendly conservation practices on their land?

Robert: The first thing I would tell people is if you're interested in establishing a pollinator zone, you really need to go to other places that have done it successfully, talk with them, find out what the challenges were. Ask what their struggles in implementing were. How long did it take? Where did they source their materials to make it work? What would they do differently? Ask if they would make any changes to their approach if they were to do another pollinator project.

Juan Carlos: Get to know your land, your zone, and your state to understand what will thrive. I cannot grow the tropical plants I love here because I know they are not going to survive.

You have to try to change your mindset from trying to achieve that picture perfect idea of a farm because all gardens are different even if they include the same species. When we start trying to make everything match the images we have in our minds, that is when problems arise. I think we need to give the land a chance to express itself.

Can you speak a little bit about site prep for pollinator habitat since it is often the biggest challenge, and do you have any suggestions based on your own experiences?

Juan Carlos: Again, get to know the land. We don't have many flat areas here. We have a lot of slopes, but prairies mostly are flat. The big pollinator zone on the east was established on a Hugel-culture mound with curving topography, which was a big challenge. We had to start from scratch by getting rid of all the weeds or plants that were currently growing there. We didn't do any chemicals because we didn't want that for our organic farm. So, we solarized with clear plastic and black plastic. I don't recommend clear plastic, but the black plastic tarps really helped.

We bought seed and we added compost teas based off the permaculture practices we learned from our teacher in South America which added microorganisms to enrich the diversity in the soil and support plant growth. You will see that mound is exploding with colors and plants right now, and insects too.

Robert: You’ll have better success if you're trying to implement just one practice on the land at any given time, like putting in a pollinator zone, versus what we are doing here to manage multiple systems all at the same time.

Realistically, we had pretty good luck with our pollinator zone. We could have done better, but overall, they turned out pretty well. We did learn that it was very important to cut existing vegetation as short as possible and to buy really good plastic. We had much better success with solarization on a flat area versus a hilly area, or on a Hugel mound, for example. Working on a slope can be a recipe for constant frustration because the wind works its way under plastic and no matter how much weight you put on that plastic in the form of large stones or logs, it will roll them, it will move them, it will tear the plastic. It was a nightmare. You're constantly repositioning everything, pulling the plastic back in place, and it was months of struggles with that.

Juan Carlos: Another thing that was tricky is you have to be patient. When we got the seeds from Prairie Nursery, they suggested it's a 3-year process and you have to mow the planting the first two years and not allow them to bloom. That was really, really hard but it was worth it because we wanted those flowers to do their job as soon as possible, but you have to be patient in your work.

What is your favorite pollinator or wildlife species that you’ve seen in the created habitat?

Robert: I think my favorite pollinator is the zebra striped butterfly. I really love the look of the butterfly and the fact that it relies on pawpaw trees, which we have planted many here now. It made me feel good that we planted something that benefited a species that we didn't see here when we first bought the land. And now they're proliferating. We see them all over.

Juan Carlos: Being from South America, I love monarchs. It's really nice to see them up here, and we get a good amount of them. Also, I really like praying mantises. They're really cute, and those babies are the cutest ones. I love hummingbirds too, and the native flowers provide a good source of food for them.

Thank you for joining us in reading this installment of Pollinator Partnership’s Working for Wildlife blog and special thanks to Robert Frew and Juan Carlos Arango of Sobremesa Farm for sharing their Habitat Hero story! Watch the Habitat Hero video featuring Sobremesa Farm.

This video series is made possible through funding and support from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the USDA’s National Resources Conservation Service. The USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.  

To ensure you never miss a new video, be sure to subscribe to the Working for Wildlife series at: tinyurl.com/mpjszd7k  

We encourage you to check out the links below to learn more about Sobremesa Farm:

To learn more about financial and technical assistance available to famers and landowners visit: pollinator.org/nrcs-regional-partner-biologists or farmers.gov  

This video series was created by Pollinator Partnership (P2). To learn more about P2’s mission and how you can help conserve pollinators, please visit the links below: