hometownsource. com / heartland / Stories of the Heartland • Sunday, April 19, 2026 Page 21
“ From working in corporate life, I saw such a huge disconnect in families,” Rutten said.“ You only get about 18 years with your kids, but of those years, you’ re lucky if you get to spend two total years together. I truly believe that everything should be brought back to the family, and that families should spend more time together, not less.”
“ So, I wanted to create a place for our community to come and just be and enjoy, to know that their kids are safe here with clean, fun entertainment. A place where you can watch the kids run carefree,” Rutten added.
The farm also offers a place for kids to learn about where their food comes from.
Rutten recalled many questions from young visitors believing that their eggs and meat come from Walmart as opposed to farm animals.
“ There’ s a disconnect between people and where their food comes from. So, when we opened up for people to come, I actually think it made people go back to the roots of wanting to buy from local farms,” Rutten said.
Outside of their locally famous fall festival, the 100 Acre Homestead tries to host an event in June for the community to come visit the farm’ s new babies. The event is currently in the planning stages as the Rutten’ s attempt to predict when their animals will give birth.
The farm is also hosting an event on Mother’ s Day for visitors to select a designated time to have coffee and spend time with highland cows.
Rutten also teaches multiple classes through local community education programs about how to make sourdough bread, yogurt, butter, goat milk products and more.
A hive of honey bees found on the 100 Acre Homestead in Princeton. The honey harvested from the hives are used in fresh baking and cooking sold on the homestead’ s farm truck, The Honey Pot.
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