About Me
I'm Lindsay Kraus, owner/operator of Kraus Farm in Nokesville, VA. I'm a former middle school teacher turned Garden Coach, and I love helping others make their gardening dreams come true. I'm also a wife, a mom, dog lover, entrepreneur, environmental advocate, Master Gardener volunteer, insect and animal lover, a nerd and a flower enthusiast. I can't wait to help others catch the gardening bug and learn how to support themselves and their ecosystem while learning or improving their gardening skills.
Our Story
Together with my husband Matt, we run our micro-farm here in Nokesville, VA. We love coming up with new ways to help local gardeners, and nothing brings us more joy than getting our hands in the soil.
I grew up in Long Beach Island, New Jersey--a place where grass is as rare as gardens. Our home was known as the "tomato house," where my grandfather sold tomatoes and peppers on an honor system outside our beach house. He taught me how to naturally amend soil, shoveling local turkey manure for compost each year and topping the soil with eel grass we harvested from Barnegat Bay. Where the front yards around us were full of white rocks, ours was made entirely of raised beds that he built and filled with plants that grew over 6' tall. I have fond memories of tending those plants... and not so fond memories of weaving between itchy vines ;)
That love of soil and growing laid dormant for a long time, even up until I went to business school at George Mason. Eventually I changed my major, landing myself a teaching job in Prince William County Schools. Throughout my time there, I found that my love of teaching was only matched by my love of digging in the dirt. I began selling plants as Kraus Farm in 2015, and when I resigned from teaching in 2022, it has become my career.
This tiny farm plot has always been a dream of the Kraus family, and we made short work of making it our own! We now have a 700sq ft greenhouse that we built ourselves that accompanies our hydroponic and soil gardens. On our property you could find garden beds full of native plants, a few hundred square feet of dahlia beds, several large vegetable gardens, multiple native bee habitats, and bird and pollinator sanctuaries. We use sustainable and regenerative practices, aiming to eliminate our lawn space with areas that work in harmony with our native ecosystem while providing responsibly raised plants to garden enthusiasts in the area. While we initially began by just selling vegetable plants, we expanded to selling Northern VA native flowers, and will soon be offering dahlia tubers.
It's always been important to us that we know where our food comes from. Our natural artesian well feeds our gardens. Our pollinator sanctuaries bring in the beneficial insects that open-pollinate our plants and keep our pests at bay. We only use sustainable, eco-friendly growing methods. Our food is organically raised without sprays or fertilizers, ensuring that our family has the best food possible. And we pass that along to you in the plants we grow!
Everything we've done, we've done as a family. Building, digging, growing, harvesting. All of it! By purchasing plants from us, you're supporting a family who cares about our ecosystem and our community. We care about how plants are raised and how we care for the Earth. We care about having food that's not only healthy, but healthy for our planet. You're supporting a couple that has a small local business and that teaches in our community. You're supporting a young woman who is learning to build, feed, and care for herself. You're supporting the things that matter!