David Bohlen announced today that he will be relocating Bohlen Family Farms from near Perryville, Missouri, to Florissant, in north St. Louis County.

The property, which is a couple hundred acres and features two living spaces and an event space, is operated by Hosco Farms, a St. Louis nonprofit that "aims to provide its members with a complete farming skill set that will enable them to work in a variety of food-related fields, with the eventual goal of owning their own cooperative business."

Hosco is also one of the largest microgreens producers in the area; founder Gibron Jones grows about 6,000 pounds annually.

Bohlen says there were several reasons for the move. The business outgrew the Perryville property, which was also split up into several nearby fields, and didn't have much more room for expansion. Bohlen himself was also driving about 1,600 miles a week, he estimates, going back and forth between the farm and St. Louis, as he likes to make deliveries himself and talk with chefs. He also wants Bohlen Family Farms to get more involved in education.

"We wanted to get more involved in the education side of things, and assist in the movement of educating younger folks about the agricultural side of the food biz," he says, "and build a stronger food community. There's a lot of people out [in Florissant]; [where we are] is probably considered a food desert at this point. There's a lot of people out there that need access to food, and need to learn how to grow. People need to learn how to grow over St. Louis. We wanted to collaborate with [Hosco] because they have the same thing in mind."

+5 How HOSCO Foods Empowers Residents in St. Louis' Low-Income Communities to Harvest Healthy Food Gibron Jones' cooperative provides residents with a complete farming skill set that enables them to work in a variety of food-related fields.

This expansion will also allow Bohlen to collaborate with Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Co., as well, on trials of fruits and vegetables that haven't been grown here before, especially Asian varieties such as yau choy, a cousin of bok choy.

"The reason these trials are necessary is because when you grow things from a different part of the world, they grow differently than they grow here, where the soil and the climate is a lot different," Bohlen explains. "We’ve always done our own trials at the farm to find things that work better for us and that taste better, and to do this on a larger scale with a company that we love to support – it's nice to trial on a larger scale with vegetables from a part of the world that I'm really trying to dive into recently."

Bohlen says he'll have more specifics on what exactly he'll be planting in a few months when everything is plotted out and ready to go, but expect things like crispy Asian melons or tasty carrots that can survive harsh winters.

"I think there's a demand for an expansion of the Asian vegetables available on the market; there's some amazing Asian restaurants doing some great things right now, like Nick Bognar at Nippon Tei," Bohlen says. "Everybody's gonna be on this adventure with us."

Bohlen Family Farms, facebook.com/BohlenFarms