Duhaime family named Cook County’s 2026 Farm Family of the Year

The Duhaime family of Grand Portage has been named Cook County’s 2026 Farm Family of the Year by the University of Minnesota.

Drew Duhaime began farming as a child in Aberdeen, South Dakota, and never stopped, even as he traveled throughout the United States. However, when he became the agricultural coordinator at Grand Portage, it motivated him to expand his operation. His family’s home garden has grown to 25 raised beds that produce spring mix lettuces, tomatoes, and other vegetables.

“Every year, I just keep adding a raised bed or two raised beds, and I keep thinking, well, that’s enough,” Duhaime said. “But then it just — I can never get enough of it.”

Duhaime started a YouTube channel to document his progress and share strategies for dealing with the Arrowhead region’s unique growing season. He experimented with growing nearly every vegetable he could find, but these days he largely focuses on spring mix because it is the most profitable. Duhaime sells produce to local restaurants, including the Angry Trout Cafe in Grand Marais.

The garden also supports Duhaime’s food truck, Timber Wagon. He decided to start the business after traveling with his wife, Marideth, to the Philippines. While meeting some of her high school friends, Duhaime was inspired by their pop-up restaurants.

“I just decided to take my sawmill and build a food truck, and so my first food truck I built in about a month and a half back in 2024,” Duhaime said. “We had all these veggies and stuff, so mainly it was just veggies from my garden making sandwiches.”

The operation has grown significantly since then. Timber Wagon now has two food trucks that operate in Grand Portage and Grand Marais. Duhaime contracts with bakers and other suppliers but maintains an emphasis on fresh ingredients, something he said he internalized while working at the Angry Trout.

“Working at the Trout and the Trout having such an emphasis on organic, fresh food, I think I learned a lot from there,” Duhaime said.

The garden and food truck are family operations. Marideth bakes the cookies and brownies for the food truck. Duhaime said his wife did not have an oven in her home while growing up in the Philippines but has since become an expert baker.

“I mean it’s really hot in the Philippines. You know you don’t want an oven at 400 degrees or 350 in your kitchen,” Duhaime said. “She sees something new that she likes, and she wants to try it. And then we put them on the food truck for sale, and that’s it.”

The Duhaimes’ four children also help with the operation, cleaning the kitchen, rolling dough and harvesting vegetables from the garden. Duhaime said he is proud to provide his children with the experience of working together to bring fresh food to the community.

Duhaime said he has been touched by the community’s response to and support for Timber Wagon, but seeing his children take pride in the family business has been equally rewarding, particularly with his eldest child.

“Seeing the food truck really busy when she comes down here to Grand Marais, she has like this permanent grin on her face,” Duhaime said. “I can tell she just really loves her papa and what we’re doing, and her example kind of rolls down to the other kids.”

The Timber Wagon food truck will be at the Rendezvous Pow Wow in Grand Portage from Aug. 7-9.

WTIP spoke with Drew Duhaime about farming, running a business and raising a family. Audio of the interview can be found below.

Josh Hinke August 6, 2026