Milk & Honey is a farm-to-table restaurant in Harlan, Iowa, serving fresh ingredients from local producers. Photos courtesy of Ellen Walsh-Rosmann

Located in historic downtown Harlan, Iowa, Milk & Honey is a small-town restaurant with a big reach, serving patrons from the local community as well as clientele from the Omaha and Des Moines areas.

Owned by Daniel Rosmann and Ellen Walsh-Rosmann, Milk & Honey offers made-from-scratch cooking and ingredients sourced from local producers. Ellen Walsh-Rosmann says the restaurant is blessed with access to produce from many local farms during the growing season.

"Milk & Honey represents an increasingly rare facet of local food systems - the thriving small town restaurant," she says. "Even rarer still - we are a farm-to-table restaurant. The restaurant functions as one arm of a very unique food hub in Harlan. Our owners are part of a farming family which has served the land for over 100 years and innovated organic farming techniques that are widely implemented today. The Rosmann family farming operation raises organic beef, pork, eggs and popcorn, all of which are utilized on our menu at Milk & Honey."

Along with Milk & Honey, the Rosmanns own FarmTable Procurement & Delivery, a local food hub and distribution center which supplies the restaurant with many of its ingredients. Daniel's father Ron and mother Maria also provide produce from Rosmann Family Farms, and Maria runs a retail store on the property, Farm Sweet Farm.

Because it is part of a family operation, Walsh-Rosmann says Milk & Honey is very much a close-knit environment. The restaurant serves breakfast and lunch, providing a setting for people to gather and enjoy a homestyle meal.

"Our ethos is comfort elevated by quality ingredients," Walsh-Rosmann says. "Chef James Calkins’ background in Omaha’s fine dining scene (most notably at V. Mertz) grounds our menu in fine technique, while a long stint in Tennessee infuses his cooking with warmth and approachability. We have a small but dedicated staff comprised of locals and out-of-state transplants. Milk & Honey operates on an egalitarian model. We’re all very much in this together, and it shows in the positive, functional atmosphere of our kitchen."

In addition to regular dine-in service, Milk & Honey has catered many important events in the Harlan community. Walsh-Rosmann says the staff's favorite annual event is The Longest Table dinner in nearby Avoca, and the team looks forward to hosting more farm dinners in the future.

Although COVID-19 has decreased in severity for some areas, Walsh-Rosmann says the early months of the pandemic brought many difficulties that required Milk & Honey to quickly adjust.

"The pandemic presented a huge challenge for the hospitality industry, and this struggle was keenly felt in small towns and rural communities," she says. "We pivoted early in the pandemic to curbside and takeout service, adapting to the evolving crisis and surviving an exceptionally uncertain period of time. We have a loyal customer base to thank for their unwavering support of our vision."

Walsh-Rosmann says the support of the community has resulted in a significant milestone for the restaurant. In 2023, Milk & Honey will move into a new space- another historic building located on Harlan's downtown square.  The change of location will also bring a new phase of operating, allowing Milk & Honey to expand its role as a local food destination.

"There are many positive developments on the horizon that will allow us to serve our community and beyond," Walsh-Rosmann says. "We look forward to a future of local food."

To learn more about Milk & Honey, visit the restaurant's website and Facebook page.