Wednesday, October 8, 2014

This is the end, my friends. Isn't that a song? Nothing ever really ends, it just rolls into something else. And in four short months we'll be hustling propane in that greenhouse while we try to keep the babies thriving. Whew. We'll just not think about that right now.

This year, this year...I can't think of all of it without a surge of emotion. So much has happened. So many doors have opened, and some have closed. So much learning. So much abundance. I guess the following story sums up my feeling.

I went to have my biannual haircut last week. My hair stylist is a young woman named Nicole who really just says it like she sees it. I appreciate that. Anyway, she asked how the season had gone and we were chatting about it a little, then she summed it all up with these words. 

"I mean, what's not to love? Not many people just get to play in their garden all day!

I just laughed and sighed and said, "You're totally right." 

Okay, there's more to it, certainly. But the essence is that we get to play with flowers for about thirty weeks of the year counting seeding and greenhouse work. What's not to love? 

And you, dear members, make it possible by valuing beauty and beneficial insects and healthy soil and I'll just say it, a better world, enough to invest your hard-earned money. That's something. Thanks. Also, I've received a number of little love notes, some with photos of your flowers in your homes, and boy do they make me happy. Thanks so much for sharing. It makes it so much more worth it.



Kale flowers, ornamental peppers and the lovely eucalyptus this last week. Enjoy! Have a wonderful winter. Hope to see you next year.

xoxo
Jennifer, Mike & Earl



Tuesday, September 30, 2014

It's the second to last week, or the last for those who receive a share biweekly, dear members. Hope you and yours are well. We are too. 

I was hoping to make you all wreaths for the last week, but my sweet annie didn't dry as I'd hoped, and I only have enough broom corn for our fall ornamental orders. So, flowers to the blessed end it is. And they are pretty. It's amazing how they've bounced back from the frost and the plants are just putting out some beautiful blooms. Maybe they know the end is near. A note about the fall ornamentals for those of you who ordered...I'd hoped to add some more fun stuff, but said fun stuff didn't grow as well as I'd hoped, so I sent you wreaths and fun specialty pumpkins and gourds. I'm pretty happy with how the wreaths have turned out, and hope you like them too.


This week's favorite is broom corn. It smells good, it's pretty, and it can be functional, you know, for making brooms. It's actually sorghum, a sweet heirloom grain. It's just so fallish.

This week's happy bouquets.


And for our friends at Tait Subler.


Now that we're slowing down a little we have more time for things like...

Papa's beautiful and delicious bread. Food tastes better when it looks good.


Throwing rocks in "da tweet" (the creek).


Enjoy these beautiful days, too!

Until next week,
J,M&E


Friday, September 26, 2014


Hello dear members! It's been another full week. I'm a few days late on the blog because well, it's been another full week. We were all feeling a little under the weather all week, and on Tuesday I decided that Earl and I needed a little getaway. We rented a cabin in William O'Brien State Park for Wednesday evening and threw a whole lot of rocks in the St. Croix River. It was just what we needed. 

This week was our last co-op delivery. Sniff. Our retail mixed bouquets have become an essential piece of our small farm business. It was hard to let go, even though we look forward to a break and reflection to plan for next year. We have delivered twice each week to the Seward Co-op, and once a week to the Wedge. The Seward will always be our first, beloved retail account. They have a beautiful, exceptional floral department under the talented care of Cindy, the floral manager. She has been a resource, guide, and new friend this season. We've learned so much during the last 16 weeks, and felt so grateful for this valued relationship supporting our growth. 

Wholefoods came to visit the farm last week, and we co-toured with Gardens of Eagan to show them what we're growing and selling down here. They were really excited, really positive and really supportive. We're working on the application process and planning to sell flowers to them next year. If you haven't been to Wholefoods and checked out their floral departments, try it sometime. They have beautifully marketed and cared for flowers. It's so awesome that they're actively looking for local farmers. We've loved our retail relationships with the Seward and Wedge Co-ops this season, and look forward to spreading the local, soon-to-be certified organic flower love! That's right, we're starting the process to certify our flowers in spring 2015. So excited to be on the cusp of a movement!










Organic certification, new accounts, next year's weddings, and field planning and seed ordering for next year! Whew. So much to be grateful for and look forward to. This is the third to last week of your share, dear members. The flowers have rallied after the frost. Even many of the zinnias that were nipped are doing their best to bloom again. Nature gives us frequent continual lessons in resiliency and making the best of what we have. In your bouquets are more lilies, celosia, and sweet annie. 


Loving the dusty miller and eucalyptus combo. The more I learn, the more I realize how much I love green. And simplicity. In life and design. :)

Hope you've had a wonderful week, dear members.

J,M&E


Tuesday, September 16, 2014

We had a good bit of frost last Friday. Much was damaged and some are gone. I was out of sorts all day on Friday and realized that evening that I just wasn't ready to say goodbye. I love our flowers, and have spent a lot (A LOT!) of time with them. They have been loyal, beautiful friends this summer. There is an intimacy in growing plants. You prepare a home, plant a seed, hope for germination, celebrate germination, tend the plant like the baby it is, prepare a new home, transplant, tend the transplant like the baby it is, celebrate growth. Most of all, HOPE for a bountiful, beautiful harvest, and celebrate and relish it when it comes. Mourn (and berate yourself a little) if it doesn't. The full impact of that intimacy hit me on Friday. I took a series of selfies trying to capture my feeling, and the field, and the sunset.




Really, this was the best one.

Now it's warm again. Today was possibly the most beautiful fall day ever. A touch warm, maybe, but so lovely. We have flowers for your CSA bouquets, but we're done with the co-ops next week. It's bittersweet like all good things in life. This season has been so intense for us. Early mornings, late nights, toddlerhood, powdery mildew, dahlias. I'm going to learn how to grow dahlias so help me. We are glad to slow down. Sad to let go of this season. I love making bouquets. Truth be told, I'm a little tired of harvesting flowers. But I can make flower bouquets and arrangements all day everyday. And I will miss it all.



Anyway, dear members, we have lilies and lisianthus in the caterpillar, gourds and small pumpkins curing in the greenhouse, and sweet annie, eucalyptus and broom corn drying for wreaths. I'm looking forward to trying my hand at some Thanksgivingish wreaths. If they turn out well, I'll send you all one with your last share bouquet.

We had a wedding this week. Here is a bouquet.


And a corsage.


Have a wonderful week!

Our best,
J,M&E

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Brrr! We took out some winter clothes today and bundled up for our morning walk about. Windy, and very cool. The forecast says 36 on Thursday night. That's pretty cold for our flowers, and we'll see how they hold up. The lilies and the lisianthus are in the caterpillar tunnel, so they should be comfy. 


It's been a great week!

We had a visit with Tina Smith, Mark Dayton's chief of staff and Lieutenant Governor candidate, and Beth Dooley, author of many cookbooks. We talked about the needs of small farmers. It was really cool. They asked great questions, and picked many flowers of course. Some would have taken photos. Not us. Sigh.




 We harvested gourds and munchkin and casperita pumpkins, and they're curing in the greenhouse. They are so sweet. Don't you just want to pile them on your dining room table around a beautiful lily and celosia bouquet? Lilies are coming in your bouquets this week. They will open and be a beautiful deep red as seen in the first photo. They last longer when we harvest them not yet open.




The wind is blowing hard out of the north. That's a sure sign of fall. Our spring and summer winds come mostly from the southwest. I roasted cauliflower and beets today. And I'm making soup broth right now. I love fall. I love love fall. Breathe out.

I wrote this last year and it's exactly how I'm feeling today...

One of my favorite things about farming is the observance of the seasons and the structuring our days and lives within them. Fall is the season of dying and preparing for the winter. Things slow down and the days have gotten shorter quickly. When I first began farming a few years ago, I felt sad when things started to die and we began bedding down for winter. Now I look forward to it. While it's been tricky for Mike and I not to have those early morning and late evening daylight hours for work, really, I'm relieved when we're sitting on the couch at 8:30, winding down for bed. With a few full seasons under my belt, now I love the winter practice of going slower, sleeping more, reflecting on life and planning for the future. Fall brings warm, comfort food like squash soups with sage and nutmeg. During winter, we eat hearty roasts and put-up roasted and fermented vegetables and begin to look forward to fresh things. When March gives way to April and things begin the speed up, we come out of our winter cocoons, stretch our rested, plump winter limbs and begin to work again. I crave tonic, cleansing spring greens as I welcome the flurry and momentum that builds the wave that is the farming season. Summer is the bounty of it all, and flowers are the epitome of the bounty, if you ask me!


Have a wonderful week, dear members!

Our best,
J,M&E

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

This morning when I dropped off the flower delivery at the Seward Co-op, the young produce employee, Andrew, greeted me like other employees have any other Tuesday or Friday in the last eleven weeks. But today he said, "Oh are these your flowers?" "Yes, I'm Jennifer of Humble Pie Farm." "They're so beautiful," he said, "I'm so glad we have them, they make this a better place to work." 

Sniff. I really did tear up in the car. My little trooper in the car seat for an hour and half was making his water bottle splash and laughing uproariously in the backseat, city traffic was city traffic, and we were delivering flowers that we grew for the eleventh week in a row. So much to be thankful for. I've replayed that exchange in my head a few times today when I needed it. It's that, kind, kind, sincere words, that makes it all worth it. I've had a few in the last week. It's such a good lesson. I feel busy and scattered right now. It's easy to say I'll pay attention later when I'm rested. I want to really pay attention now. And say aloud the kind things that I think, not just think them.

We had a lovely wedding last weekend and some nice volunteer help. Here are the bouquets.


Giant bumblebees are abuzz in the field. Love them.


Fall colors are pretty.




Oh to throw rocks in puddles. Bliss.


Happy week, dear members! You are where we start from. Your upfront investment makes our success possible. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

J,M&E

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Greetings! It's been another week of living the dream. The Civilian Conservation Corps came and weeded the whole field like crazy, and pulled out old plants. It was so awesome. They're just doing their thing, but I tried to impress upon them how very much it means to us. They can do work in a few hours that would take the two of us three days. Which we don't have. Afterward we had a little flower farmer Q&A and picked flowers of course. Something was wrong with my camera, but check out these cutie-patooties anyway. It was so sweet to see all 15 or so of these hard-working young adults leave with their jars of flowers for "grandma's birthday", or "tonight's first date" or "6 years with my girl". I loved it.



The lisianthus is coming in oh so beautifully. 


Farmer Mike is 6'6" and happy to look up to the continually growing broom corn. How tall will it end up? I guess we'll all find out!


We're looking forward to fall flowers; the rich orange and red lilies in the caterpillar tunnel, broom corn, and jewel-toned celosia. We also have these fall ornamental sassy little munchkin pumpkins and gourds that are exploding out of their rows and climbing other flowers.

We snuck away this morning and drove to the Park and Ride at the MOA, then took a big bus to the...State Fair! Mike and I hadn't been since childhood, and needed to bring our little tractor lover to see the newest Kubotas and big old vintage tractors. It was so fun! I'm pretty certain that Earl's highlight was riding the Express bus. He took a long nap after we got home this afternoon and his first words upon waking were "I ride da big bus." Best food: MN grown apples with caramel. Yum.





I also fell in love with some new chicken breeds. Our chickens are great layers and we love them, but I really want to get some heritage breed babies next year. Like this lovely lady. Such a stylish 'do.


Happy week to you and yours. It's the last week of summer for many, and we look forward to the new growth and opportunities the school year brings. 

Best,
J,M&E


Thursday, August 21, 2014

We've had a delightful week, dear members. 

Thanks to those who attended our Member Celebration. It was lovely. Good folks, flowers, food, fun. Of course I don't have any photos except one or two of the kiddos playing in the sandbox (a group of happy boys, I mean ninjas and super heroes) and the bouquet results of the flowers everyone picked at the end of the evening.



That was, hands down, my very favorite part. I love to see happy people in our flower field with their clippers, just snipping away, and smiling. I love it. 

We're still growing flowers, harvesting flowers, making bouquets, repeat. It's still awesome. This week I'm sending you zinnias mostly. They're so beautiful and cheerful. The powdery mildew everywhere is something fierce this season, and it's really affecting our zinnias, all planting successions. So, while we've been doing our best to nurse them along with various certified organic guideline approved sprays, they're on their way out. The thing about zinnias is that they don't last exceptionally long in a vase. But they're so lovely. Enjoy. 

Continue to have a great week, and weekend!

Best,
J,M&E

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

It's high summer, friends. Deep summer. It only goes downhill from here. :)

I write this looking out my back sliding glass window; soybeans and corn to the east, waterway and Bossy fields due north, and our little bird feeder that we've stopped filling as of late because the thirteen lined ground squirrels (seriously, that's their name) and big blackbirds heard about it and were emptying it every three hours. Everything is a little more brittle, looks a little older, the green is a little less brilliant, and oh the weeds. There are so many weeds this year, and powdery mildew everywhere. I guess that's what we get with a cool, wet spring and summer, and a long long cold cold winter.

I kind of feel like that too, a little brittle and a little older, and my color is probably a little less brilliant. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE this work. I'm so grateful to be able to work with the earth, outside, with FLOWERS, which are possibly one the greatest gifts of nature's many, many, and with my family, and, and, and. The reasons why I love my job are endless. Right now I'm a little tired. We're at our halfway point; week 8! Wow. We've learned so much this year. 

I went out during Earl's nap this late morning and pulled old plants, and pruned medium aged plants, and generally surveyed the field. We've learned so much this year. I have so many ideas for next year. One huge learning for us is the utmost importance of an abundant variety of quality filler. Plants like feverfew, queen anne's lace, and greenery. Honestly, I underestimated planting, and harvesting enough, and sometimes, especially at the beginning of the year, we could have used more. We were very focused on our focal flowers. So there's that. And there's the beauty and overall awesomeness of landscape fabric. Because the twenty-year, durable variety that we can reuse again and again is expensive, we only invested in 2 rolls of 220 foot fabric this season, hoping to rely on straw for the rest of our weed control. Oh no. That was not to be. First of all, our first batch of early straw had tons of oat seeds in it, so the past few weeks' weeding have been oat plants. They are pretty. Maybe I should add them to bouquets. We learned so well that straw is not really that effective. Granted the rows where we really matted it down required less weeding, still, we've spent a lot of time hand-weeding our strawed beds. Hand-weeding because we can't wheel-hoe through straw. It's made more work. Anyway, next year we'll be buying some more reusable landscape fabric. A lot more.

I always focus on the learning, on what's wrong and what can be made better. I do think this is good, but only with balance. I started writing about some things that are going well to balance the previous paragraph, but I felt too uncomfortable. I'll just let you judge for yourselves when you come to our Member Celebration on Saturday! Please come! We're grilling, making flower wreaths and bouquets and big bubbles, going for a tractor tour of the whole farm, including Gardens of Eagan and generally giving you and yours lots of love.

The lisianthus is coming on and it's so pretty. The lilies will be blooming in time for the last couple of weeks of the share. Thanks for your support, dear members. Have a great week!

Best,
J,M&E
"I drive da tractor, mama."

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Greetings! Week 7! Wow. We had a busy, gratifying weekend of Gardens of Eagan's Organic Certification birthday festivities.


Saturday's Open House with flowers and wreaths and children and dogs.


Sunday's Dinner on the Farm with families and good food and connection and of course, flowers.


It's so nice to be a part of our community that supports local food and flowers. And small family business.

This week we have new deep summer flowers coming up like jewel-toned celosia, intoxicating lemon basil flowers, and sweet little globe amaranth flowers in reds, pinks and a glorious bright purple. I love the different tones of the season. It's high summer, folks.

Which reminds me, please come celebrate yourselves on Saturday August 16th from 4-7ish at Humble Pie Farm. We'll provide drinks and food, and flowers. We'll blow bubbles with kiddos, tour the flowers, and give you lots of love as is due. Hope to see you here!

Our best,
Jennifer, Mike & Earl

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

We are an incubator farm. What's an incubator farm you say? We farm as Humble Pie Farm in the safe nest of Gardens of Eagan, our host farm. We rent land, machinery, cooler, pack shed and many other resources at an extremely affordable cost. It provides us a safety net as we venture into the risky capital and resource heavy occupation of farming. Really, it makes us. It would be so much more difficult to do what we are doing if we had to piece together all of these necessary resources. We are so grateful for the opportunity to participate in this program. 

This weekend our host farm, Gardens of Eagan, is having a giant birthday party celebrating the Organic Certification of this land that it purchased and inhabited three years ago. Oh, it is cause for celebration. 

Mike has worked for GOE for nine years and helped hire me in 2009. A couple of tips of his hat from the tractor and walks amid corn and tomato fields and I was smitten. I went to the farmers market, planted, harvested, weeded and reached out to the community as Gardens of Eagan staff for four years. Now I consider myself support staff as we live in the caretaker residence and Mike continues to farm for GOE by day. It's pretty obvious how very invested we are in this place. We consider the GOE farm staff Earl's extended family. 

This new land that GOE inhabited in 2012 needed some serious love. We picked up garbage. And cleaned. And cleaned and cleaned and cleaned. And cover cropped and planted trees and built soil and infrastructure and place. With the Wedge Co-op's support, we built a farm. Today it is beautiful. The land is beautiful. The buildings are beautiful. The veggies and fruit and herbs are beautiful. And on August 1st it'll be Certified Organic. It is great cause for celebration.

Please join us as we celebrate Gardens of Eagan.

Saturday, 8/2 OPEN HOUSE (free event!): Come celebrate with us from 11:00am to 3:00pm. We will be hosting tours of the fields and greenhouses and collaborating with our incubator farmers, Bossy Acres & Humble Pie Farm to bring you fun & engaging kids activities and fresh farm produce sales & samples, latest T-shirts on sale, Birthday Cake and farmer social at 1:00 under the pergola and more! 

Sunday, 8/3 DINNER ON THE FARM (tickets available $75): Join us for a birthday celebration dinner in the field with amazing food, fresh flowers, local beverages for every taste, live music and a bonfire. August 3rd from 3:30pm to dusk!  

We'd love to see you here!
Jennifer, Mike & Earl

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Whatta week! It was so awesome. Fun, elating, exhausting, gratifying. Whew. I took photos this week. Here they are, dear Members. Hope yours was very fine too.

Eat Local Farm Tour, weddings, CSA and Co-op bouquets, and a little family time.



Eat Local Farm tours, harvest, flower child head wreaths and so much local flower love, all organized and supported by our local co-ops. Saturday was a great day.


 

And the rest of the week... 

Bouquet makins' with photo bomber
Incubator farm magic in action 
My delivery assistant and me on the way up, note the sunnies in the front seat :)
Family ice cream outing off the farm!
Be still my heart. I guess we need to get ice cream more often.
Best of the week to you all. 
Jennifer, Mike & Earl