Saturday

Overnight we got 6/10's of rain and still it falls. We will be closed all day in the field. Sundays we are already closed for a supposed 'day off.' We will be at the farmers market in Mankato w/beautiful bouquets, straight bunches (all of one kind) and huge bunches of Baby's Breath great for decorating or floral craft work. We will also have our baskets of the iris shown below, about 15 varieties, see you there!

Some more of my favorites for sale now.

Levity IB 18" about 20 varieties will be at the field on Friday, then some will be going to the market on Sat., then all will be back at the field by one on Sat.

Imperative.......this beauty bloomed forever! 20" blooms mid-late

Logo, 18" mid season bloomer, possible rebloomer

Midday Blues, IB 24" erly - mid season bloomer

Let's Elope, IB 24" early mid and possible rebloomer. Long bloom period, soooo pretty.

Iris for sale Friday

Friday we will be having iris rhizomes for sale. Most of these were not for sale during the open house as they were done blooming already. These are the 'SDB' standard dwarf bearded, and mostly IB's, imtermediate bearded. The SDB's are 8-16" the shorties. The IB's I have are 18-25". Both of these bloom before the Tall Bearded which is the most of what I carry. We will have photo cards for all the iris that are for sale. We will be open Friday from 10-4, Sat 8-2, closed Sunday. We have about 20 varieities dug right now, more digging daily!

Jade Stone

Heather Carpet SDB

Bantam Prince SDB

Palm Springs, IB, 18"

We are open at 1 today, finally dry enough.

Rain, developing a love hate relationship.

So it rained yesterday morning, then on and off in the afternoon, and again around midnight. Whats a farmer to do? We need rain, and I am grateful when we get it. I just never realized how much rain was going to inpact my ability to be 'open' for business. Since it is my 'retirement' job, not really thinking I want to spend thousands on a concrete pad or gravel that would eventually get full of mud again. Whats a farmer to do? As far as being open today, Thursday, 1 pm would be the soonest. If I don't post shortly after 1 that we are closed, then we are open and I am just staying out there. You can always call me at 507-382-9337. We will be selling bags of delicious greens this Friday & Saturday, broccoli soon. Saturdays hrs. are 8-2, closed Sunday.

p.s. Marie, I will try to send you some of our rain, lmk if it works. I like to idea of the reality show, I think sometimes we are a bunch of clowns, it's the acting stupid enough for TV that I am not sure about! =)

The history of Earthworks Gardens and me!

The concept of the flower/veg/herb farm was dreamt up long ago. I love horticulture, working with plants, cutting flowers, picking vegetables.....all of it. My farm, Earthworks Gardens, is the kind of place I was always trying to find to tour, take a day trip to. But where was such a place?
I drove 2 hrs. once to see a promising place that was filled with raised beds of nothing. I have toured some nice places, but they never captured the family farm feel I was looking for. Not saying they aren't out there, I have just not found them! So, as the saying goes, sometimes you just got to do it yourself. So I did. And so began the birth of Earthworks Gardens, a place of flowering and ornamental shrubs, mature plants so you can see how they will be in your garden, plants dug from our field so you know they can endure the winter. Vegetables that are 'Certified Naturally Grown.' It's interesting how many 'growers' claim to be organic. After a brief discussion with them, it is usually clear they don't know the first thing about the principles and practices of organic growing. Our farm is layed out in 5 sections, each about 100 ft. by 400 ft.
Every year we have planted a section or more, getting ready for this year. So right now we have our 10 acres planted full. This year has been loaded with a lot of 'firsts' as we had our first iris open house for 4 wks, first year at the Mankato Farmers Market, first year having any full time workers besides Frank and I, first year running the market from the field, and the list goes on.
My learning curve has not been to bad. I had run a much larger 'Certified Organic' operation by Rochester for 6 yrs. Even though that was 20 yrs. ago, it's kinda like riding a bike. Even though my kids hated helping out, they did. But I know some of my son's fondest memories of his grandpa Dale, was selling with him at the markets. They were both full of it!!! As a child we only a garden one time at our house. Each kid got one of the 1 cent packs of seeds from Gurneys, a combo pack probably swept up off the floor. We planted the garden and forgot all about it until the neighbor lady told my mom how much she enjoyed eating the green beans! Both of my Grandmas loved gardening. One garden you could only look at, and my other grandma welcomed you into hers. Every photo was taken somewhere in the garden with the flowers blooming around you. Boy we hated that. My first garden as an adult I forgot all about it until my neighbor Bill told me he weeded the whole thing for me. So I really was a late 'bloomer' in the horticulture field. No doubt now, I love it! Anytime that we are open, you are welcome to take a walking tour throughout the field. We have allowed driving tours if there is a need, but please ask first. Several times already I see someone driving around out there wondering where did they come from? And finally, several people have asked about the name, Earthworks Gardens.
Well, I wanted a name I could grow anything under. If it was "Dianes Flowers" you wouldn't think you could get sweet corn here. Because we DO follow the the national organic policies, I wanted any earthy sounding name. Our mission is to provide healthy local produce grown with the highest level of organic methods. To provide you with great plant choices, field grown on here for at least one winter. To provide you with an opportunity to tour our field when ever we are open to learn more about growing plants, seeing the insects busy at work, (the good and bad) or simply enjoy the flowers. Stop by and visit us! Diane
p.s. I love dogs, have a few of my own, but....they are not allowed in the field.

CLOSED FOR THE REST OF WEDNESDAY

So just as we are planting the daylilies, down it came and without much warning. Why did I leave the windows down in the truck? And why did I park it so faraway. So deciding we should flee while we could, we did. well some of us. Lisa got stuck, her car could not make it out of the field. So Frank had to come home and get straps to pull her out. So if you are wondering what a mere 2/10's of rain in 2 days can do to a field.............here's your sign.

Weather or not..........

Looks like a big batch of rain may be headed our way. Unless I post that we are closed, we plan to open at 10 until 6 today, we'll see what happens! If our banner is up and the plant wagon out, we are open. If you don't see us right away, we don't have a bell to ring, so just beep your horn! =)

Wednesday

We will be open from 10-6 unless we get dumped on with rain tonight. Stop out and get some perennials!

Closed for the rest of Tuesday

First we had a heat index of 105! Now storms close to the tree line. I was fearing a 'mutiny' of the garden if we didn't call it quits in this heat. I knew when I was getting the goosebumps, I was overheated. Sorry if we missed you! Plan to be open Wed from 10-6 if we don't get flooded out....have you checked out the radar? Hang on.........

Tuesday

Was Monday hot enough for you? We were out in the field from 11-5:45. By that time we were all on the verge of heat stroke, and called it a day. This Tuesday we will be open from 10-4, closing sooner if it is too blasted hot! It might not seem bad when you stop out for a few minutes, but 'working' in that heat can be dangerous. We hate to open and close at different hours, but we are a weather dependant business, with only humans to do the work. You don't know how many times today, I had wished it was me driving by in the air conditioned car! Until I post different, these are our field hours. These hours reflect when we seem to have the most business. When the sign is up, we are open! Please do not browse the field when we are closed, thank you.
Sunday - Closed
Monday & Tues. 10-4
Wed. & Thurs. 10-6
Friday 10-4
Saturday 8-2

Monday

If you are interested in a CSA for next year please check out that blog, I posted some new info today. http://earthworksgardenscsa.blogspot.com

Monday

Good Morning. Finally able to post! Blogger was requiring a new Google account etc. etc. Wasted an hour. To me, let me see.........I could have potted 30 daylilies, or pulled 50 ft. of weeds, or sat around and relaxed? Are you kidding!
Well it rained 1/2" here last night. We hope to open by noon and until 6 pm, but no guarentees if to muddy. Please do not hesitate to call me, if we can open , I will likely just stay there instead of running back to post it. So put me on speed dial. 507-382-9337 I am trying to figure out regular hours now that the iris are done. Once the produce starts coming in it will be likely everyday but Sunday. Until then you can still order peonies, browse our field, purchase daylilies and other perennials. In an effort to also have a life ( I am retired you know) we can't be there all the time, and I can't afford to pay someone else to be there all the time. Checking this site is the most updated way of finding out, calling me the best! We have some bags of 'meslun mix' we will be selling if open today. It's a mixture of 8 greens & beet seedlings. Yum. Spicy, so you can mix it with lettuce or by itself. We keep it here at the house, so if we don't open, call me and you can come to house, where we also have pallets of plants. We DON"T live next to the field (my poor neighbors!) But 1.5 miles from it, call for directions. I will decide on regular hours today, and post tomorrow.

Sunday

It is sprinkling here, and looks like more coming on the radar. If you planned to visit today our hours were 12-4, please call first to see if we are open 507-382-9337.