When we decided to grow our farm, we looked for ways to reduce our weather related risk by improving plant and soil health. I applied for and received a grant from the MN Department of Agriculture. As part of our research, we grazed our sheep on cover crops in a crop rotation with strawberries for … Read more
Did you get some strawberries in 2020? We hope so! The season is so short, and we know it takes you some effort to get to our farm when the strawberries are ripe. Many people ask me why we close early some days, and how long it takes to grow strawberries. If you are one … Read more
How to Organize Sprays with Duct Tape Are you looking for a way to organize your sprays? Last summer, we took a tip from a big crop farmer who had all his sprays in colored-coordinated bottles. Instead of buying all new bottles, we purchased a number of rolls of colored duct tape. We used them … Read more
It’s date night on the farm, and tonight, for our hot date, Dan and I headed out to use our new toys, a soil probe and a Soil Compaction Tester, purchased with grant dollars from the good state of Minnesota. What fun! Field 1: Winter Rye Cover Crop: Sheep Grazed 5 days Field 3: Three week old … Read more
My husband Dan loves cows. Has loved them since he was a boy visiting his grandpa’s dairy farm in Northwest Iowa. He went to college to be a dairy farmer, but soon realized we couldn’t afford to start our own dairy. So, he started a strawberry farm. About 2013, he figured out that he could … Read more
Sustainable Agriculture Grant: 2019-2021 Our crop advisor talks about soil as a grand symphony. He says that if all the parts are in balance, it will be like a symphony, and beautiful music will result. Our desire is to create a soil symphony that grows stupendous strawberries. Last fall, we applied for and received, from … Read more
You’ve heard that growing up on a farm develops character. One of the interesting parts about inviting lots of people to our farm is that our visitors tell me stories about their farm memories. I love these stories, and the way they reveal the character of our visitors. As part of an article for the … Read more
Listening With the sudden switch to warm weather, the bird chatter on the farm is reaching a crazy level of intensity. I feel a bit like a little girl, listening in on my parents talking in Dutch around the kitchen table. I knew they were talking about Christmas presents, or vacations, because otherwise they wouldn’t switch … Read more
We were thrilled to receive a notice from the MN Department of Agriculture that our grant application for Livestock Investment has been approved! You probably know that we have consistently sold out of strawberries very quickly every year, and that this has led to our quest to grow more strawberries, while intentionally managing our soil health. … Read more
We are surrounded by corn, bean and sugar beet fields, so we know the rhythm of the corn & beans crop rotation in the mid-west. On our strawberry farm, we also rotate crops, but it looks nothing like our neighbors’! We plant baby strawberry plants every spring. It takes about an hour to do 1000 … Read more