Flowers always featured in CSA farm's shares
By Heather Thorstensen
hthorstensen@agrinews.com
Date Modified: 05/13/2010 8:58 AM
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CLINTON FALLS, Minn— Members of a Community Supported Agriculture operation north of Owatonna get something special in their shares.
They receive the traditional collection of produce, but also a bouquet of freshly cut flowers.
"What's unique about us is we deliberately bundle a bouquet with every share, every week," said Clinton Falls Farm co-owner John Ostgarden. "...It's part of our CSA experience."
Members choose to receive shares every week or every other week during the 18-week growing season from mid-June to mid-October.
Their produce includes just about every vegetable imaginable and their flowers include all the varieties you can think of, said co-owner Lowell Gordon. It's all grown organically. The farm is in the process of becoming certified organic.
Just like the food that comes from CSA farms, the flowers are provided based on what's in season.Peonies will be in the first shares in June, sunflowers come in July and delphiniums or dahlias take center stage in fall.
Their members appreciate getting the flowers, Ostgarden said.
"I think it's icing on the cake," he said. "Who doesn't like a bright, sunny sunflower in a vase on the counter while fixing dinner? It becomes a symbol of healthy food and adds a sense of joy and celebration to a meal."
It's also nice to put your nose up to flowers that aren't chemically treated, he said.
"I think a CSA membership would be a wonderful Mother's Day present," said employee Dawn Sorensen, who helps create the bouquets.
The farm's crew starts by growing organic seeds in flats inside a greenhouse. The heated structure allows seedlings to start growing earlier in the season. On the last day of April, early-season flowers and produce were sprouting on the shelves.
Eventually, seedlings are moved outside to harden them off, so they're used to full sunlight, wind and fluctuations in temperature. The transition process lasts about a week before they're planted in fields.
Of the farm's 28 acres, approximately 11 are used for growing plants, six are in production at one time and one or two acres are devoted to flowers.
Their selection includes irises, daffodils, lilies and daisies, and they're continually adding perennial and annual varieties. They grow edible flowers, like chamomile and calendula, and they're starting to grow varieties specifically to dry them for wreaths and other arrangements. Lavender is also new this year.
The farm has approximately 170 members, with openings for more people who can pick up shares at the farm. Those who live in the surrounding communities, from as far as Waseca to Faribault, pick up their produce and flowers inside The Hub, a retail greenhouse structure. Deliveries are made to grocery stores in the Twin Cities as a drop-off point for metro-area members. If anything is left, their bounty may be available at the farmer's market in Owatonna or they sell to the public from The Hub.
Ostgarden had a dream of owning a flower farm when he left his corporate job in the Twin Cities and bought the farm.
He wanted fields of dahlias.
"My life as a kid was centered around flowers," he said.
His mother owned a floral business and his grandparents grew award-winning flowers.
More than 3,000 dahlias were planted during his second year on the farm, but he learned the hard way about a unique problem to farm country: Corn rootworm beetles. The bugs made dinner of the flowers.
Since he wanted to farm organically, Ostgarden turned to natural controls. He began growing plants — such as common garden alyssum, mint and cilantro — to attract bugs that would control corn rootworm populations.
The CSA operation was established in 2008. Approximately 1,000 dahlias are still grown on the farm annually. The darker the blooms, the less attracted corn rootworms seem to be.