The GREAT Tulip Harvest of 2023
The Great Tulip Harvest of 2023 at PepperHarrow Flower Farm is a triumph! From our indoor pop-up to the you-cut tulip bouquet experience, we've shared the joy of vibrant tulips with our community. Grateful for the support, we're excited for an even more spectacular season next year. Find these cheerful blooms at Des Moines Mercantile, Gateway Market, and the Downtown Farmer's Market!
The Great Tulip Harvest of 2023 at PepperHarrow Flower Farm is sure to go down in history as a remarkable achievement for our team. This year's harvest has been outstanding, with a bountiful crop of vibrant tulips that have delighted the senses and brought joy to all who have had the pleasure of experiencing them.
Growing in our indoor growing space, forcing our tulips through the coldest months, we took our first harvest of tulips for a special pop-up at Des Moines Mercantile at the beginning of April. It was amazing, and we were so humbled, to see the amount of local support for our local flower farm and small business! People came out in force to grab a tulip bouquet to add a sprinkle of joy to their day!
Below is a photo of how the bouquets turned out. We added a few sprigs of willow, which gave them an even prettier look. They sold out the quickest!
tulip Bouquets for pop-up at DSM Mercantile
Right behind out indoor grown tulips, the field grown tulips were ready about two weeks later. They ended up blooming about a week and a half earlier than we expected, because we had a few days in the 80’s (F). Way too warm for this time of year and it made them grow a little more quickly than they normally would have
Once we saw that a few of them were starting to show what we call ‘color crack’, we knew it was time to open our you-cut tulip bouquet experience to the public. It’s a popular on farm experience we get to offer in the spring for people to come out and pick their own tulip bouquet. As an extra benefit, we give them the option to take the bulbs home with them to plant as well. Everyone has an absolute blast!
We welcomed each guest and gave them the run down of how they can harvest tulips. Everyone loved idea of simply pulling them from the ground bulb and all, a fan favorite! There’s something pretty enjoyable about pulling tulips from the lose ground bulb and all!
Field grown tulips at pepperharrow flower farm for you-cut tulip bouquet experience
Once the you-cut tulip bouquet experience was over, we knew it was time to get ALL of the tulips out of the flower field as quickly as possible. The deer pressure is so incredible, we knew we couldn’t leave an ‘all you can eat skittle buffet’ for them. Lol!
When we were within an hour of our last guest arriving, we started pulling all of the tulips from the ground as quickly as possible. Two people = 2,000+ bulbs = 5 tractor loads of tulips into our cooler to give them nice chill time until we sell them in bouquets, which should happen over the next 2-3 weeks. It. Was. Incredible.
We stopped for a few minutes for Adam to capture this remarkable sight of one of our many tractor bucket harvests of tulips. It was a pretty cold night, but the sun was out and the sky looked incredible as the picture was being taken.
Tractor full of tulips harvested over the weekend
You can find these cheery, bold colors over the next few weeks at small retail shops of Des Moines Mercantile, Gateway Market, and for our appearance at the Des Moines’ Downtown Farmer’s Market over the next few weeks.
Reflecting on the Great Tulip Harvest of 2023, we’re left with a sense of pride and accomplishment. We’ve worked tirelessly to bring these beautiful flowers to life, and their hard work had paid off in spades.
For us, the success of this year's harvest was a testament to our love of tulips and our commitment to growing them. We are grateful to our customers for their support and appreciation of the farm's efforts.
Looking ahead to next year's harvest, the team at Pepperharrow Flower Farm is already planning and preparing for what promises to be another spectacular season. We are committed to continuing our tradition of excellence and to bringing the beauty and joy of tulips to as many people as possible.
Happy Growing!
XX Jenn and Adam
PepperHarrow's 10 Year Anniversary!
Celebrating a decade of PepperHarrow Farm, our journey has been a tapestry of triumphs and challenges, fostering growth not just in blooms but in ourselves and our connection. Owning a small business has its hurdles, but the joy of cultivating the most beautiful local flowers in Central Iowa makes it all worthwhile. Our 10-year celebration was a surreal moment, shared with cherished customers. Treating them to complimentary delights and letting them craft their bouquets in our fields was a heartfelt gesture. The festivities also doubled as a fundraiser for the new Madison County Conservation center, emphasizing our commitment to community and nature. Cheers to the past, present, and future of PepperHarrow Farm! 🌸🎉
IT’S BEEN A WONDERFUL 10 YEARS ON THE FLOWER FARM.
We’ve had so many success and failures over the last 10 years. It’s been full of learning and growing - of our land, flowers, and most importantly, in ourselves and our relationship. At times it hasn’t been an easy endeavor, but the reward of owning our own business, creating success, and growing the most gorgeous local flowers in Central Iowa has been worth all of it 1000X over.
Cute Celebratory Boards by @CakeDSM
Celebrating 10 years of owning a small business is pretty surreal. We high-fived, and celebrated this huge milestone, but we also found ourselves completely taken aback that it had been 10 years. It’s funny how the years seem to blend together and how 10 years ago almost feels like a yesterday.
We celebrated our special night with over 125 of our most favorite customers, they are the folks that have supported us and enabled us to hit this huge milestone. It’s with their support, encouragement, and love of our small business that has helped us build our dream into a reality! Okay, totally gushing over our customers, but y’all get the point. They’re the most wonderful peeps and have treated us so well over the years. Because of this, we treated everyone who came out to complimentary food, beverages, ice cream, and of course FLOWER BOUQUETS!
Yep, that’s right! We sent them out into our flower fields to cut their own bouquets to take home as a small token of our appreciation for them. It was the absolute BEST to see everyone enjoy themselves so much and to also see the beautiful bouquets they created. It was a hit with our Friends of PepperHarrow and something we’d like to treat our best customers to every few years.
Photo Courtesy of CakeDSM
Our 10 year anniversary celebration was not only to celebrate the farm, but we also held it in support of our local Madison County Conservation, who is building a new conservation center at Pammel Park. If you missed out on the opportunity to contribute, you can do so by scanning the PayPal QR code, below to make a donation. Or, you can send payments on PayPal via email address to: naturalist@madisoncountyparks.org
All proceeds will go directly to the conservation center as well as other nature enrichment activities for an outdoor classroom space. Next time you visit Madison County, check out some our treasured parks. You can get a list of them here.
Thank you so much for helping us celebrate 10 years and here’s to another wonderful 10 years of success to come! We can’t wait to share more of our flower farming journey with all of you, as well as more exciting announcements to come.
XX Jenn and Adam
The Great Dahlia Dig
Bid farewell to the dazzling dahlias in their last harvest before the frost bite. With an impending drop to 18 degrees, our team of three spent a day unearthing and securing thousands of tubers. The abrupt shift from fall to winter, a typical Iowa weather quirk, propelled us into action. The smaller dahlia field, boasting unique varieties, added complexity to the six-hour task. Cleaning, drying, and dividing the tubers for storage proved physically demanding, prompting thoughts of core strengthening for future endeavors. Stay tuned for our online dahlia tuber sale, unveiling these captivating varieties. Good luck to us in this intricate dance with the dahlias! 🌸❄️ #DahliaHarvest #PepperHarrowFarm #TuberSale
We love our dahlias dearly here at PepperHarrow and they’re one of our featured flowers we grow.
I mean, just look at these gorgeous blooms, our last harvest of dahlias before frost. Dahlias in every shape, color, size. Just absolutely stunning!
But all good things must come to an end and that’s where we are right now. We recently spent a 10 hour day, with 3 people, out in our largest dahlia field, digging up all the dahlia tubers and getting them into our heated space before an anticipated low of 18 degrees.
It’s crazy how our Iowa weather always seems to go from just lovely fall weather, to an abysmal wintery mix overnight. That’s exactly what happened this year, just like it’s happened the last few years. We should be used to by now, right?!
Below is a great photo that shows an after look of what our field looked like after all the tubers were dug up. Not too bad!
The following day, Adam, our two sons and myself (Jenn) worked on our smaller dahlia field with our ‘special’ dahlia tuber varieties pulling them out. We spent about 6 hours in the smaller field, but were only able to get it half completed. It was a bit more difficult for various reason, but for right now, I’m blaming the pathways we added with landscaping fabric. It was a crazy, wet, cold, mess that day.
I’ll admit, I’ve been dreading the great dahlia dig. I started thinking about having to do this in early September with a sliver of dread stirring in my heart. Not gonna sugar coat this for y’all, it’s some seriously hard, dirty, body breaking work to get all of these tubers out of the field and inside.
But that’s not all! We also spend hours on our feet after that, cleaning, drying, and dividing them up for storage. There’s a lot of standing and my lower back is starting to get real angry with me. Need to work on my core next year to help with this.
The specialty dahlia field
Wish us luck as we further divide the thousands of tubers this week to get them into storage. We’ll be getting them all tucked away, then will be announcing our dahlia tuber sale online soon. We can’t wait to share all of these gorgeous varieties with you.
XX Jenn
Adventure at the Wedding Show
Prepping for the Des Moines Wedding Show was a whirlwind as I delved into researching trends, creating a setup, and gathering flowers and props. Despite the challenges of C19, the show was a success, allowing me to connect with lovely brides. Gina, from the show, asked for a mauve-themed exhibition table, and I gladly accepted the challenge. The last-minute dash to Home Goods and Hobby Lobby resulted in a stunning display featuring cut glass, silver place settings, and pops of blue, complemented by beautiful flowers. It was a delightful showcase at the Scottish Rite Consistory, and I'm thrilled with the outcome!
An Adventure at the Des Moines Wedding Show
Our setup at the Des Moines Wedding Show at the Scottish Rite Consistory
I spent the week preparing for the Des Moines Wedding Show that was held last Sunday. This was my first wedding show since C19, but I’ve decided that we have to learn to still carry on with our daily lives, but take precautions to protect ourselves and others. It was a great success and I met with tons of wonderful prospective brides.
The amount of time researching trends, coming up with idea for setup, number of flowers , props, vases, etc, is just staggering. Prep for the wedding show actually started two weeks ago, by pulling together a portfolio of my work, as well as a portfolio
Gina, one of the team members who coordinate the Des Moines Wedding Show, reached out to me a few days before the show and asked me if I’d do an exhibition table, telling me that the table should lean towards mauve tones. How could I say ‘no’?
I broke out allll the cut glass I could muster, as well as silver for place settings from my personal stash of fancy things. I made a last minute dash to Home Goods to grab some napkins, and plates, as well as Hobby Lobby for candles. I’m pretty excited about how everything turned out! The flowers are stunning and I love the way the candles look with the ribbons tied around the napkins. The pops of blue were everything!
Table Setting at the Des Moines Wedding Show
Floral bliss retreat
Our first Floral Bliss Retreat at PepperHarrow was truly amazing! Despite the drizzle, we enjoyed a day of play and design on the farm. After a farm tour and foraging session, attendees dove into creating beautiful flower crowns guided by Jenn. A delightful catered lunch, centerpiece design, and a traditional English tea service added extra charm to the day. The retreat was a success, and we're thrilled to bring this unique experience to you again with even more special touches! 🌸🍵 #FloralBliss #FarmRetreat
Well, we had our first Floral Bliss Retreat this weekend and I have to say that it was totally amazing. We gathered together with a small group of people for a day of play and design on the farm. It was a drizzly day on the farm and created a calmly wonderful ambiance.
Adam and Jenn O’Neal - PepperHarrow farm
Photo By: Andraya Stender
We started the day with introductions followed by a personal tour of our farm. We then let everyone head out to harvest and forage at their leisure. It was cool to see what everyone gathered for their designs from the lovely perennials throughout our gardens to branches of unripened fruit and cattails.
With everyone’s amazing finds, Jenn began a session on the ins and outs of flower crown design. I think that was a sesh that everyone thoroughly enjoyed.
Jenn guiding a student with her design
Photo By: Andraya Stender
Donning beautiful floral crowns, we sat down to a wonderful catered lunch provided by Catering By Cyd. That was personally my favorite part because we got to sit with everyone and really get to know each other. And the lunch was amazing! Thumbs up to privately catered lunches. 👍 Catering in took a huge weight off of our shoulders with this event and enabled us to participate more!
Lovely catered lunch for the floral bliss retreat. Flowers And food forever!
After lunch we headed to the centerpiece design portion of the retreat. We loved seeing everyone dive into a full buffet of flowers and also how they incorporated their unique garden finds into their centerpieces. Apple branches and grape vines with little unripened fruits? Yes!
Attendees enjoying the flower bar
Photo By: Andraya Stender
Adam guiding the design portion of the workshop
Photo By: Andraya Stender
And if the day wasn’t already full enough, Jenn put together a lovely traditional English tea service for the retreat. We were inspired when we went to England and visited Chatsworth Gardens. While visiting, we sat down for a nice tea service in the café on the grounds. We had to bring that special experience with us back to PepperHarrow!
Teatime at PepperHarrow
Photo By: Andraya Stender
This retreat turned out amazing and we can’t wait to bring it to you again. We’re also excited with all the new ideas we have to make this experience even more special. Looking forward to the next one!