How To Make An Autumn Wreath
Discover the art of crafting a simple yet beautiful autumn wreath with dried florals straight from the farm in our latest YouTube video. Join Jenn as she guides you through the step-by-step process, infusing the essence of fall into a stunning wreath that will add a touch of seasonal charm to your home. Embrace the creativity and warmth of autumn with this delightful DIY project! 🍂🌼 #AutumnWreath #DIYFloralCrafts #FarmtoHome
Check out our latest YouTube video where Jenn shows us how to make a simple and beautiful autumn wreath with dried florals from the farm.
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
Growing Lavender in the Midwest
Three years ago, the idea of half an acre of lavender blooming seemed dreamy and far-fetched. Despite harsh Iowa conditions, including tough winters and hot, humid summers, our lavender fields flourished in their second growing season. We indulged in a month-long harvest, hosting photography sessions amidst the lavender. From mocktail classes to online courses, we embraced lavender experiences. Our expanded product line, including lavender sugar, salve, and soy candles, became a labor of love. Grateful for the support of friends, our products are set to launch online on 9/25/20—ready to share the joy of lavender with all.
Growing Lavender in the Midwest and Loving it!
If you had told me we would have 1/2 an acre of lavender blooming at any point 3 years ago, I would have thought it was an amazing idea, but it would have sounded completely far-fetched annnnd completely dreamy.
I’d spent 4 solid years testing out planting methods, testing my own theories about how to grow successfully, and making some accidental discoveries about growing lavender in the harsh growing conditions here in Zone 5b, Central Iowa. It was mostly observation and those ‘happy accidents’ that propelled us so far forward with enabling success. Crazy, right!?
Lavender prefers a more mild climate, with poor soil, neither of these Iowa has for the most part. Our winters are tough, getting incredible cold and conversely, our summers are crazy hot with extremely high humidity, which lavender plants dislike immensely.
But here we are, into our second growing season with lavender, reaping a bounty of blooms! Also, as we head into Fall, we’re even getting a small out of a second bloom on our plants, which has been nice for wedding work and to use for a few additional products.
Our fields yielded so many blooms, we spent nearly a solid month and a half cutting all the blooms, almost daily, into our workshop for small batch hand crafted distillation and bud drying (for dried bunches and sachets).
We enjoyed every moment of it an also enjoyed sharing it with photographers who brought out so many of their clients. We were booked solid each evening for a month and a half with newly engaged couples, families, and senior photo session.
Just incredible to get to share the lavender field with folks and to get to see the amazing photos. Check out this amazing blog post with some additional photos by Stephanie Daggett, here. It makes my heart happy to see such beauty, captured and shared with others to enjoy. So beautiful!
Adam even had fun with taking photos, breaking out his electronic ‘toy’, his new drone, to take a few photos of us in the lavender. Gotta say, that drone really takes some amazing photos!
We added so many classes, classes, classes! Everything from mocktail making with lavender simple syrup with Jeff Naples, the Beard Behind the Bar, to lavender distillation. You name it, we tried it this year with great success. Look for a whole line-up of farm experiences based around lavender next year.
We so enjoyed having so many out to the farm to share our knowledge. We love getting to meet new people who share our excitement and love of plants.
Not only did we hold on-farm classes, but we also launched our first ever online course on growing lavender. We weren’t sure online learning was going to be something people were interested in, but we were oh so wrong. It’s been super popular!
The final offering we’ve centered around lavender is our lavender products, which I kind of talked briefly about in the beginning.
We spent so long, lovingly making each of these products on a small scale, by hand. It’s truly been a labor of love brining these lavender products to market and was a huge undertaking. I had no idea what we were getting ourselves into when we decided to expand out our lavender product offering beyond essential oil and hydrosol. Whooowee!
This year, we expanded our lavender products to include: lavender sugar, salve, bath salts, wreaths, and sachets. They’ve been really popular so far and I’m excited to be adding even more new items next year. I’m especially excited about our lavender candles! They’re absolutely incredible! They burn clean, have an amazing fragrance and burn for a really long time.
We’re thankful for the help of our amazing friend Keelia from K Henri Design for creating our packaging and also to Dani at Sugar Hill Photography for the wonderful product images. We couldn't have done any of these without these terrific gals.
Picture by Sugar Hill Photography
So, are you ready to try to grow some lavender or sample some of our amazing products? We’ll have all of our amazing products online and available to the general public on 9/25/20. We can’t wait to share them with you, and for you all to share them with your loved ones.
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
Spring in Bloom at PepperHarrow
Amidst the spring rush and the challenges of COVID-19, our farm bloomed with daffodils, fragrant Lily of the Valley, and a new red anemone variety. We adorned the Flower Cottage with a charming floral installation, inspired by our London workshop. Embracing social distancing, we welcomed CSA members and pre-order customers to share the joy of our farm. Lavender preparations for spring are underway, featuring a resilient lavender showcased in an online video with growing tips. Anticipate a purple spectacle in late July and explore our on-farm lavender products. Discover lavender insights here.
It’s been a whirlwind here on the farm, with nearly every waking hour now spent planting, wedding, and sowing more seeds on repeat. We’ve had a welcomed unseasonably warm spring, which spurred us into planting action a little earlier than we typically plant, but because of the craziness with COVID-19, it was a happy reprieve to escape to the land and get our hands in the dirt.
The Flower Cottage
We blinged out the Flower Cottage with an extra special floral installation. This was inspiration from our time spent in London last spring, attending the Philippa Craddock Floral Design Workshop. Such a dreamy backdrop for Mother’s Day pictures and for couples visiting the farm.
We’ve been welcoming CSA members as well as people who pre-order bouquets, to the farm. We’re trying to control the number of people who come out, due to the virus, so this is our method for managing social distancing.
It’s been fun to engage with our amazing customers and to share our special slice of Heaven with them.
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Daffodils were prolific this year, especially from the new installation we put in last fall along the driveway, with all the special varieties I was so eager to see bloom. We had so many in fact, that we had to take a few to the nursing home to share with essential workers and residents. What a treat to get to share these special flowers with these special people!
Below is such an amazing capture by our dear friend, Beth Mensing of Pints by Beth. She captured our iconic Iowa Skies and rolling hills surrounding our gorgeous property. It absolutely takes my breath away!
Captured by Beth Mensing, Pints by Beth
Lily of the Valley is juuuust getting ready to stop blooming. It’s one of the MOST fragrant blooms we grow here on the farm and people were absolutely in love with it. It’s such a wonderful, old-fashioned flower with little florets that brings people back to so many happy memories. So much joy in such a tiny little bloom!
We tried a new color of anemone this year. Don’t get me wrong, we still LOVE the white, black centered anemone. It’s absolutely classic, but we wanted to try something new and our friends in California said that red was allll the rage, so we had to try to grow a few to see what the response would be here in the Midwest. Results are in: they’re a total hit! I guess it’s kind of a spoiler alert, because how can you NOT totally adore these gorgeous flowers?
Send me a separate note and let me know which color is your fave! The red one is shown to the right and the white, blacked centered is below. If you ad to pick, which bouquet would you go for?
Or, if there’s a color we didn’t grow this year, but you love, let us know that as well! We grew purple and hot pink in previous years and I kind of miss them!
Adam, shown below, was busy prepping the lavender for spring…okay, we actually had our teenage son help us get it prepped. After a day out in the field, Adam said his back just couldn’t take it any more. Who knew teenagers could be so helpful?! Ours doesn’t typically like to work on the farm, but since he didn’t get a job outside of the farm before C-19 hit, he’s totally stuck working for us. Work ethic is everything and if we left him to his own devices (haha!) he’d play video games all day. Are we alone here?
The lavender overwintered incredibly well! You can see it below, it’s totally healthy and starting to grow like crazy. We made an online educational video to show how we’ve successfully grown lavender as well as overwintered it. As many of you know, t’s not incredibly easy to grow lavender here, because of our harsh winters. It was fun putting together ALL of our tips and tricks to share! If you want to check it out, here’s the link:
https://onlinelearning.pepperharrowfarm.com/courses/growing-lavender-successfully-in-the-midwest
Look for a gorgeous field of purple late July through Mid-August as well as on-farm produced lavender products. I’m especially excited about lavender hydrosol and soap. Ahhhh….
