PRSRT STD ECR U.S. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT #861 11 2nd Ave N Unit 103 Sauk Rapids, MN 56379
Country
Friday, July 19, 2019
cres A
Focusing on Today’s Rural Environment
Volume 7, Edition 10
r e w o l F FARMER
THE
ALL PHOTOS BY DIANE LEUKAM
Doug Trott and employee Rebecca Longtin pause for a photo in a high tunnel filled with snapdragons (middle) and ammi (right), July 1 at Prairie Garden Farm near Starbuck, where flowers are grown for brick-and-mortar florists as well as wedding designers.
Trott entering second decade growing colorful crop By DIANE LEUKAM Staff Writer STARBUCK – The flower farmer is not only the name of a book, it is a name Doug Trott can attach to himself. Trott, along with his wife, Robin, has been growing flowers for brick-and-mortar florists and wedding designers for 10 years from their acreage in the country north of Starbuck. The harvest season is in full swing at one of the most prolific flower farms in Minnesota. During the peak of their season – July, August and September – they sell about 5,000 stems a week, and around 100,000 stems in a season. Along with seven part-time people, there is plenty of work to go around, with the main task being harvesting. This is done on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday mornings for many of the flower types, with lilies and sunflowers harvested at least once a day and peonies twice a day when in bloom.
Their road to growing flowers has been paved by gaining knowledge of their business. “It started out with a book written by a woman named Lynn Byczynski called ‘The Flower Farmer,’” Trott said. “It’s really a good soup-to-nuts overview of growing flowers.” The couple also joined the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers and the Sustainable Farming Association. They have taken in conferences and online forums, where they could ask questions of their peers from around the country. Now, the tables have turned to a degree, with the Trotts giving tours to would-be growers, formally mentoring growers in Minnesota and Maine, Doug writing articles for Growing for Market Magazine, and recently, speaking on flower farming at the Great Plains Growers Conference in St. Joseph, Mo. Robin is also busy as the local horticulture extension educator in Douglas County. “We try to start deliveries the first week of May and run through all of Octo-
This month in the
COUNTRY
ber if we can, give or take a week,” Trott explained on July 1 as he toured the property. On a four-acre portion of their land, there are flowers growing in seven high tunnels and one greenhouse, along with dozens of outdoor beds. But, it all begins with germination. “This is where we start everything,” Trott said, standing in a light- and temperature-regulated germination room where some 200 trays are filled with plugs in quantities of 288, 128, 72 or 50 cells per tray. That day, dozens of trays were filled with snapdragons, amaranthus and sunflower seedlings. Each year by March, the room is filled with plants that will be grown in the heated greenhouse. The next successions will go out to the high tunnels; from there on out, plants are moved outdoors. In the germination room, temperature is important, and so is light. Lights are run from 8 p.m. to 10 a.m. to provide 14 hours of daylight. “A lot of flowers have day length sensitivity – they either want to bloom when it’s long days or when it’s short days, and grow when it’s long days or short days,” Trott said. “That’s why certain things
TROTT continued on page 2
4
Reaching, teaching kids Diane Leukam column
8
Vertical farming Roger Strom column
5
A tractor to do it all Rose City
10 Farm-fresh cooking New London
An apricot-colored English Sweet Pea blooms at Prairie Garden Farm July 1 north of Starbuck.
14 Bows on a boat Sauk Centre
18 Moving the soul Cold Spring
16 Harvest and Store Produce From Your Vegetable Garden
21 Country Cooking