Blog

When it came time to choose a name for their new farm in Wisconsin’s St. Croix Valley, Darryle and Renee Powers didn’t need to look far for inspiration. Between the marshy pastures and upland fields, they found Bottle Blue Gentians, a rare wildflower whose natural wetland habitats are increasingly threatened by land development. Only a few insects, such as bumblebees, are strong enough to pry apart its closed petals, but it is an effort that yields a sweet reward. In this small yet tenacious flora, the Powers’ found a perfect symbol for their land and a fitting inspiration for their endeavors.

With all this nice weather, I am beginning to wonder if we are skipping right over spring and into summer. I'm somewhat fearful about what less-than-usual snow and rain mean for the larger climate picture and what it will mean for farmers in the coming months, but it's hard not to be excited about enjoying the warmth earlier this year. I find myself running to shop for items to make summer nights better than ever. For instance, we bought a little table for outside in our yard and decided to invest in a propane grill.

Linda Halley and I stand in the middle of a seemingly empty, sunny field under an impossibly clear sky. She bends over and touches her fingertips to the soil, raking them gently over the top, exposing slightly blacker, wetter soil underneath the grayish first layer. "I don't see any – Oh! There's one. Do you see that?" she asks. "That's the beginning of a weed," Halley explains. Now I see it. She's turned up a tiny matchstick of white, barely noticeable, and easily dismissed as a piece of dried grass. It's the sliver of the root or maybe a stem. Weeds: competition for nutrients, water, and sunlight. Weeds: enemy of the crop and therefore enemy of the farmer. As the manager of the Minnesotan organic farm, Gardens of Eagan, Halley can't use herbicides to rid herself of these pesky plants.