It’s hard to believe we are starting our fourth summer here at the farm. Yet, here we are. Chris has become a seed starting and micro green badass. We still order in a fair share of plugs of the varieties we’ve figured out we are just not great at growing. Almost all of the seeds Chris has started looks as if they were grown in a professional, heated greenhouse. We decided last fall to stop growing a lot of things okay and drill down and grow a few things really well. Chris has been growing and delivering micro greens each week to Green Top Grocery. We saw a need with other florists last fall for dahlias, so we kicked off a lot of varieties we were kind of crappy at growing and went full blast with dahlias. We definitely scratched our heads when 3/4 of them went in and took up most of our growing space. “Um, oops,” I said to Chris as he gave me the buggy-eyed “WTF” look that I know all too …

Need something special for Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 13th? Because let’s be real, Mother’s Day isn’t just about Moms, it’s about all the special women in your life who have put up with all of your shennanigans for years. Here are some great gift ideas: Pop-up Shop at Retrofit Join us at a pop-up shop at Retrofit Culture Saturday, May 12th | 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Retrofit Culture | 104 W. Washington, Bloomington, IL We will be making custom flower arrangements, with your input, and selling bagged and living microgreens. Purchase a Custom Arrangement Purchase a custom arrangement that can be picked up on the farm or delivered just in time for Mother’s Day. Arrangements start at $45 and our anemones and ranunculus are mixed in with other beautiful spring blooms in a ceramic keepsake pot that can be reused to plant summer flowers in. It’s the gift that keeps on giving! Arrangements can be purchased here.  Take a Class Bring your favorite bottle of wine and create a farm fresh flower centerpiece at Finding …

It’s official. Finding Eminence Farm is three years old and we’re about to enter our fourth growing season. We are not the same people we were when we moved in. This business and land have changed us. In 2015, we had a handful of seed packets, an 18 month old baby, a freshly bought farm, and a crazy idea that left our family and friends wondering what the hell we were thinking. Fast forward three years and we have established peonies we will cut on in a few months (see past blog post about how I didn’t believe we’d ever be able to cut on them), a hoop house full of growing ranunculus and tulips, a 4 1/2 year old, an assload of seeds and plants, classes filling up, weddings booked, and our family and friends still wondering what the hell we’re doing. Somehow we’re still here, somehow our marriage is still intact, and somehow we have a resilient kid who LOVES this farm. The most baffling thing about our farm is the things that …

Ah, the joys of planning a wedding, right? You have found a photographer, you’ve found a venue, you are thinking about what the wedding party will wear and now you’re down to the flowers. Before you reach out to any florist, here are some things to think about. Typically flowers account for 8-10% of your total wedding budget. So let’s get really honest about some things to consider to help stretch those flower dollars: Have a smaller bridal party. 12 bridesmaids and 12 groomsmen? We know you love your squad, but that also means a bouquet and a boutonnière for each of those wonderful people, which increases your floral budget significantly. Reuse ceremony flowers. Skip the aisle markers and go with a large alter arrangement or arbor that can be moved and reused at the reception. Reuse bridesmaids’ bouquets. Don’t pay for additional arrangements for the head table. Get beautiful vases, place the bridesmaids bouquets in them, call them centerpieces, and go dance the night away. Reuse cocktail arrangements. Purchase small arrangements to go on the …

It was announced yesterday that a salmonella outbreak has been linked to sprouts that were sold on sandwiches at Jimmy John’s. Some consumers use the terms “sprouts” and “microgreens” interchangeably, but they are actually very different crops that are grown in very different ways.  At Finding Eminence Farm, we grow only micro greens, not sprouts. Since they are often so easily confused, we thought it was important to highlight the differences.  Even the Center for Disease Control posted on their facebook about this breaking news story about sprouts with an image of micro greens. Here are the main differences between micro greens and sprouts. Sprouts: Sprouts are germinated in water. To prevent mold growth, they are rinsed one to two times per day Very little light and nutrition is needed for sprouts to grow They require high humidity to grow To ensure their safety, it is recommended that sprouts are cooked to prevent food borne illness since they are grown in dark, humid, and wet conditions (a perfect situation for icky stuff to grow) Micro greens: …

You guys. It has been SO COLD. And we have been cooooooped up. But this is what we do this time of year. We rest and recover. We have to give ourselves grace because come June, ain’t nobody getting that 1:00 p.m. nap. So we have been reading all the books, doing all the yoga, walking on a treadmill in a creepy basement, and eating a crazy amount of Christmas cookies. There are a few things I’d like to do better in the coming year. One of them is take better photos of us as a family. When we went to go put our Christmas card together, we realized only one photo existed of the three of us together. So the card got scrapped for the first time in seven years. Read more damn books. Nothing exciting is happening on that phone of mine. I need to detach from it. Little Fires Everywhere and What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky were two great reads from this past year for me. What …

We are in recovery mode from the summer, but planning mode for next year as we steadily wade our way into engagement season. Engagement season? Yes, engagement season. People propose during certain times of the year and the most popular time to propose is, you guessed it, Christmas and New Years. There have been quite a few nights of me chatting on the phone with wonderful people who explain with excitement their vision for their wedding day. There are people who get us and people who don’t and that’s okay. But the people who get us are more than likely people who love the outdoors, who understand the value of hard work, and get that magical things don’t come from pressing a button. A potential bride told me this week “that must be a lot of work for two people.” It is a lot of hard work, but it’s such great hard work. And the reality is getting to work is a privilege and I’m thankful for that hard, back-breaking, sweaty, buggy work because I …

Each night, after we finish supper (whether it’s at our dining room table or staring like a zombie at the television) we have taught Lincoln that he has to ask to be excused and he has to thank each of us for dinner. This seems crazy and I by no means am shouting from the rooftop about  what a wonderful parent I am. But I am trying really hard to teach our son empathy and compassion. Yes, it’s obviously my job to feed my kid. But I want my kid to know that we work really hard to keep a roof over our heads, food in our bellies, and our bodies warm. We are lucky because we are healthy and have an obnoxious work ethic. And for all this, we should be thankful each and everyday. I was telling Chris the other day how shocked I am that people pay us to do their wedding flowers and when we show up on their wedding day they are so grateful for our hard work. “But they’re …

I’m sitting here at about 4:30 p.m. on this first day without daylight savings, peeking out the window mournfully as I know that darkness will soon be here.  The increased darkness this time of year is a good sign that it’s time to slow down a little, hunker down, and enjoy the harvests of our efforts.  Things have definitely slowed down around the farm, but we still have a lot to accomplish before winter truly arrives. Our field production is almost completely done, except for one last bed of lettuce that is growing frustratingly slow with the cooler temps and limited daylight.  I’m hoping it will provide us more good harvest before a hard frost takes it out.  We have ripped out the majority of our fields at this point, but a handful of beds still need our efforts.  Inside, our micro green production is starting to expand.  We continue to deliver weekly to Green Top Grocery, and we’re starting to do some restaurant business as well. Yesterday our sunflower shoots were used in the …