DONAHUE, IOWA (August 5, 2019) — When customers arrive at Miss Effie’s Country Flowers and Garden Stuff, near Donahue, they are given a bucket and a pair of garden clippers, which they can fill as full as they like with flowers for one flat price.
Founded by Cathy Lafrenz in 2002, Miss Effie’s was Iowa first U-pick flower farm, and remains among just a handful of such operations in the state. The farm features 90 varieties of flowers, a “Summer Kitchen” store and eggs from 20 different breeds of chickens. Miss Effie’s is also a partner site of Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area.
Cathy will share her experience raising flowers for a U-pick enterprise at a Practical Farmers of Iowa field day she is hosting on Sunday, August 18, 2-4PM, on her farm near Donahue (27387 130th Avenue, about 2 miles northeast of town). The event, “U-Pick Cut Flowers: Production and Management”, is free to attend and will include light refreshments following the field day.
Cathy will give a tour of the 2-acre farm, discuss her methods for no-till flower-farming, and show how she manages a destination U-pick farm with excellent customer satisfaction. She will also discuss how the “structures” she has repurposed were created — like old corn-cribs, dubbed “corn-zebos”, that are used as seating areas for farm visitors.
Topics covered will include:
- No-till cut-flower production
- Perennial and annual flowers
- Creating a pollinator patch
- Managing a U-pick farm
- Agritourism
- Repurposing structures for customer seating and shade
- Customer service and enjoyment
- Heritage-breed laying hens
Directions to the field day are available on Practical Farmers’ website.
This event is part of Practical Farmers’ main 2019 field day season, which includes 40 events across Iowa, and the region, on topics spanning the agricultural spectrum. The field days are meant to help connect farmers with their peers for networking and farmer-to-farmer learning.
Practical Farmers’ 2019 field days are supported by several sustaining and major sponsors, including: Albert Lea Seed; Bio Till; Center for Rural Affairs; Gandy Cover Crop Seeders; Grain Millers Inc; HA Wallace Chair for Sustainable Agriculture — Iowa State University; Iowa Agriculture Water Alliance; Iowa Beef Center at Iowa State University; Iowa State Department of Agronomy; La Crosse Seed; Man@Machine; MOSA Certified Organic; Niman Ranch; PepsiCo; Pipeline Foods; Premier 1 Supplies; River Valley Cooperative; Scoular; Sunderman Farm Management; Sunrise Foods International; Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education; Trees Forever; Unilever; and Welter Seed and Honey Company.
Practical Farmers of Iowa works to equip farmers to build resilient farms and communities. Our values include: welcoming everyone; farmers leading the exchange of experience and knowledge; curiosity, creativity, collaboration, and community; resilient farms now and for future generations; and stewardship of land and resources. To learn more, visithttp://practicalfarmers.org.
