Madison County Farm to Table Dinner 2019
Our 3rd Madison County Farm-to-Table Dinner at PepperHarrow was a hit! The event featured The Grateful Chef's vibrant fall-inspired dishes and celebrated local farmers. Amidst charming settings and magical vibes, guests enjoyed the atmosphere, a sage, gouda, apple pie highlight, and conversations with farmers. To those who joined, thank you! For future events, watch for ticket announcements in Summer 2020. It's not just a dinner; it's a celebration of food, fellowship, and a festive atmosphere. 🍽️🌿 #FarmToTableMagic #LocalFlavors
Farm to Table Style
Our 3rd annual Madison County Farm to Table Dinner was recently held at the farm and it was a tremendous success! For those of your who don’t know about this event, each year, we invite an intimate gathering of people to take a seat at our harvest table to experience an amazing night of gorgeous local flowers and feasting on delicious locally grown food.
All photos by: Rylee Mapes Photography
We spent the evening enjoying amazing cuisine prepared by the lovely and incredibly talented duo, Brandy Lueders and John Cornish (and team), of The Grateful Chef
Brandy and John have been featured on The Iowa Ingredient, The Des Moines Register, Cityview, and dsm Magazine for their vibrant and healthy meal options. The more colorful, the better!
We often snag their ‘grab and go’ meals from the cooler or freezer at the store location in Des Moines on SE 6th. Not gonna lie, this is usually how our kids are fed throughout our busy flower growing time during the summer. It’s our go-to for guilt free, healthy ‘fast food’. Our kids lovingly refer to it as “Brandy Food”. Ha!
We started the evening with a quick social hour, which gave people time to get to know one another, take a look at the farm, the gorgeous scenery, and of course, the amazing flowers. It was surprising to us that several people already knew a little bit about the farm. We weren’t expecting that! There were a handful of people that were already familiar with our new lavender field. It made us feel so good that people care and are excited about what we’re up to. Thank you!
A 20’ branch from our nearby timberland was suspended and covered in gorgeous florals. Other florals were included around the space, bringing natural details from the outside, in, creating the illusion of being in a secret garden. The table was set with a program by K. Henri Design, which detailed out each of the courses. The table also adorned all of our best vintage china, and silverware, collected over time from family, friends and the not-so-occasional visits to local thrift stores. Flowers, candles, and small fall details flowed down the center of the table, giving the room a warm, inviting vibe, while Frank Sinatra crooned and romanced us the entire evening through our Spotify playlist. Magic. That’s the only way to describe the scene.
The Grateful Chef served up five amazing dishes, all curated with local produce from local farms. Many of the dishes were inspired by the fall harvest: full of zesty, flavorful, and warming dishes that created a homey, but stunning culinary experience.
The dessert course
Our favorite was the sage, gouda, apple pie, with a dollop of hand whipped cream on top! You could really pick up the gouda’s tangy flavor in the crust, but the sugary, cinnamon flavor of the filling balanced the flavor perfectly for a mouth watering experience. Yum, yum!
Shown right is the pie being plated. Each piece was plated on a bed of caramel drizzle and topped with hand whipped cream and a sprig of sage.
Understanding where our food comes from and how it’s grown is incredibly important. Not only is it important that we’re able to connect with our food source on this level, it’s also crucial to know and understand the people who all make it happen. At our farm to table dinner, we celebrate the local, hard working farmers who toil day in and day out to bring us the greatest gift: nourishment for our bodies. At this year’s dinner, we had three local farms take a seat at the table to talk with attendees about their farm, their families, and the product that they produce.
We want to recognize Decker 7- Jake and Ginnie Decker, Bridgewater Farm-Dale and Marcy, Rich and Scott from Buffalo Prairie and Hannah Davis and Austin Hill, our employees who attended and represented PepperHarrow. Having these hardworking folks sit and converse with attendees at the farm to table dinner added an authentic richness to the dinner that is almost impossible to put into words.
They are the heart of the farm to table and it was amazing to celebrate and recognize them for the amazing produce they provide each and every day!
Thank you to everyone who came to the farm to table dinner and experienced this magical evening with us. It’s all about the amazing food, fellowship, and festive atmosphere. If you’re looking to attend next year, be on the lookout! We hold this dinner the first Saturday of October each year and will post tickets online early Summer 2020!
-Jenn and Adam
Floral bliss retreat
Our first Floral Bliss Retreat at PepperHarrow was truly amazing! Despite the drizzle, we enjoyed a day of play and design on the farm. After a farm tour and foraging session, attendees dove into creating beautiful flower crowns guided by Jenn. A delightful catered lunch, centerpiece design, and a traditional English tea service added extra charm to the day. The retreat was a success, and we're thrilled to bring this unique experience to you again with even more special touches! 🌸🍵 #FloralBliss #FarmRetreat
Well, we had our first Floral Bliss Retreat this weekend and I have to say that it was totally amazing. We gathered together with a small group of people for a day of play and design on the farm. It was a drizzly day on the farm and created a calmly wonderful ambiance.
Adam and Jenn O’Neal - PepperHarrow farm
Photo By: Andraya Stender
We started the day with introductions followed by a personal tour of our farm. We then let everyone head out to harvest and forage at their leisure. It was cool to see what everyone gathered for their designs from the lovely perennials throughout our gardens to branches of unripened fruit and cattails.
With everyone’s amazing finds, Jenn began a session on the ins and outs of flower crown design. I think that was a sesh that everyone thoroughly enjoyed.
Jenn guiding a student with her design
Photo By: Andraya Stender
Donning beautiful floral crowns, we sat down to a wonderful catered lunch provided by Catering By Cyd. That was personally my favorite part because we got to sit with everyone and really get to know each other. And the lunch was amazing! Thumbs up to privately catered lunches. 👍 Catering in took a huge weight off of our shoulders with this event and enabled us to participate more!
Lovely catered lunch for the floral bliss retreat. Flowers And food forever!
After lunch we headed to the centerpiece design portion of the retreat. We loved seeing everyone dive into a full buffet of flowers and also how they incorporated their unique garden finds into their centerpieces. Apple branches and grape vines with little unripened fruits? Yes!
Attendees enjoying the flower bar
Photo By: Andraya Stender
Adam guiding the design portion of the workshop
Photo By: Andraya Stender
And if the day wasn’t already full enough, Jenn put together a lovely traditional English tea service for the retreat. We were inspired when we went to England and visited Chatsworth Gardens. While visiting, we sat down for a nice tea service in the café on the grounds. We had to bring that special experience with us back to PepperHarrow!
Teatime at PepperHarrow
Photo By: Andraya Stender
This retreat turned out amazing and we can’t wait to bring it to you again. We’re also excited with all the new ideas we have to make this experience even more special. Looking forward to the next one!
Rainy Day Weather. What Does a Flower Farmer Do?
Rainy days have slowed down field work, but they offer guilt-free time for business activities. Planning additions to the event space, Adam's construction skills come into play, while I focus on sourcing house plants, practicing floral design, seeding for the next flower planting, and managing various farm services. The rainy respite turns into a productive day for PepperHarrow! ☔💼 #FarmLife #BusinessPlanning
This early flower season has been incredibly rainy. It’s been tough to get out to the fields to plant, weed, and for the flowers to grow. In my most recent field check, I saw standing water in one of the dahlia fields and the corn cockle plants are melting into the ground. Boo! Please pray for some sunshine for the next few days. This rain is definitely rough!
However, the one good thing about the rain…it sure gives us lots of extra time to work on other business activities and it feels pretty guilt free. When it’s sunny and amazing out, it’s hard to sit down and do some of these tasks, but when it’s raining, it’s like a mental bluebird.
So, what are some of the business things we do when it’s raining outside? Well, today we’ve been planning out adding some additional elements to our event space. Adam’s the construction king, so he gets the honors of working with the workers who will make it happen and he also does all of the ordering for the parts and supplies we need.
I’ve been working on sourcing amazing house plants to have for the flower cottage, practicing floral design for fun (and pics), seeding more seeds for our second succession of flower planting, working on bridal and other event floral quotes, adding pages to Squarespace for additional services we’re offering on the farm, and working on scheduling some social media posts for the next few weeks. I could go on and on. It feels absolutely amazing!
Incredible Allium
Allium, a low-maintenance garden gem, often goes unnoticed. Its whimsical, lollipop-like blooms bring unique charm to the garden. At PepperHarrow, we use allium in spring bouquets and transform them into enchanting 'fairy wands' as they dry. Discover the versatile beauty of this overlooked flower! 🌸🍭 #GardenGems #AlliumBlooms
Allium often gets overlooked and doesn’t get the recognition or praise that it should in the garden. It’s a flower that people typically plant into their gardens and tend to forget, because it’s so low maintenance. Allium is one of those wonderful bulbs that you can plant into the ground and just walk away from. Can anything be better?!
Their perfectly formed little balls on top of their stem give them a whimsical and lollipop look. Shown below, the contrast of the purple of the allium with ninebark is unusual and stunning. The perfect contrast for true garden design.
Here at PepperHarrow, we use allium for all kinds of things. In the spring, we use them in bouquets for market, weddings, and sell them as single stem flowers (artists love them!). Towards late spring, they dry on the stem and transition into lovely ‘fairy wands’ as Adam calls them. Once dried, they can be hung upside down and stored for fall/winter use in wreaths, or also spray painted in all sorts of gorgeous colors to make an interesting dried bouquet of colorful flowers.
All About Roses!
It’s been a busy week at PepperHarrow with lots of rose pruning! Roses, especially David Austin varieties, hold a special place here. While not ideal for cut flowers due to a short vase life, their beauty and fragrance shine in weddings. Exploring other cultivars, Kordes varieties like Madam Annisette and First Crush impress with disease resistance and resilience to extreme weather. J Griffith Buck's roses, such as Quietness, stand out for hardiness and magnificent fragrance in the Midwest. #RoseGarden #FloralBeauty
It’s been a crazy week, full of lots of rose pruning and TLC. There as sooo many roses here at PepperHarrow, because they’re one of my favorite flowers. They don’t make particularly good cut flowers, because they just don’t have a very long vase life, but they just look absolutely gorgeous in weddings. They also have such a divine fragrance!
Admittedly, I have a lot of David Austin garden roses, here at PepperHarrow. I love all the varieties of old fashion, English roses they have available. Also, the fragrance is remarkable. David Austin roses are know for their romance and whimsy. However, now that I’m getting mature with my rose growing, I see that there are other cultivars that perform better for us, here in zone 5B, Central Iowa.
One of these varieties is Kordes. KOR-anything, as a general rule, are welcome here on our farm. They are extremely disease resistant and do really well with our extreme weather—really, really hot and really, really. cold. One of my favorite Kordes varieties are Madam Annisette and First Crush. Not only do they produce a prolific amount of blooms, but I can also enjoy their gorgeous foliage. Also, the blooms feel thicker and less likely to shatter after they’ve been cut.
Another favorite rose cultivar is anything from J Griffith Buck. These roses are known for their hardiness here in the midwest and perform amazingly! Quietness is one that I have growing at the flower farm. I have her front stage and center, outside of my house, in the cottage garden. Such a magnificent fragrance, fragile beauty, and great performer!
