Bloom Tender

I am tabling my broom corn…

Just kidding. But seriously, that’s what this process is called!

This year I grew broom corn at Bloom Tender because I wanted to learn how to make my own brooms and wreaths from something grown right here on the farm.

Broom corn is one of those plants whose name tells only part of the story. It is not actually corn at all, but a type of sorghum grown for its long, fibrous seed heads. Those sweeping branches are strong, flexible, and durable enough to be gathered together and made into brooms, which is exactly what people have done for generations.

There is an entire season tucked inside a handmade broom. The seed is planted in spring and throughout summer the stalks grow tall and send up their branching heads. When the brush is ready, it is cut by hand and brought in to dry. The seeds are combed or stripped away, leaving behind the long fibers that will eventually do the sweeping. Once those fibers have fully dried and cured, they can be gathered into bundles, tied tightly around a handle, layered until the broom has enough fullness, stitched to hold its shape, and finally trimmed along the bottom.

What looks like an ordinary household object is really the end of a long conversation between soil, weather, plant, and hand. I think that is what draws me to old crafts like broom making.

Living in our historic farmhouse has made me think more about the things that once filled homes like ours, and how many of them began much closer to the doorstep. A field did not simply produce food. It could provide medicine, dye, basket material, wreaths, cordage, and the tools used to tend the home itself. Farm life meant things were sustainable.

There was an intimacy in knowing where things came from because often you had grown them, gathered them, or made them yourself.

Living in a house that has stood for nearly two centuries, it only feels right that the hearth should be swept with something grown from the same land outside its windows. There is something beautiful about bringing an old skill back into use, not because we have to, but because we still can.

The land gives us more than food. Sometimes, if we are paying attention, it also gives us the materials to make a life.

A little glimpse of what we’re working toward.

We are gearing up to launch our CRP Monarch SAFE habitat here at Bloom Tender. Today we’re finalizing the plan alongside our wildlife biologist.

Soon, pieces of this land will be intentionally given back, planted, and managed not simply for what they can produce for us, but for what they can provide for monarchs, pollinators, grassland birds, and the countless small lives that depend on healthy habitat.

Finding this little monarch caterpillar in the garden felt like a tiny reminder of why we’re doing it. There is no greater joy than knowing that each decision we make, each acre restored, each native planted, each patch allowed to grow a little wilder, will help secure a future for our pollinators and wildlife friends.

We are farmers, but we are also caretakers of a piece of earth that belongs to far more than us. I cannot wait to watch this land become home to nature and wildlife. 🌍

Union 5 at the water cooler. Stay hydrated and see you at Oakwood Farmers Market tomorrow morning 9am - 12pm!

Pumpkin Spice Latteeeeeee Day.

Fall.
Floret.
Feeling fabulous.

Fresh out of the soil.

Just dug up 50lbs of buttery Satina potatoes. 🥔

Little me would be so inspired to meet the Holly I grew up to be.

Granted, at three years old I was absolutely certain I was going to be a movie star. Little me would also be proud to know that I did follow that dream…I became an actress and a singer, traveled, performed, and lived that chapter of my life as fully as I knew how.

But before any of that, there was this girl.

The one happiest outside with dirt under her fingernails. The one collecting bugs and making friends with them, turning over rocks to see who lived underneath, looking for snakes, carrying little treasures home in her pockets, and asking a thousand questions about everything alive.

Somewhere along the way, I found my way back to her. Back to the dirt. Back to curiosity. Back to growing things, tending animals, noticing insects, learning the land, and trying to leave a little more life behind than I found.

OPE! Sold out of Duck Eggs… again! Come back next week and come early for all the gorgeous duck eggs!

It’s PICKLE season! Stop by Oakwood Farmers Market this Saturday for fresh harvested cucumbers to make home made pickles!