About |
We are a native plant and seed nursery.
In 1984, we were on vacation at Clayton, Iowa on the Mississippi River. We were staying in an old river town house owned by Donna’s cousin. One day we were eating lunch after doing some fishing and Donna suddenly says…”here it is”. She had found an old newspaper on top of the refrigerator. It had a real estate ad which stated…”For sale 160 acres on the Yellow River, 50,000 pine trees”.It was a beautiful place.
We knew this was the place for us. We bought the property!
I turned in my resignation after serving 20 years with the Soil Conservation Service. This was really getting scary now. Donna had no job and I had no job.
My passion for native plants directed our actions. We formed a business collecting native plant seeds from remnant prairies and wetlands. We would spend days and days driving and collecting, by hand these natives that once occupied over 90% of Iowa’s land but now composed only ½ of 1% of the original ecosystem. The moldboard plow converted one of nature’s most complex and diverse ecosystems into cropland. The Tall Grass Prairie all but disappeared from the landscape. Our purpose became clear. We would provide people with the opportunity to bring back this natural world of beauty by purchasing our seeds and plants, which came from the last vestiges of this beautiful world of the “Inland Sea of Grasses”.
We still love this place. It is so beautiful! We are grateful that we could carve out a living here on the land utilizing Mother Nature’s own creations.