It’s 5am, and Angie Krausfeldt is already out in her garden. She is not seeking enlightenment. She is looking for peonies at the perfect stage for harvesting.
The peonies that make the cut will be grouped into colorful, fragrant bouquets for sale in Krausfeldt’s Two Peas Farm & Flowers roadside farm stand, ready for purchase that very day.
“You can’t get any fresher than that,” she says.
Krausfeldt’s roots are in Chicago, where she worked in communications for a nonprofit. She found ways to garden in the city, including volunteering at a community victory garden where she maintained her own garden plot, converting a commercial lawn into a fenced garden space and even growing sunflowers on her condo’s rooftop.
She transplanted herself and her young son to a 10-acre Union Pier, MI, farm in late 2017 and, amid the culture shock, began a slow and steady progression along a learning curve of country living and flower bed preparation, all while working remotely at her day job and occasionally commuting to the city.
Without the use of chemicals, Krausfeldt transformed manageable sections of her acreage by layering cardboard, dead leaves and wood shavings to suffocate emerging weeds, then adding compost to foster a greater variety of plants. Gradually those areas saw new life in flower cultivation.
Two Peas Farm (a reference to Krausfeldt and her son) is also home to a happy flock of laying chickens and ducks, who assist in insect control. Portions of the property sport tidy rows of annuals, while other sections consist of raised beds of perennials. All of it represents hours and hours of hand labor.
Krausfeldt’s farming methods reflect an expanding trend among American floriculturists to grow seasonal, local blooms that are free of pesticides and herbicides, with an eye toward renewing and enriching the soil.
The personalities of our beautiful upper Midwest seasons dictate what blooms when, so Krausfeldt and small growers like her cannot provide you with roses in February. Spring Tulips and daffodils come from bulbs that were planted in autumn, and September dahlia tubers are stored every winter and replanted each spring.
This “slow flowers” movement has caught on with customers, who are happy to wait for seasonal flowers to bloom rather than purchase a bouquet that has been grown thousands of miles away and flown overnight to northern destinations, arriving with a big garden boot of a carbon footprint.
As with their preference for eating organic food when possible, many customers also recognize the value in having cut flowers in their homes and on their dinner tables which are fresh and free of chemicals.
Take a look around your community for roadside stand flower offerings, often tucked away down a country road, or inquire at your farmers market about the growing methods used by vendors and farmers.
Enlightenment in the garden doesn’t elude Krausfeldt, by the way. She has uncovered fresh ideas and time-honored knowledge from new friends and neighbors, and finds joy in the kindness extended by fellow gardeners as they share extra bulbs, seedlings and conversation.
The extended community has supported her delightful farm stand. The tiny structure, with its seasonal blooms and whimsy, stands on the edge of the flower beds. Krausfeldt uses homemade flower essences for some of the all-natural lotions and salves that she also sells, alongside the farm’s chicken and duck eggs.
“People do care about what I’m doing because they often see me out here,” Krausfeldt says. “I’m doing the work and putting in lots of time. They will say the nicest things to me, and it really keeps me motivated to keep going, especially on the days when I’m knee-deep in weeds.”
17064 Lakeside Rd.
Union Pier, MI
773.330.5565
The farm stand is open most weekends if flowers are available, from late spring through the fall. Regular updates are posted on the farm’s Facebook page and on Instagram @twopeasfarm.
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