Eastern Iowa family business supplies farmers markets | Iowa & The Midwest

DURANGO, Iowa (AP) — As a youngster, Tracy Merfeld often could be found at the Dubuque farmers market on Saturdays.

Her mom, Sheila “Dobie” Merfeld, was the newly minted operator of Dobie’s Bouquets & Produce, providing her wares at the market commencing in 1994. Tracy and her youthful sisters, Amy and Molly, normally arrived alongside for the experience.

“It was just like a large Tetris game, squeezing all us young ones and all the plants into the van,” Tracy recalled.

“Their reward was to go to Walsh Outlets if they were being seriously superior,” Sheila extra with a chortle.

The Dubuque Telegraph Herald experiences that just about three decades later on, the relatives business enterprise is flourishing. Dobie’s delivers vegetables, fruits, herbs and eggs, as perfectly as fresh new and dried flower preparations and starter plants, at numerous region farmers markets, which include the Dubuque farmers market and the Dubuque winter season farmers market place.

“I actually like to be able to give goods to people today that respect it,” Tracy claimed, as she served clients at the winter farmers market on a recent weekend. “You get to speak to the individuals that are acquiring to appreciate your stuff.”

Sheila began pursuing natural gardening on the family’s Durango land in 1981.

“I by no means really gardened significantly in my young a long time, but then it just kind of bought into my blood,” she said.

The name of the business is drawn from a nickname Sheila obtained as a child.

“I would stand in entrance of the Television set because everyone needed to observe (the sitcom) ‘Dobie Gillis’ but I did not,” she claimed. “So they’d say, ‘Get out of the way, Dobie,’ and then they all started contacting me Dobie.”

Armed with a vivid yellow van emblazoned with her business’ moniker, Sheila at first occupied a solitary stall at the Dubuque farmers market place. The enterprise now sprawls throughout three stalls — with the yellow van a Dobie’s trademark — as it enters its 28th summertime at the market.

These days, Tracy handles the greens and herbs for the small business, whilst Sheila tends to the bouquets.

The complete loved ones pitches in exactly where necessary, however, with Sheila’s spouse, David, preserving tools in doing work purchase and their daughters supporting to arrange flower bouquets.

Sheila hand-waters many of her greenhouse vegetation and checks the seedlings frequently, as the temperature in the farm’s greenhouses can arrive at up to 100 degrees in the summer season. She utilizes organic fertilizer, soil and pots and reuses all the plastic trays in which she buys her cuttings.

“It’s fairly considerably arms on,” she claimed on a the latest early morning, gesturing all around 1 of the greenhouses toward hundreds of compact vegetation and seedlings.

Each individual tray was meticulously marked to distinguish chives, spearmint, thyme, yarrow and other herbs and bouquets.

Dobie’s Bouquets & Generate has observed its share of road blocks, such as uncertainties and supply chain shortages introduced on all through the COVID-19 pandemic and summers of dry temperature and prevalent weeds on the steep, rocky terrain of the family’s 10-acre assets.

“It’s a ton extra fun to select bouquets than to pull weeds,” Tracy quipped.

Sheila mentioned the loved ones makes use of a no-till strategy of rising that has prompted creation to “skyrocket” given that it was implemented about three decades in the past.

“Last year, we experienced a bumper crop of tomatoes, peppers and potatoes,” she explained, noting that the business also observed booming sales in radishes and carrots.

The farm also offers extra than 200 blueberry bushes, as well as 180 laying hens and some roosters.

Enterprise has been booming these days. Sheila explained the loved ones is increasing about 4 times additional flowers this yr than last 12 months thanks to heightened desire. The family members just lately commenced growing heirloom roses, which Sheila hopes will be prepared for shoppers in two to a few a long time.

And, following two many years at the winter season farmers current market, elevated requests for deliver have led the Merfelds to expand their winter season expanding selections.

Dobie’s Flowers & Create has two greenhouses: A heated 20-foot-by-48-foot greenhouse along with an unheated 12-foot-by-20-foot greenhouse.

Sheila said that the family members is setting up a new, greater greenhouse, which will be 30 toes by 96 toes and will allow for calendar year-spherical, in-ground growing.

“Up until eventually this place, we haven’t felt the have to have to do year-spherical increasing because we haven’t felt that group guidance,” she mentioned. “Now, folks are inquiring for develop that we never have, but we have the opportunity of escalating it now.”

After the new greenhouse is operational, ideally by early Could, the 20-foot-by-48-foot greenhouse possible will serve as retail house for clients who pay a visit to the farm to obtain vegetation, Sheila stated.

Shawn Vera has been a common buyer at the Merfelds’ stand at the Dubuque farmers sector for the earlier 4 years and also visits them at the indoor winter season sector to invest in herbs and flowers.

“Their provider is just phenomenal, and they have a good wide variety of products that I just can’t find any place else,” Vera stated.