BLUMENFLOR
  • Home
  • Online Store
  • Farmers Market
  • CSA/Farm Share

Tumbleweed Smith Interview

8/16/2022

 
Picture
Have you ever been interviewed by a radio host and wondered what you even said afterwards? How will that person put everything together? 
It comes down to having faith in that person that they will hopefully stick to the true script.

Tumbleweed Smith is the famous host of "The Sound of Texas" 
TumbleweedSmith.com | Welcome

I was honored to be interviewed by him. It was just one on one with a portable recorder between us.
Last week  a customer came in and said they had heard me on the radio that morning.

We did get to hear it again for the second run in the evening.

A Magazine www.ranchmagazine.com   out of San Angelo picked up on it and sent me this script.

Marilou Whorton came out to interview us on Monday about the young entrepreneurs
at our market which we are featuring this upcoming market...
and that will be in the Seminole Sentinel this Wednesday.

When it rains it pours... at least with interviews.
​( We do wish for more rain too!)


Here is the Interview for all our followers of Blumenflor... Enjoy!
Hope to see you at the Farmers Market!

“I WAS BLESSED WITH A GREEN THUMB, so why not use it,” says Susie Wiebe
with a laugh.  Nine years ago she opened a nursery and garden center six
miles north of Seminole.

“It all started with petunias.  I really know how to grow petunias; and
now we know how to grow potatoes and tomatoes.  They do well, too.  We
have all sorts of stuff here: annuals, like your bedding plants that we
sell at the greenhouse, anything flowery, then we have shrubs and trees
also.   We sell more hanging baskets than anything else. We give advice
on gardening and sometimes help people with their landscaping.”

Her place is called Blumenflor, a German word meaning an abundance of
flowers.  “But because we live in this environment of Spanish, German
and English we just put everything together and we have blumenflor.  So
the flor is for those who speak Spanish (it means flower) and blumen is
for the ones that speak German (it means flowers).”

Once a month she has a huge farmers market that draws customers from a
large area.  Vendors pay her 10% of what they sell.  If they sell
nothing they pay nothing.
“It’s the third weekend every month from May to December.  We start
Friday night from 5 to 9, then on Saturday 10 ‘til 2.  We have dozens of
vendor spots inside the garden center building. They’re all made from
pallets.  But it has spilled to the outside.  We now have about 45 to 50
vendors.  They are local people who sell fresh fruits and vegetables,
eggs, baked goods, canned goods, peanuts, roasted pecans and handmade
sewing items. But the baked good go first: rustic breads, cookies,
cupcakes and sourdough items.  They’re gone in half an hour. 

We usually have some sort of a theme.  Once we had a cowboy here with his horse and
he gave rides to kids.

  In October we’ll have Oktoberfest with a polka band and people wear traditional dress.”

Among the popular items is a selection of jams and jellies.
“Apricot jam is number one because we have lots of apricot trees here. 
Things made from peaches and strawberries also do well.  We have
blackberries, too.”

Her place is on eleven acres and the parking lot is way too small.  Food
trucks sell barbecue and burgers. “There’s one that sells crepes and waffles. 

Of course we try to have some traditional Mennonite things like rhubarb that comes from Canada, even from Germany and Ukraine.  That’s been hard but somehow we’ve
figured it out and we have rhubarb growing so we can make rhubarb pie
and stuff. 

We’re a German-Mennonite community. I think visitors find that intriguing. 
Most of us here speak three languages: German, Spanish and English. 
We’re multi cultural and we welcome everybody.”

PS. The funny part of all this is that I listened to the interview in the vehicle because I couldn't  figure out how to listen to it online.

It was nostalgic in a way just like that pic above of an old radio.

Bartering

8/3/2022

 
Picture
We have a special market coming up featuring our children.
Many of the vendors children have been setting up their own booth within their parents' booth. The parents are encouraging them to learn business skills. We fully support them.

I believe children are influenced by the elderly and maybe even love to hear stories of how bartering was a thing way back in the day.
I encourage you to come out and visit ourFarmers Market.
Experience it. It's worth it. 
Have you ever bartered for something?
I don't know how far back I have been bartering but I have a knack for it.
Some examples of late have been vegetables out of our gardens for something useful that I need.

-1 gallon Goat milk for a CSA box,
-Homemade towels for cucumbers and onions.
-Family work share helping pack CSA boxes for a year's subscription of CSA. (they come every friday am to help)
-Cement work around our barn for cattle. (back when we still ran cattle)
-Job of putting in a 60 foot drain  in our barn in exchange for trees of his choice. (he still comes buy to get trees after many years)
-Lunch on Fridays for our volunteers who help weed and do odd jobs on Friday mornings.( hard working Elders who offered to help us)
-Eggs for vegetables.
-Petunias for home baked goodies.
-Tuesday night Music lessons for meals. ( one of my best times with youthful homeschoolers)
-Gardening advice just to help out a new gardener!


And the list is long. I remember these transactions because they were made out of an understanding of what we needed at the time and the perceived value of what was bartered. No money, dollars involved... sounds very old fashioned but I love it.
Both parties feel good about it.

Our Seminole Community is so rich in talent, work ethics, and just simply helping a neighbor out.
Asking a neighbor for a cup of sugar and giving back with some baked goods.
Taking time out of our busy day to connect with our fellow man could be involving bartering or exchanging products , time, work and much more.

Wouldn't it be interesting to have a Farmers Market where no money was involved just bartering like in the olden days.
I am reminded that we do have to pay bills and that needs to be paid in dollars. 

I have opened up the comments and would love to hear from you. Or stop by Blumenflor and let's talk!

Dish towels for veggies
Music theory rewards... I went home with dinner ready!
Hardworking young men in the potato fields.
Eggs for veggies
Music Theory class with homeschoolers
The team at Blumenflor with our volunteer family on Friday mornings

    Author-
    ​Alice Susan Wiebe

    I grew up in a family of gardeners. The love of flowers, growing vegetables, and working outdoors runs deep in my veins. College gave me the horticultural backbone to my career as a Commercial Floriculturist.  Blumenflor has its challenges but I am grateful that I have God as my partner in this adventure.
    I love sharing my experiences through this blog... enjoy!              

    Archives

    August 2022
    July 2022
    April 2022
    January 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    August 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    July 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    February 2019
    December 2018
    September 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    September 2016
    July 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • Online Store
  • Farmers Market
  • CSA/Farm Share
Picture