A wrapped bouquet from Five R Farm. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

REINBECK – You don’t have to venture outside the town of Reinbeck anymore to procure fresh farm flowers with the opening of Five R Farm’s new Flower Hut.

“It was a mobile kegerator that (my husband) Ben (Robertson) had purchased. He never ended up using it and it had been sitting at the farm for over a year or so. I had been wanting to do some sort of flower farmstand and I realized I could convert it to a mini stand,” Five R Farm’s Holly Robertson explained in an email regarding her new, bright yellow self-serve flower stand located in the alley behind 309 Broad St. in Reinbeck.

“I asked Nelson Sager to convert it and he and his sons Lewis and Brennen helped him. They pulled out all the keg tubing, CO2 tank and the taps, added the barn doors and the metal roof (roofing scraps leftover from our house roof).”

Folks who frequent the Reinbeck Farmers Market on Saturday mornings can often find Holly selling her fresh floral arrangements, veggies, honey, and more from her location in front of her and Ben’s other business, The Dig Inn. Her decision to open a self-serve stand stemmed from the simple fact that flowers bloom on more than just Saturdays.

“Mother Nature has her own schedule so even though I sell at the Saturday Reinbeck Farmers Market, flowers are blooming all week. I always want the flowers to have the longest vase life, so Monday’s and Tuesday’s flowers would often be composted,” she said.

The Flower Hut parked last weekend at Five R Farm. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

For the next couple months, Holly said dahlias will be front and center in the Flower Hut’s offerings (wrapped and vase flowers) as well as honey harvested from Five R Farm’s very own hive.

“I also plan to make wreaths – both holiday and dried – later in the fall,” she added.

Currently, the Flower Hut is stocked with small quantities; restocks will be posted to both Five R Farm’s Facebook and Instagram. Cash and Venmo are accepted as payment. Instructions, including a QR code, along with a price sheet are located on the hut’s inside door.

In terms of the recent revival in fresh flower love, particularly among Gen Z, Holly said social media is at least partially behind the trend.

“I believe the flower craze is definitely because of social media – so much eye candy! And flowers have never gone out of fashion. So many flower lovers out there love a vase of fresh flowers to enjoy inside. And locally-grown flowers provide so much more variety than the usual grocery store bouquets.”

The interior of Five R Farm’s new Flower Hut. The self-service hut, made from an old mobile kegerator, is currently stocked with both fresh flowers and honey, all from the farm’s rural Reinbeck location. The Flower Hut can be found in the alley behind 309 Broad St., Reinbeck. PHOTO COURTESY OF HOLLY ROBERTSON

None of Five R Farm’s flowers are sprayed with insecticide, she said, even with the swarms of aphids that have plagued parts of Iowa this summer.

“I don’t want to harm the beneficial insects, the bees nor the soil, and also don’t want to be handling it myself or pass on the harmful chemicals to my customers. So instead, I’ve been using green lacewing larvae, which consume aphids voraciously.”

With autumn on the horizon, now is certainly a perfect time to add some fresh flowers to the kitchen table before the dormancy of winter sets in. And if you’re in Reinbeck, you don’t have to travel far to do so.

For more information on the Flower Hut, visit Five R Farm on Facebook or Instagram.

PHOTO COURTESY OF HOLLY ROBERTSON

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER