Floodwood River Farm is located halfway between Hibbing and Floodwood off of Hwy 73. It is owned by Robert & Jill Hietala. We grow a variety of garden vegetables, berries, annual & perennial flowers. We have some apples and other tree fruit. In addition, we process maple syrup and many varieties of pickles and jam. Jill also knits mittens and kitchen "scrubbies". We sell at the Hibbing Farmers Market on Saturdays and some Tuesdays.
We don't grow a lot of herbs, but do grow dill, cilantro, sweet basil, oregano, mint, sage, lemon balm & rosemary. A young head of dill is shown.
Our fresh lettuce is harvested as close to market as possible. We have a variety of green and red and speckled lettuce. Leaf lettuce, some romaine and loose heads. We carefully rinse it but the customer must also rinse as we grow on sandy soil that splashes on the lettuce when it rains.
Jam is made from mostly our own homegrown ingredients. Many combinations besides what is pictured. Most of our jams are cooked longer and without packaged pectin. These recipes require less sugar and taste great! Just like Grandma used to make...
Made from extremely fresh ingredients all from our garden. We use a recipe handed down from Jill's parents. Customers have told us they have to use extreme self control to ration these pickles or the jar will be empty in no time!
We use flat Italian-type beans in our dilly beans jars. Made just like dill pickles but use beans instead of cucumbers. Taste great and crunchy.
Winters are long with no gardens to tend. Jill knits many pairs of mittens with yarn purchased from Mistee, who makes yarn from sheep fleece, and/or yarn purchased from Hibbing. Mittens made with wool are warmer than acrylic - especially when wet.
Our mixed pickles are made with a variety of in season veggies. Depending on what is available, they may contain cucumbers, carrots, beans, sugar snap peas, onions, garlic, brussel sprouts, Kohl rabi.
Kitchen scrubbies made with polyester yarn. Good for dishes and won't gouge fine items like steel wool would. Also good in the shower for extra grubby hands and feet. :-)
Several varieties of hard neck garlic, from average-mild to hot. Anything left over after market season will be pickled to sell the next season.
Daikon radishes are fairly mild and are also helpful for the soil and garden health. They can grow quite deep and almost need an excavator to harvest without breaking! They are often used in Asian foods and we sometimes add them to our mixed pickles.
Flowers make bad days better and better days great! Most of our flowers are sold in mixed bouquets of whatever is ready on harvest day. Varieties we sell just per stem include gladiolas, sunflowers, peonies, delphinium. Mixed bouquets can contain zinnias, daisies, cone flowers, bachelor buttons, cosmos, calendula and others.
Fresh carrots from the garden are so delicious! Harvested, washed, bunched and to the market within 24 hours. Many different varieties grown, and they all taste like....carrots!
Our jam is made with mostly home grown ingredients. We often mix types of fruit or berries to create a delicious jam. We also use the old-fashioned process of cooking the jam longer until it thickens. Using this process uses a smaller portion of sugar to fruit/berry pulp.
Our salsa is fun to make. We use almost all fresh from the garden ingredients. Mild to hot batches and they are labeled as such. We supplement our ingredients with veggies or herbs from fellow farmers market vendors. Local and fresh!
Beets are packed with healthy vitamins & minerals. We grow mostly red beets with a few goldens too. Young tender beets are great roasted or pickled or boiled. Many people also eat the fresh greens mixed in a salad or steamed like spinach.
Eggplant is just pretty! It is used in many recipes and also as a pasta substitute.
Shredded cabbage and salt. Fermented and sealed. Great in many recipes.
Garlic scapes are cut off the garlic plant to avoid having the plant produce flowers, instead putting energy into forming nice cloves underground. Scapes can be grilled, sauteed, used in any dish in which you would use garlic. Flavorful and slightly milder than the bulb/cloves of garlic. Some people chop them up and freeze them.
Limited amount of strawberries. Grown without chemicals and weeded and harvested by hand. Delicious fresh and used in recipes.
We mostly grow small round radishes called Sparkler or Redhead. They resemble a fishing bobber. A little zippy but not terribly hot. A pretty addition to a relish tray or in fresh salad.
Red rhubarb! Makes pretty breads and treats. We got starts from our neighbor Esther maybe 35 years ago and the plants have been moved several times.
Asparagus spears processed with our dill pickle recipe. Loved by many.
Dark green leafy vegetables are full of nutrients! Ours are grown on sandy soil so be sure to rinse it well. Mix fresh into salads, saute, steam, or fix any way you like.
We grow our cucumbers on strong fences to keep the vegetables cleaner and a bit easier to pick. We have small pickling cucumbers and larger slicing ones too. Either can be eaten fresh.