“If it bleeds, it leads,” was an adage that stuck in my head early on as a journalist. And, sure, house fires and major traffic accidents would always grab a lead spot above the fold. Readers could be sure to expect follow-up articles fleshing out the initial breaking news. Feature stories also find a prominent place though usually offer more of a one-time perspective. Having passed the 150-column mark this summer writing for Keep Alliance Beautiful, I plan to revisit several of the featured topics and people. “Now & then” will offer updates periodically in the coming months going back anywhere from one to three years, starting with Cindy Helmink’s rural Hemingford greenhouse (July 2021).
For over a year, the home business has sourced a majority of its bedding plant pots from containers that would have been baled at the KAB recycling center. As we separate a couple 50-gallon bags worth, Cindy’s husband, Mike, stops by to collect them. I visited briefly with him about the past growing season on a few occasions and wanted to learn more.
Cindy met me for an interview by her gardening shed on an already warm morning after the county fair concluded and school began. I found a place to sit in the outbuilding among thousands of reused plant containers she had sorted and stacked. Preparation for 2023 had begun.
Compared to 2021, significant changes this past year were the number of plants grown and sales strategy. Cindy said she sold about 2,000 (up from about 1,150) mainly through Valor’s Hardware and Farmers Co-op in Hemingford. Also, she said, “Mike has a friend in the landscaping business. He saved the big tree and shrub containers and he (Mike) has taken up growing those. He started currant bushes and saplings.”
The same structure housed the plants. “We are saving up to put in a geo-thermal greenhouse, and looking into some grants for that,” Cindy said. They will keep the current one with a space for flowers and the other for produce, she added. This past season, extra space came from a new growing shelf in the house. The cold outside, however, proved damaging. Cindy had opened the greenhouse door to check on the plants during a day with minus 11 wind chills. Temperatures inside were right at 32 degrees yet where the frigid air hit killed a couple hundred jalapeno and tomato plants.
Altogether, Cindy said she grew right at 3,000 plants, all from seed for the first time. Of the third she did not sell, some died on weekly trips to Hemingford and back. Many were given to friends. “Maybe that’s a poor business plan, but that’s why I do it,” she said.
Cindy explained that Farmers Co-op did not sell plants before she worked with them in 2021. Neither did Valor’s before they asked her to sell there this year. “They were really great to help promote me and my business,” she said. Cindy added racks in the family Suburban to transport plants to the businesses, which she brought home on weekends to rejuvenate under the warm sun of the greenhouse.
Reused containers will remain a hallmark of the business, to be known as Rustic Roots in 2023. In addition to what we glean from the recycling center, she noted “tons of people” have brought the plant containers back. “I can get several growing seasons out of it.”
Eager to plant again, Cindy talked about raising a couple hundred more cucumbers and a broad range of varieties of pumpkins, squash and tomatoes. Staggering planting dates every couple weeks is another goal to avoid “some gargantuan” plants at the end of the season. “I’ve had tons of requests for flowers,” she said. “I want to do geraniums, petunias and pansies, moss roses, that type of thing. I’m doing some hanging containers (with) whatever I have on hand from recycling.”