Loomis Gardens, growing strong

By Mickey Tibbits
The Free Press

WINNEBAGO October 25, 2007 01:18 am

— You can take the boy, or girl, off the farm, but you can’t take the farm out of either of them. The cliche certainly applies to Carol and Paul Loomis.
Both were born and raised on farms and now, years later, they still toil in the soil, growing vegetables, fall ornamental items, fruit and flowers.
“Paul lives and breathes agriculture,” said his wife, Carol. He graduated from the University of Minnesota with an agriculture education degree and at one time was the vocational agriculture teacher at Winnebago High School.
“It’s very satisfying to furnish fresh vegetables to people in the community,” Paul said. Covered by a large canopy, the lawn in front of their store has wagons and tables full of Halloween pumpkins, squash and gourds with vibrant oranges, yellows, green and gold in every size, shape and texture.
They also carry fall decorative items — bittersweet, broom corn, ornamental corn and mums. Plus there are vegetables and fruits to eat: onions, garlic and apples.
“We have an excellent location,” said Carol, referring to Highway 169 running past the store. They draw a steady stream of customers from Amboy, Fairmont, Blue Earth, Wells and Mankato. There are times people are lined up, especially when the juicy red tomatoes ripen.
The couple grows enough vegetables to stock Loomis Gardens seven days a week from the first week in August through Halloween. They actually start selling weekends in April when the asparagus pokes through the chilly soil and then sell other vegetables in season throughout the summer.
Open 10 hours a day, seven days a week for three months, the garden center uses the honor system. When neither Carol nor Paul are there, customers put money in a box out front. “It allows us to get our other work done,” Paul said.
The pumpkins, squash and gourds were bumper crops this year. “We worried about it when it was so hot and dry in June and July,” Carol said.
The Loomises belong to the Minnesota Fruit and Vegetable Association, attending the annual state conferences and planning to go to the national expo in Michigan this year.
“We get a lot of ideas there,” Carol said. They experiment growing different products and offering new varieties each year. This year they have a new onion called Big Daddy. Three years ago they started selling Sweet Lightning, a cute little cross between a squash and gourd.
Carol saw Cushaw squash in a decorating magazine and decided to send for the seeds. This large green-striped squash with a curved neck can be baked or used raw in salads or used for decoration. Australian squash and white pumpkins also have been good sellers. Another novelty item is their blue potatoes.
They sometimes add new products, such as sweet potatoes last year, only to discover there is no local market or the fruit or vegetable is too labor intensive. “Grapes are too hard to harvest,” Paul said. “You can pick a tomato in 10-15 seconds, but it takes three to four minutes to pick a pound of grapes for 50 cents a pound.”
“I’m the person who sets the limits,” Carol said. “We try not to get in too deep.”
“Raspberries and strawberries are too much labor for people our age,” said Paul, who is 73. Carol, 70, said they are both healthy and able to work hard because of “gardening and good food.”
Paul plans on growing and selling produce until he can’t do it anymore. Carol plans on 10 more years.
The couple visit farmers markets and other produce stands to set their own prices. “The Minnesota Fruit and Vegetable Association urges us to stay in the same range as other markets,” Carol said. “We try to stay in the same range as the local grocery store. We don’t undersell them or charge more than what people are used to paying.”
They grow their produce on three acres at different spots, including land behind their home in Winnebago. Paul also bought 18 lots in town at an auction several years ago. This year he rented additional land.
Some of the food is donated to the local food shelf and to the Adolescent Treatment Center of Winnebago after they close on Halloween. They also donate pumpkins and other produce to local assisted-living facilities in the fall.
“We’ve always had a big garden,” Carol said.
“It’s very satisfying work,” added Paul.

If You Go
What: Loomis Gardens, selling vegetables, pumpkins and other fall ornamental items, fruit and flowers.
Where: 210 N. Main St. (Hwy 169), Winnebago
When: 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., seven days a week until Halloween.
Information: (507) 839-4307

Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.