Farm Updates

7/1: Our Blain's and JFK Rd locations will be open today from 9am-1pm.  Sweet corn will begin on 7/2 at both locations at 9am.  Beginning on 7/3, we will move to our regular summer hours: the JFK Rd location will open at 8am on weekdays and 9am on weekends.  The Blain's location will open at 9am all 7 days a week.  We will also have sweet corn at the Dubuque Farmers' Market on Saturday, 7/4.  We have a lot more produce available now.  Quantities and types of produce can vary on a daily basis.  Muskmelons usually start around mid-July, and watermelons usually start around the 3rd week of July.  All is dependent on the weather and growing conditions.  This 2026 year has given us many challenges with the weather.  We had abnormally warm temperatures in parts of April, then frost/freezes in early May.  We have had a very windy spring, and storms that absolutely drenched with water.  Most recently we have had extreme heat.  The temperatures have certainly been on a rollercoaster so far. Hopefully things will settle in and create more stable growing conditions for our crops.    

2025 Sweet Corn began on July 3rd and ended on October 2nd.  2024 Sweet Corn began on July 5th and ended on September 30th.  We begin planting sweet corn as soon as weather conditions and soil temperatures permits us.  Once we start planting each season, we must continuously plant roughly every 5 days, through mid July.  When we start harvesting, we only have a small window of time to pick the sweet corn once it reaches maturity.  If we harvest too soon, the kernals may not be as plump or as juicy, and may not have its full sweetness.  If we harvest too late, the kernals are not as tender and the sugars begin to change to starch, resulting in a chewier texture that is not as sweet.  We pick out of each section of planting for roughly 3-5 days.  We plant about 16-20 times each season, so that we can harvest corn for around 3 months.  It is difficult to exactly predict the beginning and last days of corn, as the speed of growth is very much weather dependent, despite our best efforts.  During the last 10 years, our sweet corn has begun between July 3rd and July 14.  Our earliest ever start to our sweet corn season was on June 24, 2012.  The timing of our first sweet corn date depends completely on the weather in the early growing season.  Our sweet corn typically ends in mid-late September, all weather dependent.  We have typically planted our first sweet corn between April 1st - April 22th.