Travelling between Zumbrota and Wanamingo, you may have beheld a beautiful site-- 2 acres of Sunflowers, faces following the sun!
Clint and Erica Irrthum are dairy farmers from Wanamingo, living in Zumbrota. They were married in December2022, and had a great idea to bring to Hiway 60 travelers. Buck and Honey's Sunflower Patch is a fun place to spend some time playing in the sun, with a petting Zoo, Photo opportunities, a sunflower maze, children's play area and u-pick sunflowers for $1 a stem. Or if you want the flowers and not the experience of picking them, they will pick a bunch for you (6 for $10) or you may purchase a prepicked bouquet of an assortment of flowers from the family farm to bring home to brighten your day. And since the sunflowers are the bird feed variety, no, you can't eat the seeds!
The Children's area features every child's favorite.... a dried corn sandbox to play in, and make a big mess if they want to! Also, there are bales of straw to conquer, and a petting zoo. The Petting Zoo consists of a calf, 2 alpacas, and some sheep and goats from the family farm.
The Irrthums show Ayrshire cattle on a national level, along with milking 60 cows a day, and both also hold down full time jobs. Their plan is to be the next generation of Irrthum dairy farmers, so they are one busy couple! The Patch is open only 3 weekends this year, and this coming weekend (Aug 10th through the 13th) will be their last weekend for farm fun, so be sure to head over and check them out. Their hours are Thursday and Friday from 2 pm to 8 pm, and Saturday and Sunday from 10 am to 8 pm.
Clint is working toward a diversified planting schedule, doing crop rotations with cover crops to give the soil on the farm more nutrients. The sunflowers will be tilled into the soil, and a crop planted to revitalize the soil for next year's crop of golden happiness. (How can you not smile when you drive by all those happy flowers??) Personally, I am hoping he may do some informational talks on soil diversity next year. It is a topic near and dear to my heart.
Erica has some plans for next year's activities, including a Farmer's Market of sorts, and other activities to bring the community together for summer fun. For more information on the venue, go to their Facebook page at Buck and Honey's.
