Winter Reflections

As we begin the new year, we celebrate the accomplishments of the past twelve months and look forward to the new opportunities and challenges that lay ahead.

In reflecting on 2025, we couldn’t be more grateful for the fun, knowledge and connection that the farm brought to us this year. Here are some milestones from our first year of managing Amowa Acres:

December 7, 2024 – Tarasi family hand seeded the 100+ species research plots
December 11, 2024 – US Fish and Wildlife seeded the 30+ species borders
January 30 – Tarasi research crew begins installation of permanent prairie survey plot markers
February 22 – Garden starts are sowed indoors
April 18 – Hosted our first public event, Earth Day at Amowa. Together with over a dozen new and old friends, we planted 50+ trees, including 10 different species. We also prepped the garden space with weed tarp and a blow torch!
May 4 – Planted strawberry starts in the garden and began transplanting indoor starts into the garden
May 23 – Hosted a Garden and Bonfire event, where friends helped us finish planting our first garden at Amowa
June 24 – Celebrated National Pollinator Week and began to harvest blooms from our garden
July 13 – Visited Sacred Blossom Farm – we were inspired by the hard work of Farmer Tony and grateful to receive some new transplants for the farm
July 15 – U.S. Fish and Wildlife interns started collecting data on our native species research plots
August-September – Hiked, harvested and enjoyed campfires at the farm, everything was blooming abundantly!
October 11 – Hosted our 3rd Annual Fall Fest celebrated with (freshly harvested) tea and pumpkins, snacks, games and great friends!
October 21 – Harvested our last haul of the fall
December – Crafted our first herbal tea mix, created hand lotion and lip balm from dried calendula and chamomile flowers. Packed our first Amowa gift boxes and shared with family and friends as Christmas gifts.
December 31 – Had a bonfire and played ghosts in the graveyard to celebrate the end of a fantastic year of farming and fellowship!

We are headed into the new year with gratitude. We’re looking forward to seeing the impact of lessons learned, hard work and exciting new plans for 2026!