Extension > Food > Small Farms > Faces of our farmers > Mark and Laurie Timm
Mark and Laurie Timm, Altura
We all have roots in the land...
April weather and farming have at least one item in common - variability.
On a late-April morning, the sunrise is obscured by a cool thunderstorm. But, by mid-day, the sun creeps out, making it critical to prop open the windows on Laurie and Mark Timm's hoophouse. This plastic-covered hut is filled with tender seedlings arranged neatly in trays. If the windows aren't opened, the heat will rise quickly, cooking the young plants.
When growing vegetable seedlings, vigilance to detail is required. The Timms grow cool-season vegetables and hot-house flowers, so Laurie pays close attention to the temperatures outside and inside her greenhouses.
Soon, those fast-growing vegetable seedlings will be planted in soil on their organic farm, which has been operated by the Timm family since 1872.
These locally grown vegetables, which Laurie calls "1,000 miles fresher" than trucked-in produce, will soon be for sale at the farmers markets in Winona, Rochester and Plainview. She says people are attracted to locally grown food because it's fresher, it supports the local economy and because of something deeper in our souls - "Everybody has roots to the land," she said.
