Phelps Farm

Small diversified farm near Guttenberg, Iowa.

Vegetables • Honey • Maple Syrup • Dry-Aged Beef
Regenerative & organic-focused practices
Grown with intention
Feeding our local community, season by season

09/10/2026

Another batch of maple syrup finished and bottled!

When we make syrup in the spring, we don’t finish and bottle everything at once. Instead, we store some of our “almost finished” syrup in stainless steel canisters.

As we run low throughout the year, we pull out another batch and finish it. We carefully dial in the exact density (Brix), then pump the syrup through our filter press to remove the naturally occurring minerals that can settle out in finished syrup. From there, it goes into the steam bottler and into bottles.

The video is only 8 seconds, but that’s pretty much the whole finishing setup in one shot — evaporator → filter press → bottler → fresh maple syrup.

We have just ONE batch left in storage. Once that’s gone, we’re officially out until the maple trees get back to work next spring!

09/03/2026

This is what we're harvesting this week! 🍅🌶️

Tomatoes, peppers, onions, and cilantro are all coming out of our high tunnels and making their way into our fresh salsa! It's a mild salsa, so everyone can enjoy it!

It's been pretty satisfying being able to turn a bunch of vegetables that we grew ourselves into a finished (and delicious) product!

We'll have a fresh batch of salsa available Saturday at the Dubuque Farmers' Market!

08/31/2026

Ew........but cool thing of the day... 🐛

A tomato hornworm covered in parasitic wasp cocoons. (This is actually on a jalapeno pepper plant ironically)

The past couple of years, we've released parasitic wasps in our high tunnels to help control insect pests. We've known they're out there doing their job, but this is the first time we've actually seen something like this in action!

The wasps lay their eggs in the hornworm, and after the larvae develop inside it, they emerge and spin these little white cocoons all over the outside.

Pretty gruesome if you're the hornworm...but pretty cool if you're the farmer whose plants the hornworm was eating.

We'll happily let nature handle this one!

08/30/2026

We hatched ourselves a goose on August 1st! Meet Pickles. 🪿

Pickles is a Sebastopol goose—you know, the kind with the long, white, curly, fluffy feathers. Pickles has a little growing to do before all those fancy feathers show up, though.

For now, Pickles has become quite the little sidekick and loves going on adventures around the farm. Apparently running through the yard with the kids is also part of the daily routine.

Pickles is slowly being acclimated to life outside and will eventually join the rest of our flock!

08/24/2026

Summer crops headed out, fall and winter crops going in!

We did some tremendous weeding in High Tunnel #3 this weekend and hauled in another round of compost. The soil in this tunnel is still pretty heavy clay, so we're slowly working on building it up and improving it each season.

It's definitely a work in progress, but every load of compost helps. And after removing our summer crops, cleaning up the beds, and getting everything ready again, there's something pretty satisfying about seeing the next round of crops already growing.

On the left we've got fall and winter crops coming along (Brussels sprouts, broccoli, and a few other small crops), while the jalapeño peppers on the right are still producing and will stick around for a while yet.

Farm seasons have a funny way of overlapping. 🌱

08/20/2026

🍂 Fall CSA registration is open!

Our Fall CSA is a short 4-delivery season, with boxes going out every other week:

🥕 October 6
🥬 October 20
🥦 November 3
🥕 November 17 (stock up for Thanksgiving!)

Each box typically includes 6–10 varieties of produce, with more of the cool-weather and seasonal crops we grow in the fall. Boxes are sized for about 1–2 people who enjoy eating plenty of fresh produce. We typically include lettuce mix or head lettuce each week when available.

One of the nice things about our CSA is that you can customize your box each delivery. Don't need another bunch of kale? Want more lettuce? Swap things around based on what's available that week. We won't be offended if kale isn't your thing.

Going to be gone for one of the deliveries? You can skip a week without losing the value of your share. The value of that box stays in your account as farm credit that you can use toward other available products.

We offer:
• Home delivery
• Drop-site pickup
• Farm pickup

Fall is one of our favorite growing seasons. Cooler weather means a different mix of crops than you'll see during the summer, and the high tunnels help us keep things growing well into November.

Shop Fall CSA options here:
https://grownby.com/farms/phelps-farm-llc/shop

08/17/2026

🍅 NEW PRODUCT ALERT: FRESH SALSA! 🌶️

It’s been a little while since we’ve posted, but we’ve been busy working on something delicious! We’ve been perfecting our fresh salsa, made with ingredients grown right here on the farm. 🌱

🍅 Tomatoes
🌶️ Peppers
🧅 Onions
🌿 Cilantro
🍋 Lime juice
🍬 A little sugar
🧂 Salt

Okay… we’ll admit it. We haven’t quite figured out how to grow limes yet. 😂

Our salsa is mild and full of fresh flavor, but if you like a little more heat, you can always jazz it up with a few jalapeños! 🔥

And that’s not all! We’ve also restocked our Basil Salt, back by popular demand, along with our homemade Vanilla Extract. 🌿🍦

It’s been a busy season, but we’re excited to have some new and returning favorites available again!

08/05/2026

🍅 Tomato season has officially entered its "we can barely keep up" phase.

Our CSA shares went out the door today, many packed with a colorful mix of tomatoes, and these plants aren't slowing down anytime soon.

At this rate, if you stand still too long in the tunnel, there's a decent chance we'll send you home with two or three tomatoes. 🍅😄

What's everyone making with their tomato haul? Salsa, BLTs, pasta sauce, or are you just eating them straight off the cutting board?

07/31/2026

🚫 Things You Shouldn't Touch on the Farm – Part 2

Today's contestant: The Forbidden Piñata. 🪅🐝

Hanging innocently inside one of our high tunnels is a temperature and humidity sensor housing. It helps run our tunnel automation system and does a great job keeping track of the growing environment.

Unfortunately, some "friendly" insects decided it made a great place to build a home.

Meet the newest tenant: a very unhappy-looking yellow jacket and its buzzing security system. 😳

While it may look like a harmless little box hanging from the ceiling, this is one piñata you definitely do NOT want to swing at.

Yellow jackets are territorial, especially when protecting their nest. Don't ask how we know this.... 😬

We'll let them keep their little high tunnel apartment for now... but an eviction notice is coming soon!

🛑 When in doubt... DON'T TOUCH IT!

07/26/2026

Guess how long it took us to dice 90+ pounds of tomatoes, peppers, and onions... 🤔🍅🌶🧅

Today was a test run with our Sprint 2 dicing machine to see how well it would handle fresh salsa ingredients.

We loaded it up with tomatoes, peppers, onions, and fresh cilantro, and turned all those fresh ingredients into about 90 pounds of salsa.

From washing and prepping to dicing and mixing, the whole process took about an hour.

I'd call that a successful experiment! During harvest season, every minute counts, and equipment like this helps us spend less time chopping and more time growing great food.

Would you have guessed it only took an hour?

Address

33127 Kiln Road
Guttenberg, IA
52052

Telephone

+15636556080

Website

http://Phelpsfarmsiowa.com/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Phelps Farm posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Phelps Farm:

Want your business to be the top-listed Grocery Store in Guttenberg?