Cedar Creek Gardens

08/19/2026

Get one down to The Market health food store and grab one. Chris is correct. They are super sweet.

08/19/2026

Stands are still fully stocked. Super sweet cantaloupe and melons are still producing. Getting another load of fruit tomorrow peaches, pears, plums and a few apples.

08/14/2026

Serious inquring garden minds need to know. Anyone seen any in bloom?

The goldenrod just started a six week countdown 🌾

There is an old farm rule that has been passed down for generations, and it holds up better than you might expect. When goldenrod first blooms, first frost is roughly six weeks out. According to the Farmers' Almanac, this old folk rule is surprisingly accurate across much of the United States, and there is real biology behind why it works as well as it does.

Goldenrod is not blooming on a whim or reacting to a warm stretch of weather. It is what botanists call a photoperiodic plant, meaning it flowers in response to shortening day length rather than temperature. As nights grow longer heading into fall, goldenrod picks up on that shift and triggers its bloom cycle right on schedule. Frost arrival is also tied to the same underlying seasonal clock, cooling nights and a lower sun angle, which is exactly why two things that seem unrelated on the surface, a wildflower blooming and the first hard frost, end up following a fairly consistent timeline relative to each other.

This is different from a lot of garden folklore, because it is not really predicting the future so much as reading a calendar the plant already has built into it. Temperature can shift bloom timing slightly year to year, with a hot summer nudging goldenrod to open a touch earlier and a cool one delaying it, but the six week gap between first bloom and first frost tends to hold up reasonably well as a rule of thumb rather than an exact science.

There is a bonus to this old rule too. Goldenrod is not just a seasonal clock, it is one of the most valuable late season nectar sources in the entire garden. It fuels monarch butterflies fueling up for migration and gives bumblebee queens the reserves they need to survive winter, all while quietly counting down toward the season's first frost.

Goldenrod is native and hardy across nearly the entire country, from USDA zone 2 through zone 8 depending on the species, so this is a countdown almost any gardener nationwide can watch play out in their own yard. If you spotted that first gold bloom this week, it might be time to start thinking about your last tender plants and when to bring them in.

08/13/2026

Since midnight we haven’t had electricity, hopefully soon. We weathered last night storm with no damage and it was brutal winds so praise the lord and thankful he heard our prayers. Some would not call preparing a meal by a camping light as anything to be thankful for but as I prepare supper I am thankful we still have a garden from which I grabbed the peppers and onions, the meat in the freezer is still frozen due to the generators. A huge shout out to all the business today in Philip- Pat and Craig at Philip Motor who went to the bone pile looking for some parts so we could redneck another generator into use, Angie who had and abundance of patience at Philip Hardware and took the time to help find electrical parts, to Jaylee and Rachel at Napa who let me loose in the back trying this and that to make a make shift muffler.
A huge shout out to Bud and Kyle who took numerous calls and picture text about “this work??”
It reminds me of 1 Thessalonians 5:18, which reminds believers to "give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
He saved us from the storm, gave us small town hospitality and no one at that garden came away with battle scars from a day of stress. So yes thankful and humble standing by the BBQ grill cooking supper listening to a gentle rain and ending another day.

08/04/2026

The passion and ingenuity behind Cedar Creek Gardens take a look behind the scenes with us.

Cedar Creek Gardens raises nutrient dense fruits and vegetables as ...

07/30/2026

Oh can’t wait to try this
Something different
https://www.crazyforcrust.com/cinnamon-zucchini-coffee-cake/

07/28/2026

What a fun day. It was a honor to talk to such an inquisitive and engaged group.

07/21/2026

What a fun article to do. NRCS is awesome to work with. https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/state-offices/south-dakota/news/cedar-creek-gardens-thinking-big-growing-local

07/21/2026

Awesome place to shop locally. The Market health food store

04/05/2026

The Parable of the Modern Saturday
Imagine a man living in a house with no windows. He has a lamp, but the fuel is running low. He spends his days polishing the furniture and rearranging the rugs, trying to find meaning in the patterns of the fabric.

He hears rumors of a "Sun"—a light that exists outside the walls—but because he cannot see it, he dismisses it as a myth. Eventually, his lamp flickers out. He is left sitting in the dark, clutching a chair he can no longer see, waiting for a morning he doesn't believe is coming. That is life without the hope.

Life Without the "Sunday" Perspective
When we live in a perpetual "Saturday"—a life without the hope of Jesus—the outlook is grim.

1. Grief Without an Anchor: The price of love is grief. without the hope of reuniting in heaven, grief is a dead end. It becomes a permanent state rather than a valley we walk through. Faith is the quiet whisper to our souls that this goodbye, however long it feels, is merely a "see you later" until we meet again in perfect light.

2. The Fragility of Joy: In a Saturday-only world, joy is a temporary chemical reaction. It is fragile because it depends entirely on circumstances being perfect. If the "Tomb" is the end of the story, then any joy of the day, we find is ultimately destined to decay.

Life Lesson: We often feel like we are living in a "Saturday"—stuck in a season of silence, disappointment, or darkness. But the existence of Jesus means that the "Saturday" of our lives is never the final chapter.
The phrase "He is Risen" is more than a greeting; it is a declaration that the "Saturday" version of life need be no more. The agonizing silence of Saturday was broken by the sound of a stone rolling and a voice calling a name in the garden. It reminds us that even when God seems silent, He is often doing His most significant work in the dark.

We no longer have to fear the "end." Sunday proves that the end of our earthly strength is simply the beginning of His heavenly power. Today, we don't just remember an event from two thousand years ago. We celebrate a current reality. The weight of Saturday has been lifted. The light has broken through. HE IS RISEN INDEED