Nelsons Herb's Blog

Nelson’s Herb Shop

Nelson’s Herbs, 65391 Dailey Rd. Edwardsburg, MI

574-215-8212.  

Summer Hours Start April 20th: 10am to 6pm Wednesday through Sunday,

Closed Mondays and Tuesday.

Winter Hours Start October 1: 12 Noon to 5pm Thursday through Sunday.

Closed Monday, Tuesdays, and Wednesday

Edited 10-17-22:

We are not your typical farm. Nelson’s Herbs is a Market Farm that services the community and local restaurants directly. We were established in 1989 as an herb garden business with most of the land under tillage for corn or soybeans. In the early 2000’s we grew into an ornamental plant business, adding greenhouses, expanding the display gardens, and in 2007 building a new retail building. In 2015, with my son Jason as my business partner, we got rid of all ornamental and returned a food based business with a focus on bring fresh picked food to the community. Out of the greenhouse we offer a large variety of vegetable and herb plants, and micro-greens. Outside we have 35+ raised bed vegetable and herb gardens for fresh pick harvest. We added a 3 acre warm season grassland prairie in 2017 with trails for walking and to use as an education opportunity as to what a prairie offers in the way of pollinators and the ecology. We have now, in 2020, planted another 3 acres into prairie and have started a Food Forest.  We offer education, and internships.

In the Herb Shop we offer 100’s of dried and packaged herbs and teas. Also we work with a number of local farmers to stock our freezer with local meat and our shelves with local Honey, Maple Syrup, Flour, Cereal, Eggs, Jam, Jelly, Salsa, and Pickles. Other local producers provide us with Fresh Bake Goods, Coffee Beans, Soaps and Lotions, Jewelry, and Art. Also in the Herb Shop are a great selection of books on Farming and Gardening, Cooking, Foraging, Fermenting and many nature based children’s books. We are always adding to this list.

In the future we hope to add another 10 acres to the prairie, add more raised bed gardens and a cold frame for year round greens and cole crop production.

We offer visitors a chance to see how their food is produced which we feel is important, especially for children, to educate visitors on how to raise their own food. We have a yearly charity event in mid May to bring awareness to the local food crisis and people in emergency need that benefits Helping Hands of Cass County.

All farmers support their community, we invite the community in to ‘Get Lost in the Experience”.

I have written for The Edwardsburg Voice for 14 years and am currently the acting Chair of the Cass Michigan County Conservation District.

My son, Jason, is now my business partner and he has a Masters in Zoology with an emphasis on Landscape Ecology. He also was working on his Phd. in Evolution, Ecology, and Environmental Biology only to leave in 2013 to pursue his passion in Brewing Beer and Sustainable Farming.

Things, and life, are always changing.  There is always a new adventure to explore, lots of gardens to weed, and new friends that I haven’t met yet.  So on with LIFE!