Inside House 1
Redbud Creek Farm came to be sometime in the late 1990s. We’re not sure exactly when, it was not a momentous occasion and it started very small. Nancy Christian was persuaded by her brother Ed Pfaff to join him in a little side enterprise growing plants that he would mostly consume in his landscape business. Ed had gotten a well-used but nice little hoop house that he would erect and recover (House 1) though we would need to bring in electricity and dig a well. We would use a little corner of corn field and see how things would go. The answer was not too well. One of the corollaries of Murphy’s Law states that no matter what a small business like a landscaper has in stock, customers will desire something else. The solution was to begin attending farmers’ markets to sell plants and get acquainted with potential customers as well as to open to the public. That first direct mail post card announcing the existence of the Farm to folks in the area included the offer of a free plant if the customer would bring in the card. Thus began our mailing list tradition that continues to this day of redeeming one’s spring post card (or email coupon) for a free plant.
Inside House 2
By the time the Farm was incorporated in 1999, House 2 had been built and configured with “Ebb & Flow” tables to make growing high quality geraniums possible and a shaded structure (now House 4) had also been added. The Farm really began to have a sense of place when Ed completed what is now called the Check Out or Little Barn in 2000 with a roof, roofline and other architectural elements reminiscent of older local barns. By 2001 the Farm was open 7 days a week, had a land line telephone and was taking credit cards. The next years brought lots of new hoop houses and a variety of other support equipment. In 2002 Nancy made the decision to hire her first full time employee—Phyllis Hecathorn, who right away brought not only a great “can do” attitude and all kinds of great contacts but an absolute raft of décor items to really energize the Farm’s displays. Ed created the Farm’s natural-looking “spring fed” pond in 2004.
The Big Barn
As the season ended in 2006 we were beyond ready for a real building that offered secure storage (away from furry four legged shoppers without high humidity, bright sun, or extreme temperatures). The two-story Big Barn with its wide porches and architecture inspired by some of the area’s nicest old barns became a reality in time for spring of 2007. With the building our long time idea of holding classes and seminars became possible without undue concern for adverse weather or darkness. Though at its core the Big Barn is a fine workspace, it was converted to a shop housing garden accessories and gifts in late fall of 2009 in time for Christmas. Recognizing that we had just lost our venue for the increasingly popular special events and classes, we constructed Acorn Hall in spring of 2010. Acorn Hall is a pole building with large windows, a brick floor and woodstove/fireplace, the perfect space for special events and classes and a beautiful workspace where we do lots of container planting.
Acorn Hall
Three paragraphs is probably more than the average person desires to know about the history of Redbud Creek Farm, yet there is so much that seems important—all of our very special people and their families, the Summer Garden Festivals, the Holiday House Walks, the Little Red Truck. At the very heart of our history are thousands of customers all of whom are deeply appreciated, especially the many who have become very special friends. We have been blessed.