Love of gardening leads to new family business

A family’s love of gardening and sewing has led to a new business in Dodge Center.
Herbs & Things is the business name and a stop by the family farm at 60576 205th Ave. will lead you to a variety of herb and plants to purchase as well as an assortment of embroidered flour sack towels, hand-sewn fabric baskets, aprons, potholders, lotion bars, rosemaling and more.
“It started from a love of gardening and sewing,” said Donna Schmidt, who although she lives in Nevada, is back in Dodge County now helping her mother, Evonne Carlson and brother Chad Carlson and other family members with Herbs & Things.
“This is like a dream come true,” she said.
While Schmidt said her favorite thing to do in the garden is weed, her brother Chad is the one who researches the herbs they grow.
Right now they are selling herbs in six-inch pots including basil, borage, calendula, chamomile, chives, fennel, thyme, sage, cilantro and oregano. Later in the spring and early summer there will be fresh cut herbs and dried herbs will be available mid- to late-summer, she said.
Herbs are also offered in pots in three-herb combinations. The Italian mix, for example, includes oregano, sage and fennel. Then there is the Bloody Mary pot with a Roma tomato, jalepeno pepper and celery.
They also sell a limited selection of vegetables, she said, including sweet and hot peppers, Roma tomatoes, celery, cucumbers and kohlrabi. The current vegetable selection is for plants in six-inch pots although fresh vegetables will be available later in the summer.
The family decided to limit their tomato selection to Roma tomatoes, she said, because they do a lot of canning and have found that the Roma works best for this.
While they offer only one type of tomato when it