A Farm Tour with Dion
- Debra Flaming
- Sep 23
- 2 min read
Tools, Trials, and Lessons Learned
If you’ve ever wondered how a dahlia farm in the heart of Idaho keeps all its wheels turning, you’ll enjoy this little behind-the-scenes tour with Dion. I made a video recently where he narrated some of the projects and equipment that keep Flaming Acres humming along, and today I thought I’d share the highlights with you.
Turning Corn into Corrugation
Leave it to Dion to take an old corn planter and transform it into something new! With a little ingenuity (and a lot of tinkering), he remade it into a single-row corrugator. The result? Better weed control in the dahlia field and a tool that perfectly fits our scale of farming.
Sprayers, Irrigation, and Water Rhythms
Dion also gave a tour of his sprayer and explained the different things he uses it for. Water, of course, is the lifeline of the farm. We irrigate with good old-fashioned sprinkler pipes, and Dion shared how often he waters depending on heat and plant growth. Dahlia roots love consistency, and he’s learned to balance just the right amount of moisture with Idaho’s warm summer sun.
From Potatoes to Dahlias
It only makes sense that in the potato state, we’d borrow a little know-how from that crop. Dion has his eye on an organic potato planter that he intends to remake into a dahlia tuber planter. To harvest, he uses a single-row potato digger—another nod to Idaho roots as we transition from spuds to tubers of the floral kind.
The Bee House Becomes a Dahlia Den
One of Dion’s current projects is transforming a leaf cutter bee house into a temperature-controlled storage shed for overwintering our tubers. It’s a big step forward from our previous storage solutions, and we’re excited about the possibilities it opens for keeping our tubers safe and sound until planting season.
The Weeds and the Hoe
Not everything can be mechanized, of course. Between the larger pieces of equipment, we’ve spent plenty of hours this year out in the rows with a hoe in hand. Farming has a way of keeping you humble—sometimes the simplest tools are the most necessary.
Lessons Learned in Year Two
This season has been one big classroom, teaching us what worked and what we’ll do differently next year:
We’ll plant rows 40 inches apart instead of 60 to help with plant support.
We won’t skip topping—this year’s plants grew too tall and top-heavy.
Dion will be sure to push more dirt up around the base of each plant for stability.
We’ll plant earlier—end of April to early May instead of waiting until late May and June. The extra time will let the plants establish before summer heat and take advantage of spring rains and cooler soils.
Growing in Grace
Every year brings new discoveries and challenges, but also more joy in the work. We’ve come to love the rhythm of learning and improving—knowing that with each season, the dahlias will teach us something new. From repurposed machinery to refined growing practices, we’re building a legacy one tuber at a time.
And as Dion likes to remind me, there’s always another project waiting just around the corner.
With dirt on my boots and hope in my heart,
Debra Flaming
