Photos courtesy of Dr. Toni Beebout-Bladholm In the beginning three years ago: Jack Beebout,, left, and Dr. Toni Belebout-Bladholm.

Imagine, if you will, a wildflower farm where families come with their picnic baskets and coolers, watch their children gallop around the grounds, pick wild flowers that grow on-site, listen to an acoustic guitar player sitting on the porch of the shop, and enjoy the slow evening pace and the rural scenery while being warmed by a nearby campfire.

The nirvana is not in Southern California. Rather, it’s located between Milroy and Vesta.

It’s the brainchild of Dr. Toni Beebout-Bladholm, who started the venture three years ago with her son, Jack.

“There aren’t many flower farms around,” said Beebout-Bladholm from a small conference room at Southwest Minnesota State University, where she is an assistant professor of Education. She taught for 20 years at Marshall High School before moving to the college. “Plus, there’s not a lot of female farmers out there. I got a few side glances from the neighbors when I started it.

The business is a labor of love for Beebout-Bladholm, and honors a trio of deceased family members: her brother Brooks, who passed in 2006; her mother, Gwen, who passed in 2008; and her father, Ron Beebout, who passed in 2021.

“He was the original badass and why we named it what we did,” she said. “He was loyal, honest, and hard working.” There’s a photo of him on site, before we went to Vietnam.

“It’s a tribute to my family and especially my dad,” she said. “He always said leave the world a better place, and that’s what I’m trying to do.”

Beebout-Bladholm sold her wildflowers at farmer’s markets in Redwood Falls, Walnut Grove, and Lamberton last year. This coming summer they’ll be for sale at farmer’s markets in Redwood Falls and Marshall.

Besides those places, the wildflowers are also available to be picked at special events held regularly at the farm site during the spring and summer months.

“They’re ’70s events,” said Beebout-Bladholm, something of a free-spirited flower child herself.

The flower garden address is 13702 300th St., Vesta.

“It started with one garden and now has expanded,” she said. “I live on 16-acres, I would guess the wildflowers take up a couple of acres.”

There’s also a couple of hundred acres of land on the other side of Milroy, which she also farms.

“I hire someone to plant and harvest,” she explained. “I was asked whether I’d sell the land (after her father died), but I just couldn’t do that. It’s been quite an education.”

Beebout-Bladholm is quick to credit the help she receives from her “Breakfast Club,” named after that 1985 high school movie classic.

She mentions Anna Brusven from Cottonwood, “a homesteader-to-be who starts seeds in her basement”; Piper Ridge, a Redwood Valley senior who she met teaching a College Now class last summer; Lilly Tabaka, an aspiring English teacher attending MSU Mankato, and occasionally, her sister, Sally; Kelly Deutz, “an angel from above who comes across things that would make good for flower arrangements”; Derek Deutz, who often plays guitar and sings at the events; Erin Rahm, a former Marshall student and talented floral designer; Brock Schultz, a friend of her son’s who does the heavy lifting; her son, Jack, who is the business’s CFO; and her daughter, Dr. Alexandra Bladholm, who is inspiration and continued support.

Beebout BadAss Bouquets was created to honor the memory of a trio of deceased family members and, taking a step back for clarity, Beebout-Bladholm sees her “Breakfast Club” group as a new family unit.

Her son, Jack, has been instrumental in helping the business grow, literally and figuratively.

“CFO sounds fancy, but in a small family business it really means wearing a lot of hats. I handle the financial side — budgeting, tracking costs, pricing and making sure we’re growing in a sustainable way. I’m also involved in operations, marketing ideas, event planning and even hands-on projects around the property,” he said.

“Jack is wild and free, he’s a dreamer like me, which is good,” said Beebout-Bladholm.

Jack played a key role in the construction of a 50-x-50 shop/store last year, one of the improvements planned for the business.

“The goal is to keep improving the experience each year — more flowers, better infrastructure and more unique events. We also hope that at some point it can be a place people are able to rent out for their own events, making it an even more meaningful gathering space for the community,” said Jack Bladholm.

Jack is on schedule to earn his MBA in finance from SMSU this August. And although his future in the immediate area is not certain, he wants to help build the business so it nearly runs itself.

“Everything I’m learning now feeds directly back into what we’re building here,” he said. “My goal is to help get the farm to a place where it runs smoothly on its own. I probably won’t be able to stay here full-time, so I’d like to have strong systems in place and help it grow to the point I can still help oversee things from wherever my career takes me.”

Beebout-Bladholm’s daughter, Alexandra, works at St. John’s Medical Center in St. Paul and helped get Beebout BadAss Bouquets up and running.

She truly enjoys being a bib overall-wearing “rainbow idealist” and gets a lot of satisfaction when she steps back and sees how BadAss Beebout Bouquets has grown, and how the public enjoys the events which are held regularly during the warm months.

There’s all sorts of wildflowers at BadAss Beebout Bouquets, and not all of them are perennials. Dahlias, for instance, must be dug up and kept inside during the winter months.

“There’s 500 of them in my son’s basement right now,” she said. Other non-perennial varieties grown include snapdragons, zinnias and some daisies.

Many of the summer events are themed. For instance, there was a 4F’s theme — flowers, friends, fires and flannel; and a Wild West night. There’s also a food truck — Rolling Hills Pizza — available during the events, too.

“We’ll schedule them about every other week and they’ll go until the end of October.”

Beebout-Bladholm is philosophical about the business. “I hope I’m teaching people that you’re never too old to start new stuff. Look at me! I know that what I am doing is nuts. But I really feel like I am sharing a piece of life that just doesn’t exist anywhere else. You don’t need a lot of money, you don’t need to get dressed up, you just get to be, and happiness is a choice.”

I loved my family, and I know that they would be proud of what this home has become — a place where everyone is welcome, flowers grow freely, it doesn’t cost much to have an incredible evening with friends, and you go home with an incredible homegrown bouquet that was grown with love.”