Ann Franzenburg has been known to get phone calls from people wanting to buy pheasants. But they don’t actually sell birds at Pheasant Run Farm.

The Van Horne farm, so named because it was frequented by pheasants when the business got started, is where Ann and her husband, Eric, run their greenhouse operation selling fresh produce, herbs and flowers to local stores and customers worldwide.

“This whole thing started because my husband hates seeing an empty greenhouse,” said Franzenburg.

That was nearly 20 years ago when the couple first started growing herbs, both for culinary and medicinal purposes.

“We would grow our herb plugs in the greenhouse and then plant them in the field so when the greenhouse was empty, which was valuable real estate, we started trying to grow other things,” she recalled

Now managing some 800 acres — between their farm in Van Horne and farmland in Belle Plaine — the couple rotates produce and flowers in their greenhouses to maximize growing capacity.

Read the full article on the Cedar Rapids Gazette website.