Stone Hollow Homestead

Stone Hollow Homestead We are a small family homestead next to the Little Maquoketa River in the Midwest Driftless Region. Stone Hollow Gardens began in 2015.

Christopher and Emily Appelman moved into a windmill house nestled between two limestone ridges. The month after they moved in they broke ground, readying themselves for the garden to follow. A month and a half later they were already selling plant starters at the Dubuque Farmers Market. Since then they have become known as the local foragers and growers. Eight months out of the year they organica

lly farm, cultivate and forage mushrooms, and make jams/preserves with berries gathered from around their local area. Their cultivated mushrooms are grown outside on logs. This growing method enhances flavor and makes each mushroom variety seasonal. Outside of the season they offer dehydrated mushrooms. Stop by the Dubuque Farmer's Market and visit the Stone Hollow Gardens stand. Throughout the season stay updated weakly on what will be at their stand. Dubuque Farmer's Market is every Saturday, beginning the first weekend in May, from 7am to 12pm.

A beautiful week preparing for a very well-deserved and beyond grateful Father’s Day week & weekend with the two most im...
06/19/2026

A beautiful week preparing for a very well-deserved and beyond grateful Father’s Day week & weekend with the two most important as well as beautiful parts of my two-part heart ❤️‍🩹…..Sparrow and Mae Mae Moon…. Grateful to be here, grateful to have survived and to be alive today…… no matter how long it takes me “The Papa” to heal from all the treatment ☢️ in between or the most challenging changes we’ve had to endure in our lives…today Sparrow, Esmae🥰and I are so very grateful🥹 it’s hard to put into words…..

I spent the week while waiting for the girls to arrive creating 50+ 🍄‍🟫grow bags as well as a inoculating them all with future generations of delicious culinary mushrooms to be used in our new and always improving Shroom Shack and cultivation room as well as several Oyster Mushroom varieties now sitting in incubation to offer as ready to fruit mushroom kits for
Dubuque Farmers' Market and beyond!

Also Made our 1st fairly large harvest tasty Shiitake(find fresh among our offerings soon) which we dried to add to our deliciously dried offerings at Market with more coming…..harvested pink and golden oyster from the🍄‍🟫shack as well as a pretty hefty pick’n of scrumptious Portobello…baby and jumbo…. For your slicing,stuffing and grilling needs!

Lions Mane fresh picked & deliciously dried coming soon 😉🍄‍🟫👊! 

Well, I did the mushroom harvesting Sparrow And Esmae did the squeezing pressing for their uniquely and organically made pink lemonade…. Can’t wait for some of that yum! Sowed more than a few seeds in between things to replenish the herb and flower part of our little Stone Hollow stand…..

We ended our Thursday evening overlooking the beautiful Mississippi
By a cozy fire 🔥 While roasting marshmallows For some s’mores, laughter and a great start to a very grateful Father’s Day weekend!

And just like that, we’re back to Friday with Market less than 24 hours away….a very special weekend celebrating life and our time together coming up!

While the girls lay dreaming I write this late night post and can’t feel anything but grateful to be here with my girls!

Now it’s time for This particular Papa to get some rest…..so on that note…..

We’ll see you with bells that on bright and shining tomorrow morning at Dubuque farmers market same space same place

An amazing weekend and partial week with my beautiful girls, even though it rained⛈️most the time much fun was had by al...
06/12/2026

An amazing weekend and partial week with my beautiful girls, even though it rained⛈️most the time much fun was had by all….

An amazing & beyond fun Market with my girls, A couple days of soggy⛈️bottomed 😳camping, rainy day projects & Robot building with Mae Mae & Sparrowhawk, A rainy afternoon spent wrapped up in 🍄‍🟫 grow bag creation…100% in house & Stone Hollow Made with organically produced 🍄‍🟫Cultivation 😉🎉👊 Ingredients….45+ New inoculated 🍄‍🟫 grow bags incubating For future harvests🍄‍🟫and ready to fruit🍄‍🟫kits(proud🎉of that) where created and more on the way….

Beachcombing & agate hunting on the banks of the Mississippi… with a mighty effort, bucket loads of material carefully sifted through…A small treasure of river stones have been procured, A very proud Mae Mae Squeezed up this week’s beyond tasty Pink Lemonade for tomorrow’s Dubuque Farmers' Market And an epic harvest of Portobello big and small was made…….

And Just like that With a little bit of work and a whole lot of play we’re back to Friday with Market less than 24 hours away!

So we’ll see you Bright and shiny Tomorrow
Morning with Deliciously Dried mushrooms, Fresh harvested mushrooms…. Beautiful Golden…Grey Oyster Mushrooms and Portabella’s large & small as well as a few giants for grilling, Stone Hollow medicinals…
extracts, teas, 🍄‍🟫 seasoning blends,
Sparrow & Mae Mae’s tasty and 100% organically made Pink Lemonade, Agates, polished RiverStone’s and a more among our offerings this week….

Looking forward to see the amazing people of Dubuque tomorrow morning…. Grab your Loves and stop on down…. same place
same space…. We’ll see y’all soon.

An amazing and beautiful week my friends….. first and most importantly more time with my girls a new summer schedule put...
06/06/2026

An amazing and beautiful week my friends….. first and most importantly more time with my girls a new summer schedule put in place where finally after almost 8 months the 3 of us get to spend a bit more time with each other every week instead of two days every two weeks….. the girls and I so amazingly grateful for a much needed and beyond wanted change & more TIME with these incredibly important and beyond powerful 2 parts of my at times somewhat broken❤️‍🩹 two-part Heart🥹 Oh my thank you for that !

So….beyond happy and Stone Hollow Homestead heavy we’ll be rolling into Dubuque Farmers' Market bright and shiny this morning with 2 most amazing and beautiful little girls in tow….

The organic cherries🍒pressed organic🍋lemons and a little something extra squeezed….Presto and some of the tastiest pink lemonade this side of the Mississippi has been prepared for all of you as well as freshly harvested out of the rebuilt & always improving Shroom🍄‍🟫shack 100% Organically grown by these two hands with a bit of help from my 🥰girls🥰 Baby 🍄‍🟫Portobello…Golden…Pearl & Pink Oyster Mushrooms🍄‍🟫, Completely restocked Stone Hollow’s own mushroom seasoning blends, 100% restocked Stone Hollow medicinals extracts & Tintures, deliciously dried mushrooms in beautiful abundance….herb🪴starts, flowers, Hosta and much more among our offerings For the amazing people of Dubuque!

In the same spot that we’ve been Setting up those big blue canopies for a little bit over 10 years 7 AM to noon my friends….With smiles and beyond full hearts💕We’ll see you soon !

P.s…. Stone Hollow Homesteads 100% organically made from substrate to harvest ready to fruit mushroom grow kits/bags in three different delicious mushroom varieties……Coming very soon. 🎉🎉😉🍄‍🟫😳👊🎉🎉

After an amazing 3 day visitation with Sparrow and Mae Mae And an incredible market Done well….. this week my Sparrow wa...
05/29/2026

After an amazing 3 day visitation with Sparrow and Mae Mae And an incredible market Done well….. this week my Sparrow was feeling a little under the weather so she cozied up & napped in the trailer while Mae Mae stepped in and stepped up For her big sister while she was feeling down…. She did a fantastic job slinging, pink lemonade, as always this here Papa is so proud of my girls…. Especially Esmae Moon!

Beautiful weekend was had where we took scooter rides down to Mudlake, played games & watched a few of Sparrow And Esmae ‘s favorite movies….. always grateful for the time I get to spend with the girls
Especially nowadays with very little time I’m allowed to spend with them…. Hoping to change that soon 😉🥹👊!

Back to Monday after a great weekend with the girls but as always sad to see them leave…. I’m never gonna get used to that🥹!

Still getting used to the idea that I’m done with treatment and have all this extra time all the sudden Monday through Thursday and as you can imagine beyond Grateful for the extra time I have now….

As you can imagine trying to navigate a life, my two beautiful daughters as well as farmers market with only 24 hours to do so in between Thursday and Saturday it feels pretty amazing the step back a bit in breathe🙏 in between things!

It’s my first week in two months where I’m not Traveling up to Mayo Clinic Monday - Thursday
For ☢️ treatment only Friday at our disposal to prepare for market… incredibly grateful as you can imagine to be done with that part of this journey…. Hopefully 🤞forever.

Spent the week getting all things caught up…. Y’all can look forward to restocking of the good stuff, mushroom seasoning blends 100% restocked every pasty mushroom variety of those tasty blends available…. All extracts have been labeled, bottled and restocked….Maitake, Turkey tail, Red Reishi,
Immune defense & Lions Mane are 100% restocked and Back once again!
We’ll also have a plethora of deliciously, dried mushrooms, A rainbow of fresh harvested Mushrooms from the Shroom shack…. Fresh harvested baby Portobello as well as Florida , Golden and Pink oyster mushrooms will be among our many market offerings this week 😉🍄‍🟫👊
And on the Garden side we’ll be bringing Hostas, assorted Flowers and a generous assortment of herbs and I saved the best for last…. Sparrow And Esmae ‘s beyond delicious and ice cold Pink lemonade !
If you haven’t had a glass of their tasty lemonade yet….
Stop by and grab a glass, You won’t regret it, best pink lemonade this side of the Mississippi and quickly becoming one of my favorites every Saturday!
All the above and a wee bit more coming at you for this week’s Dubuque Farmers' Market 7am - 12noon!

Going to be a beautifully warm day and that sun‘s gonna be shining….. So grab your loves and stop on by for a bit the good stuff
Tomorrow morning!
Looking forward to seeing everybody,
I got a feeling it’s gonna be a great market day!

See you soon….

Went through the hardest and longest week yet up at Mayo clinic, finishing out these last steps to our journey and the e...
05/22/2026

Went through the hardest and longest week yet up at Mayo clinic, finishing out these last steps to our journey and the end to a very aggressive version of maintenance ☢️ radiation….. every day scans in conjunction with every day proton therapy and Crossing our fingers🤞 that we never have to do this again that the job is done and Sparrow, Esmae and the Papa can move on and start the rebuild of our new life…..

Back at home all precarious things put aside and no more back-and-forth trips to Mayo for a while! Grateful for that and so many other amazing things after surviving the last And longest couple years of my life and finally getting to somewhat of a
good place 😉🤞🥹👊!

Excited to be back home awaiting my girls for our every other week 2 to 3 day visitation and a memorial day weekend that I’m personally holding close today 😉 if you can imagine this here Papa is beyond excited to see my beautiful girls after a long week at Mayo and at the end of one of the hardest treatments this Man has ever seen!

Grinding mushrooms, mixing spices for seasoning blends Squeezing lemons, pressing cherries and red raspberries for Sparrow And Esmae ‘s tasty Pink lemonade while picking our first few mushrooms from the Shroom room in between things…. first mushrooms out of the new environmentally controlled Grow space…… a nice sized harvest of Portobello And a few tasty golden oyster from local timber….. on the way to you for memorial day weekend we’ll see you bright and shiny tomorrow morning for Dubuque Farmers' Market 7 AM to noon !

An amazing market, and almost 7-year-old’s birthday done more than well, a Monday to Thursday radiation roll up at Mayo…...
05/15/2026

An amazing market, and almost 7-year-old’s birthday done more than well, a Monday to Thursday radiation roll up at Mayo….getting a bit tired along the way, all that radiation takes a toll!

Another week down and only one more to go ☢️….. a quick as all get out post for our community, and now we’re back to Friday and Market only 24 hours away…. Try to take it easy on us. We’re doing what we can as we can.

We’ll have plants 🪴, delicious fresh mushrooms, dried mushrooms, tea’s, the girls and their pink lemonade, exDubuque Farmers' Marketsee you early tomorrow 7 AM to noon at Dubuque Farmers' Market !

A Monday to Thursday roll up at Mayo where I received low dose radiation each day as a maintenance form of treatment as ...
05/08/2026

A Monday to Thursday roll up at Mayo where I received low dose radiation each day as a maintenance form of treatment as a preemptive to make sure that there’s nothing left…..
First week and 4 treatments, in the books and done…. with two more weeks Monday through Thursday and eight ☢️ treatments left to go!
Third times a charm, right …. Now I’m back home preparing for what I hope is a much warmer
Dubuque Farmers' Market Saturday morning, as well as putting the finishing touches on an amazing and carefully planned birthday for Mae Mae Moons seventh trip around the sun!
Going to grab a little bit of rest while I wait for the girls to get out of school…. looking forward to seeing my girls after the usual two week wait in between visitations!

With a warmer Saturday just over the horizon and Sparrow & Mae Mae by my side slinging some of the best pink lemonade this side of the Mississippi…. We’re beyond excited to see everyone tomorrow morning!

And don’t forget if you see my youngest love Mae Mae Moon wish her the biggest happy birthday you can muster….. Being born on Mother’s Day weekend My baby girl deserves a big old shout and as many happy’s as she can get! See you all tomorrow morning with bells on! Blueberry Razz pink lemonade, Garlic, Seasoning blends, 🍄‍🟫extracts, tea’s, herbs, and yard plants, fresh harvested mushrooms and more coming at you….. step down say hi 7 AM to noon!

Hello again beautiful friends, here I am And hopefully 🤞 I’ve survived the worst of this and on the last bit of my journ...
05/01/2026

Hello again beautiful friends, here I am
And hopefully 🤞 I’ve survived the worst of this and on the last bit of my journey when
it comes to my battle with the Big C…..
Only time will tell!

Three weeks of radiation and I should be done but for now I’m here to talk about what our life and Stone Hollow looks like now!

With our first Dubuque Farmers' Market of the season less than 24 hours away,
I’m here to let you know that at Stone Hollow Homestead things may look different from here on out because as life changes sometimes so do we! But don’t worry friends all good things coming soon this season from me and my girls here at Stone Hollow Homestead !

To start we’ll be Cultivating a lot more in the way of everything mushroom….. everything organically grown and organically sourced
Many of the liquid cultures that I am
using this season have been collected
and propagated with these
two mushroom loving hands 😉🍄‍🟫👊…….

First off We’ve built out a beautiful mushroom grow room, self contained and almost completely automated…… filled with multiple varieties of mushrooms we’ve never grown and a few of our favorites to eat and grow…..Lions Mane, King and Black King Trumpet Oyster, Phoenix Pink Golden Blue and Black Pearl Oyster, Brown Beech(shimeji), Portobello🍄‍🟫, Cordyceps, Blue Turkey Tale and Black Antler Reishi just to name a few of our offerings this summer….. all of the above bagged up, colonizing, incubating and close to fruition!

Also be on the look out for several delicious varieties of Stone Hollows Own ready to fruit mushroom grow kits…..😉🍄‍🟫👊

We’ve been working around the clock in between everything medically speaking….. and We’re beyond Excited to bring the very best of what we’ve been creating to our community and tribe!

Also be on the lookout for several workshops between July and November…… we’ll start with my personal favorite, The “WildCraft and Dine” a truly educational adventure into foraging and the culinary arts…… as well as a couple workshops on “How to build laundry basket grow kits from spent grain” And a basic starter to “ Culinary & Medicinal mushroom cultivation” using high Tech and low Tech methods for 🍄‍🟫 cultivation…..
Going back to the basics and where we started with a bit of education that you can guarantee will make fun 😉🍄‍🟫👊 looking forward to getting back into what originally made us wanna do farmers market…… teaching the good stuff!

As far as tomorrow’s opening market offerings will have fresh harvested Locally WildCrafted Golden Oyster and Spring Polypore, garlic, Medicinal mushroom teas, Seasoning blends, medicinal, mushroom extracts and tinctures, deliciously dried mushrooms, Ready to plant herbs 🪴 , flowers 🌺 , natives Raspberries, hosta, ostrich fern and even though the girls are going to be missing this weeks market, I’ve promised Sparrow And Esmae to prop and offer their most delicious creation of blueberry pink lemonade for opening market day this Saturday….. come grab a glass on the go all proceeds go to the girls! Don’t worry, they’ll be back next weekend! Sitting this one out due to the cold!

After an amazingly busy medically precarious and very long winter….. we’re excited to see everybody tomorrow morning 7 AM to noon at Dubuque farmers market!
Gonna be a little bit chilly tomorrow morning so bundle up grab your loves and get down to market !

(added a few photos of the organically grown mushrooms to Grace our tables over the next few months…. looking forward to the
good things coming

A continued sharing of the photos I’ve taken over the last five months of me and my girls doing what we do best in betwe...
05/01/2026

A continued sharing of the photos I’ve taken over the last five months of me and my girls doing what we do best in between things…… !
having fun and enjoying each other to the best of our ability with what time we have together!

Christmas, birthdays, Easter and everything in between 😉💕🥰💕👊

A big hello And happy spring to everyone in Our beyond amazing community and tribe….. I want to start by giving My since...
05/01/2026

A big hello And happy spring to everyone in Our beyond amazing community and tribe….. I want to start by giving My sincerest apologies To all of you for the lapse in communication when it comes to Sparrow, Esmae, Stone Hollow Homestead and I !

I’m going to be honest here so you might understand why I had to step away🥹 for a few months…… it was a lot and has been a lot to deal with for almost 2 years 🤷‍♂️

here goes….

After being re-diagnosed with the Big C When my doctors at Mayo clinic found a quite sizable tumor behind my right eye it was time once again to start another cancer treatment which was a pretty heavy every week regiment of triple chemotherapy and immune therapy…..

At around the same time we were evicted from the house we were renting due to the unnecessary decisions of another….. the girls and I ended up without a home for about a month back in November….. and with no proof of income for 10 years it made finding another home beyond challenging so we ended up at a place called Almost Home until we could get in to a home that was offered by an amazing patron from Market…. A beautiful home and a fresh start….. but at that point due to my lack of a home and a roof over our heads, my girls were removed from my care of 4 to 5 days a week, which had been our time together every week for over a year….. Even though I was only at Almost Home and without a roof for a very short period of time had already signed a lease for a new and beautiful home….. my time with Sparrow And Esmae went from 4 sometimes 5 days a
week….. to 4-5 days every month….. due to a misunderstanding of the illness, as well as what that might put on my girls In the way of stress…. Do to not understanding what this is or being emotionally equipped to handle the outcome….A life hinged on the unnecessary and uninformed decisions of another….

incredibly challenging, and beyond frustrating on a good day…. but you gotta pick yourself up and move on and forward so we did….and still do

Fast-forward a month we found a home and a fresh start with a lease for over a year!
A beautiful home by the river and a fresh start for me and my girls…..
But Triple chemotherapy and immune therapy was not doing the job That was intended although the BIg C hadn’t Grown or spread….. but It hadn’t shrunk either……Fast-forward again to a few weeks ago I reached a point where all that was left was a growth that had not shrunk…… I made a very compromising decision to have a surgery where we removed the not so little Beast, regardless of the great risk that was involved…..

The Surgery a huge success and I survived to see another day…… fast-forward again
I am now on the last leg of this very long journey this and our battle with the Big C….. I am currently once again traveling to Mayo Monday - Thursday every week and every day radiation to get rid of anything that might be left…..🤞 so to be transparent and honest I’m still fighting strong and moving on not just fighting for my life but for a new life with my girls

Tomorrow is the opening day and the first Dubuque Farmers' Market of 2026 and I am looking forward to seeing all of you …. Going into the market season this year with maybe not so heavy of a heart and Crossing my fingers that We’re almost done with this particular battle with maybe 🤞 somewhat of a normal life for me and my amazing daughters just over the horizon….. after two years of anything other than that I could really get used to the idea of that!
So this is me picking myself up and moving forward 🤷‍♂️

(here’s as many photos from the last 5 months of me and my girls doing what we do best as well as everything we could whenever we were together)

Look out for a more fun and a less serious post to follow this one😉🍄‍🟫😵‍💫 directly!

Address

22786 Mud Lake Road
Dubuque, IA
52001

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 6pm
Tuesday 8am - 6pm
Wednesday 8am - 6pm
Thursday 8am - 6pm
Friday 8am - 6pm
Saturday 8am - 6pm
Sunday 8am - 6pm

Telephone

+15634956060

Website

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