Family, friends and employees at Green Thumb Greenhouse on Country Club Road west of Minot have been waging a battle against the Souris River that threatens to flood the entire property.
Despite having to close Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, the business reopened Saturday and is now keeping regular business hours.
"We didn't really lose any plant material, but on Tuesday, when it was rainy and windy, the force of the water weakened the ring dike around the property," said Terry Hunter, owner of Green Thumb.
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The field surrounding Green Thumb Greenhouse has been inundated with water, though the greenhouse still remains open.
"We had a foot to a foot and a half of water in our greenhouses because of seepage, and we lost our fields where we grow our produce," he added.
With the help of family, friends and employees the water seepage was pumped out and the business was able to reopen. Hunter said there were 10 pumps running for 48 hours straight to get a handle on the seepage.
"It did slow us down, we had a lot of work to do to get it up and running again," Hunter said.
Flood protection measures on the property have included sandbag and dike work. Hunter said they began sandbagging three weeks ago, and since then, they have used about 35 truckloads of dirt for the dikes and several thousand sandbags and have put in countless hours in Bobcat work.
"Every morning we get up, patch the dikes and check for seepage. It's an important time for us to stay open, because we do the majority of our business in May and the first few weeks of June," Hunter said.
"I couldn't have done it without the employees, family and friends. They've all chipped in. On some days, we've had 30 people out here helping. It's been a group effort," he added.
In addition to dike and sandbagging work on the property, the greenhouse plants were raised up above the expected water level in the greenhouses to ensure they were saved.
"We moved all of the plants up off the ground and got everything above the expected water level. Employees were walking through two feet of water to water the plants, which was ironic," Hunter said.
This year hasn't been the first the Green Thumb Greenhouse has faced high water. Hunter recalled his parents, previous owners of the greenhouse, facing similar situations in 1969 and 1976.
"In '69, we lost everything. My parents worked moving plants into garages and various places around town. In '76 they had built a ring dike around the house and one greenhouse, which was removed as we remodeled and added to our buildings," Hunter said.
While the rising water may have set them back this year, staff at the Green Thumb Greenhouse are still back to work. The business's hours are Monday through Saturday 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays.
"At this point, we're up and running and ready to go. We have a lot of plants available," Hunter said.