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The Thriving Farmer Podcast


May 21, 2019

Gretel and Steve Adams started Sunny Meadows Flower Farm in Columbus, OH in 2007. In this episode, we dive into what it has taken to build a year-round business with multiple year-round employees, the diverse ways they sell their flowers across the country, and how they reduce the overwhelm with careful planning.


In This Episode:

>> Why Steve and Gretel farm and how it looks different for each of them

>> The planning system that they use to easily manage a full team of employees with many moving parts on the farm

>> The diverse stream of incomes that grow their business and how that creates self-insurance from an economic downturn.

>> The challenges and advantages of farming together and how they share the workload


About the guests:

Steve and Gretel started Sunny Meadows Flower Farm in 2006 and are first-generation farmers. They've both been working on the farm now full-time, year-round for 7 years, and have 17 employees in the summer and 6 employees in the winter. They've been presenting at farm conferences since 2013, and have written 30 articles for Growing for Market. They sell wholesale to florists & grocers, retail to the public at farmer's markets and their on-farm stand, design florals for weddings, and are shipping to florists across the nation. Another facet of their business is selling dahlia tubers and wreaths online, so there is lots to keep them busy throughout the year even though blooms are being sold March-December.