Steve and Gretel Adams of Sunny Meadows Flower Farm have been working for five years to grow local produce and flowers while using their business to build relationships among the young farming community in Central Ohio.

They are passionate about being a part of a local food system, both during the summer growing season and during the winter when they can employ their four greenhouses to grow hearty greens like spinach and store root vegetables like carrots in the cool soil.

In 2006 Steve and Gretel moved into a farm house Gretel inherited from her grandfather. The 10 acre lot was overgrown with blackberries and brambles, so Gretel worked full time as a social worker for a year while Steve readied the lot for farming. After much hard work, the land was ready to experiment. As they explained, farming is not always about growing what you want to grow, but about finding the crops that work best with the soil, conditions and landscaping of individual plots.

While they would love to grow more fresh fruits and vegetables for people to enjoy during the summer, their time and energy is best spent on growing flowers. However, Steve and Gretel continue to grow fruits and vegetables in the flower's off-season.  They also use some of their land to grow food for themselves that they can preserve for the winter months.

"Farming is not always about growing what you want to grow, but about finding the crops that work best with the soil, conditions and landscaping of individual plots."

Most of Sunny Meadows' flowers are sold wholesale to businesses around Columbus, but Steve and Gretel also sell flowers (primarily sunflowers and zinnias) as well as some fruits and veggies at local farmers markets. Their usual market is the Granville Farmers Market (where they also serve as board members), but they also sell in Upper Arlington and the winter market in Worthington. 

In addition to growing food and flowers, Steve and Gretel are looking to build a barn where they would teach classes on canning, arranging flower bouquets and wreaths, and making soap. Gretel began making her own soap when she had leftover bees wax one year, and now she sells homemade soap and salves on her website. The soaps have all natural scents ranging from Rosemary Mint to Forest Rose. One of the most popular soaps is her Dirty Dog Wash Soap, which has all natural bug repellants and wheat germ for a healthy coat.

In looking to the future, Steve and Gretel hope to continue their work as part of the greater Columbus community. They hope to host more class field trips to encourage awareness of local and healthy foods in students of the area in addition to the classes they would host for adults. Additionally, they hope to strengthen the farming community in Columbus by helping develop a cooperative CSA at their farm.

Steve and Gretel believe that growing flowers locally and organically is just as important as growing produce organically because they can ensure fair wages and responsible practices that don't always occur in other flower plantations around the world.