It first started in Chicago, 4 houses down from Wrigley Field, with a 10- by 10-foot patch of grass which we converted to vegetables and beneficial flowers.
We have always wanted to raise our family on a farm and 4 years ago we were fortunate enough to buy Kevin’s family farm. We are the 3rd generation to raise a family here.
The first year on the farm, we planted 300 blueberry bushes, as many vegetables as possible, some flowers and have grown from there.
Our second year on the farm, we had more vegetables than we could use so we decided to build a farm stand where we offered our surplus of veggies and some flower arrangements. This was the first summer of the pandemic so our sign simply said “Pay what you can, we are all in this together”. With such amazing local support, we decided to expand. We added three different varieties of raspberries, more flower beds, and Kristi really started investing in dahlia tubers. She is like a kid in a candy store when it comes to flower catalogs.
We started out wanting to grow food for our family and a few flowers. We never intended to become a flower farm but soon the flowers started outnumbering the vegetables. In 2022, we decided to make it official and Heartland Blooms-n-Berry Farm was established.
About Us
Kristi’s love for flowers and growing things is in her blood. Her grandfather is a farmer who has a love for growing flowers and vegetables that has rubbed off on her mom and now Kristi. Growing flowers started out as a way to relieve stress but turned into a passion. Walking among beautiful flowers, pulling weeds, and making flower arrangements makes the stress melt away.
While Kevin may not have Kristi’s love of flowers, he has the passion for this farm and enjoys anything involving the farm. He is definitely the muscle, mechanic, operator, fabricator and the list just goes on.
One of our favorite things is seeing the joy and smiles the flowers and berries bring to everyone.
We have two young children who love to be part of everything we do on the farm. Some of the veggies and berries never even make it up to the house. The kids eat them as fast as they can pick them. This makes the hard work worth it when we see them chowing down on fruit and vegetables off the plant. Our young son is an amazing supervisor while our little daughter is happiest making arrangements next to her mom.
We have also been very fortunate to have help this year from our parents and friends. Our moms were a force against the weeds and Kevin’s dad was our main berry picker. We also had friends and family cut flowers and help with events.