Rooted Agritourism Podcast

Rooted Agritourism Podcast Helping farmers thrive with agritourism, direct-to-consumer sales, and value-added products.

Rooted Agritourism shares real stories, strategies, and advocacy for building resilient farm businesses.

06/02/2026

Can we talk about grants for a second?

Because people hear “grant” and think:

“Wow, the government bought her a high tunnel.”

No.

We received about $25,000 in cost share funding.

We spent almost $40,000.

Then add heaters.

Propane.

Electrical.

Water lines.

Monitoring systems.

Concrete.

Labor.

And suddenly your “free” high tunnel becomes a major business investment.

Would I do it again?

Yes.

But I think transparency matters because these decisions affect real businesses and real finances.

Grants help. They don’t remove risk.

06/01/2026

Every year, I push things a little further.

This year’s experiment?

Fall planting ranunculus, snapdragons, Sweet William, and a few others... putting frost cloth and low tunnels over them... saying a prayer... and seeing them again in February.

Because here’s the thing: I don’t want June flowers.

I want Mother’s Day flowers.

There’s a difference.

Could this fail spectacularly? Absolutely.

But flower farming in Minnesota is basically a series of controlled experiments with weather, spreadsheets, and optimism.

If you farm in cold climates, tell me: what are you overwintering this year?

05/30/2026

My late husband used to say:

“I’m not paying someone to do something I can do myself.”

And I understand that mindset.

But I started asking a different question:

What could I be doing instead?

That changed everything.

Could I manage my website?
Probably.

Could I build automations?
Probably.

Could I spend hours doing admin work?

Yes.

But if those hours prevent me from serving customers, creating opportunities, speaking, teaching, or growing the business… then doing it myself is not always the smartest decision.

The best investment of your time is not always the cheapest option.

Sometimes the best investment is the thing that creates capacity.

05/28/2026

Everyone talks about hiring like it is the solution.

Need help? Hire.
Want to grow? Hire.
Feeling overwhelmed? Hire.

But nobody talks enough about this:

Hiring without systems can actually make your business harder.

I learned that the hard way.

Employees still need processes.
They need communication.
They need structure.
They need clarity.

And if you do not have those things built yet, hiring does not remove work. It often creates more.

This is not a conversation against employees.

It is a conversation for intentional growth. Build the systems.

Document the process. Know what success looks like.

Then hire into structure. Not into chaos.

05/26/2026

I finally started paying myself a steady paycheck from my flower farm.

And no, it is not huge.

But I also only work about 20 hours a week on the farm.

That statement surprises people until I explain what is actually happening behind the scenes.

The business itself does far more than 20 hours of work.

The difference is that I stopped believing I had to personally do all of it.

There are systems.
There are freelancers.
There are specialists.
There are processes.

And because of that, I get to spend more of my time doing the work I actually enjoy.

Picking flowers.
Creating experiences.
Teaching.
Speaking.
Growing.

I think a lot of entrepreneurs believe freedom comes after years of burnout.

I think freedom comes from building differently.

Working fewer hours does not automatically mean caring less.

Sometimes it means building better.

05/24/2026

One of the biggest shifts I have made as a business owner is realizing that being busy and being productive are not the same thing.

There are plenty of things I can do.

That does not mean I should be doing them.

I can build website pages.
I can troubleshoot software.
I can make social graphics.
I can organize spreadsheets.

But if those tasks take me away from serving customers, speaking, growing the business, creating experiences, or doing the work only I can do… that is expensive.

Not because of money.

Because of opportunity.

Every hour has a cost.

The question I ask now is simple:

What is the highest value use of my time?

That answer changed how I delegate, outsource, and build systems.

Busy work feels productive.

Strategic work builds businesses.

What is one thing you need to stop doing this week?

05/23/2026

One of the questions I get asked constantly is: “How many employees do you have?”

People are always surprised by my answer.

Technically… zero.

No full time employees. No part time employees. No traditional W2 team.

But the farm runs. Weddings happen. Flowers get harvested. The podcast gets published. Speaking engagements happen. Businesses keep moving.

For a long time, I thought growth meant hiring. More customers meant more employees. More employees meant success.

What I learned is that hiring and scaling are not the same thing.

Instead of building around payroll, I started building around systems, specialists, freelancers, software, and people working in their zone of genius.

That model gave me something I was not getting before: flexibility.

This is not anti employee. I absolutely hope to grow into full time leadership roles someday.

But right now, I am building intentionally. Because sometimes the best team does not look like the traditional team.

Do you run your business with employees, contractors, systems, or some combination?

The difference between surviving and thriving on a farm is not always more acres.Sometimes it’s one good idea.One pivot....
05/19/2026

The difference between surviving and thriving on a farm is not always more acres.

Sometimes it’s one good idea.

One pivot.
One workshop.
One direct-to-consumer product.
One experience people cannot get anywhere else.

Farmers cannot control commodity prices, but we can control how we sell, who we sell to, and the experience we create around what we grow.

05/18/2026

Customers are not just paying for the product anymore.

They’re paying for convenience.
They’re paying for connection.
They’re paying for the experience.

That’s why someone will spend more at a farm stand, attend a workshop, or book a wedding at a farm instead of buying the cheapest option somewhere else.

People want to feel connected to what they’re buying and who they’re buying it from.

That connection matters, and honestly, it’s one of the biggest opportunities farmers have right now.

05/15/2026

The biggest misunderstanding about agritourism is that people think it’s somehow separate from agriculture.

It’s not.

If families are coming to your farm, supporting your business, learning where food and flowers come from, and helping keep farmland in the hands of farmers, that is agriculture.

Modern farming is not just production anymore.
It’s education, connection, experience, and community too.

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8664 360th St
Saint Joseph, MN
56374

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