PODCASTS, AWARDS & PRESS

For those wishing to connect with Founder & Farmer, Meredith Nunnikhoven of Barnswallow & Co. LLC & Barnswallow Flowers, please contact initially through email at barnswallowflowers@gmail.com for scheduling. Farmer Meredith looks forward to working with you! 

"Meredith called me in November and wanted to share how the potential closing of a UPS Customer Service location in Oskaloosa would hurt her small business and others. So one afternoon I drove over to visit with her. I walked into the multipurpose machine shed where she often works, and found her processing Dahlias, and talking on the phone, with an untouched sandwich and drink in front of her. After a little small talk, we got down to business." Dr. Bob Leonard

I'm wondering if someone is misunderstanding what's happening here at a higher level? You think they drove here and checked out the store? You think that (UPS) corporate knows? I'd like, I'd like to know if corporate actually came here and checked out this 10 by 10 room and deemed it not suitable or not beneficial to the community, and the Chamber of Commerce, the City Council, no one has been contacted about this to get any feedback to say is this really valuable or what does your community need? So for me and my business, I was really depending on this little room. So the shit is going to hit the fan and everyone's going to realize that they can't drop their time-sensitive return packages off, you know, the public, the public is going to realize this and that’s going to be a huge problem for those people because they've had this system in place for a very long time. Some people explained that the government has nothing to do with them closing, and it's like, I understand, but they have an obligation to keep critical services open. So if we don't hold, like, our lawmakers, accountable, to help us in these efforts, then we're not doing our votes justice.

Meredith Nunnikhoven, co-founder of Barnswallow Flowers joins the Prairie Farm Podcast to discuss why she came back to the from the film industry to the family farm and decided to dive into the world of alternative cropping. Also...she's an inventor, and we like that about her.

Pictured above: Tulips always are popular, and Barnswallow Flowers had an abundance ready for distribution this spring. PHOTO / CONRAD SCHMIDT

https://www.iowafarmbureau.com/Article/In-full-bloom-265639

"The whole idea of working with land and how we understand land has moved to a caretaking role and remembering we are owners on paper, but it’s never really ours and we should leave it better than we found it as part of our legacy.” - Meredith Nunnikhoven

DIVERSIFICATION YIELDS FIELDS OF FLOWERS
Barnswallow Flowers, located just east of Oskaloosa on Hwy 23, began with a discussion of needed diversification on the Allen Nunnikhoven Farm. To Allen's wife, Kerrilyn, - who has since passed away - and daughter, Meredith, the idea of flowers seemed the most production and a process of education started. They formed a business plan, took several classes and started planting peonies. Those peonies from the first year have grown now to include a multitude of flowers including sunflowers, dahlias, lisianthus and so many more. 

Within the realm of flowers, Meredith has futher diversified her income stream to not rely on one type of sales and to minimize the labor involved. They use The Little Blue Barn, which is a self-serve source for bouquets and orders. It is open on their farm from dawn to dusk on Fridays and Saturdays. She attends Pella Farmers Market on Thursdays from 4-7pm, it is a day of the week that works well with her picking and arranging schedule. People have signed up for the Community Supported Agriculture subscription service for regular bouquets. She hosts pick your own events or she can put together buckets of flowers within a color scheme for you to arrange. She also does wedding flowers a la carte, you order and pick up the pieces that you need. Meredith is passionate about her corner of agriculture and is excited to teach others about what is possible. She said, "Flowers when given a chance, can be simply magnificent!"

“Results matter,” said Meredith Nunnikhoven, a Practical Farmers of Iowa member who operates Barnswallow Flowers southeast of Oskaloosa. “Some of these [conservation] programs stop in five, six years … CSP is an example. That is a really hard program to sign up for … It’s a whole farm outlook program, and once it was over, it was like, what we just started, we’re not seeing the effects of that program. And for someone who’s hardwired to seeing the results, who has that cultural perspective, that’s going to be important for them.” Nunnikhoven suggested lengthening government programs like CSP so that farmers can see the results, and the culture can change

“This is a community cottage. Those who stay here contribute to the lives of those who take care of it.” - Meredith Nunnikhoven, Owner