Gail Adamski and husband Eric, an area building contractor, bought 63 acres and a horse barn between Salisbury and Petersburg to start a Christmas tree farm 21 years ago. Three years along, Gail found her real passion. ”We still have three acres in trees,” Gail says, “but they’re 50 feet tall now.” Here’s how a local couple turned a would-be tree farm into a world destination without so much as a business plan.
”Three years into it I attended some county extension herb classes and learned about drying flowers,” Gail continues. ”We converted the horse barn into a shop, the paddock into a garden, and began selling wreaths and dried flowers.” But the Adamskis soon started receiving requests to do new things. “We had our first request to have a garden wedding in 1996. Then a youth group wanted to have a hayride. And we didn’t have a greenhouse, but people started requesting plant starts.”
Now, Gail describes The Farm as a multifaceted rural experience with a shop, greenhouse, gardens, venue for weddings and the newest feature, The Loft Bed and Breakfast. “We want it to be a destination for people who want to come for a day to walk through the gardens and enjoy the animals, or stay the weekend to enjoy the total peace and quiet of the country.
“I had no idea at all where it was going. We just went through doors as they opened. I am a strong faith person. God had a huge hand in the whole thing or none of this would have happened. It has evolved into way more than we ever envisioned.
“I’ve been doubly blessed by people God has brought across my path to go with me on this journey. We are a tightknit bunch of sisters. Jean Hartman and Kate Becker work behind the scenes and in the garden, and help the shop run smoothly and calmly. “It really is a calm oasis for us as much as for the customers.”
Cheryl Pippin has worked alongside Gail for more than 16 years and describes the atmosphere as calming, renewing, uplifting, even cheering. “It’s all of those things. There is a sense of peace that fills the shop even on a busy day. During the Christmas open house, the shop is crowded and busy with customers lined up to the door waiting to check out, but everyone is happy and chatting. I have yet to see anyone get upset. We appreciate our customers and our customers appreciate us. Positive feeds on positive. It’s a huge blessing and gift from God.”
Cheryl attributes The Farm’s success to variety. “The shop, gardens, venue and B&B offer something for everyone. And we all bring our perspectives and tastes to it, which gives it a lot of variety.” Each season, the team changes the shop’s merchandise, and once a year they redesign the entire store. “Every year we redo the entire shop, move every piece of furniture, all the displays.” The we site describes the results as an “urban industrial retro vintage cottage Victorian farmhouse garden primitive country store.”
“We get tickled because it looks like we know what we’re doing,” Cheryl says. “But it just evolves and when we’re done, it looks stupendous.”
Longtime customer Kathy Shultz of Springfield agrees. “Gail constantly expands and has new stuff all the time.” But Kathy’s favorite feature has always been the dried flowers, and she has more than 40 dried wreaths and arrangements that she changes with the seasons and periodically takes back to be refreshed.
The flowers are still one of Gail’s favorite parts too. “I love creating. Just give me a glue gun and let me make wreaths all day long.”
Through the years, as their children have grown, their business has grown, and Gail’s and Eric’s partnership has carried them through one door after another together. “I’m the creative one and Eric has the talents and skills to make it happen.” Nowadays, they may not be slowing down, but they are refocusing. “We’re both hard workers,” Gail says. “Early on, there were some long, long days where we worked into the night with spotlights in the garden. Over the years, we’ve had to rein some of that in. I’ve let some things go so that, at the end of the day, I can make supper and have family time. But it’s hard when you love what you do.
“I know how extremely, extremely lucky I am. Twenty-one years is a long time for a little business out in the country, but people come from all over the world because there’s nothing else like it and we’re close to New Salem. And we still don’t have a business plan. It’s kind of freeing. I’m very grateful. I want to do this as long as God sees fit. If we can do this until we’re 95, that would be swell, but we’ll see. My husband still wants to teach me how to fish.”
The Farm’s 2016 season opens March 15. Enjoy the Spring Open House Saturday, May 7, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more dates and details, visit http://www.visit-thefarm.com, call 217-632-2888, or stop in and see what’s new at 21648 Old Farm Avenue, Petersburg.
DiAnne Crown is a frequent contributor who would love to grow more colorful flowers and organic vegetables than her well-shaded yard and well-fed rabbits allow.
This article appears in Capital City Senior March 2016.
