Just up in the holler and around a bend, an old-fashioned, once-abandoned farm cart sits next to a driveway with bouquets of homegrown flowers greets passerby.
The beckoning business, Forty Four Farms, is a family-owned and operated flower farm that boasts different types of flowers and plants, goats and a herd of cows. Located five miles southeast of Zanesville, Forty Four Farms is ready for the warm weather, entering its third year in business.
The beckoning business, Forty Four Farms, is a family-owned and operated flower farm that boasts different types of flowers and plants, goats and a herd of cows. Located five miles southeast of Zanesville, Forty Four Farms is ready for the warm weather, entering its third year in business.
Husband and wife duo, Chris and Anna Philip, along with their four kids, 10-year-old Elodie, 9-year-old Boone, 7-year-old Poesy and 6-year-old Huck, tend the fields and stock their flower stand every Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. till dark.
Anna, originally from Malaga, works on the farm daily. Chris, born and raised in Zanesville, is a manager at SBA Communications for his day-to-day routine. Together, they have blossomed the business into what it is today.
“There was a greenhouse [in Malaga] and I used to go up there and help them in the summer, and I always loved it,” Anna says.
The Philip family primarily sells their flowers from their home stand, choosing, for now, not to gear up and travel to farmers’ markets, due to time constraints.
“In the spring I have baseball as my second full-time job and this is our third full-time job and then we have kids too. Springtime is pretty busy but it’s worth every penny of it,” Chris says.
The family farmers also offer a “U pick experience” where customers can book a time to scour select fields on the property to create their own bloom bouquet as well as different “photo and picking sessions,” according to their website.
“We do dahlias, zinnias, sunflowers and all that in the U pick, people can pay and come out,” Anna says. “We did a yoga night, where people came out and did yoga and then they picked flowers.”
Just like any business endeavor, the idea is always to succeed. But the couple’s true motivator is to spend time with their kids and teach them lessons about using their hands and getting outdoors.
“I just think it is so important for the kids to just be outside and learn. My kids love it, they love to be able to plant seeds and watch things grow,” Anna says.
Although Anna and Chris lead the charge on all things around the farm, they readily delegate tasks to their offspring. So naturally, each of their kids has their own farm job that they think they are better at than their other siblings.
“My favorite thing to do on the flower farm is doing all the dirty stuff with Dad, like pulling out the bulbs,” Boone says.
“I’m really good at sorting seeds and I like to plan how many seeds go where,” Elodie says.
“[The community’s response] has been great. This year I am talking about going in and talking to the elementary school kids, where I can go in and teach them a lesson and have them work with flowers,” Anna says.
With the positive response from the community and warmer weather ahead, the Philip family finds themselves ready to expand.
“We have really honed in on what we are good at growing and what lasts long in a bouquet. We are trying to grow more of everything so we can sell to local wholesalers.”
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