Happy Birthday!
Sentimental post here!
Today marks our business’s third birthday! If you would have asked us three years ago what our small business, our family, or just life in general, would look like in 2023, we never could have hit the nail on the head with our predictions. Ok, maybe Jake could have come close because he’s the dreamer in this partnership of ours, but you know what, that’s what it feels like at times, a dream.
Our first commercial greenhouse was born out of a time of so much uncertainty. All we honestly could do was commit to the decision to take a chance on ourselves, break big goals down into small steps, take one small step after another, and just put the hard work in one day at a time. We somehow made it through the late nights caring for our first greenhouses with two full time jobs, a toddler, and another child on the way. (If anything could have brought us to a fracturing point, that would have been it.) We made it through the cold calls/emails to put ourselves out there and introduce ourselves to our local community. And most importantly, we made good on our word and mission to help provide our community with fresh, clean, quality produce grown in Medina.
Since we started Emling Agricultural Services DBA Root 42 Harvests we now have two girls (beautiful inside and out), an energetic, lovable pup, and a thriving business that Jake is now able to run full-time (while being home with the girls…huge bonus!), with part-time business support from yours truly. (Let’s be real, you know I’m the boss, right? JK.) The thing is that Jake probably works three times as hard now than he did as an employed horticultural industry consultant. Want to know the crazy thing? We’re happier putting in that hard work together because together, our heart is in that work.
Don’t let us mislead you, building and then running our own greenhouses hasn’t been a cakewalk. And truth be told, we didn’t get where we are by ourselves. “Our village” believed in us and they helped us every step of the way. Our parents, extended family, friends, and neighbors lent helping hands, muscles, equipment, and ideas. When those long construction days and late harvest nights were the hardest, you carried us to the finish line. We’ll never be able to put into words how much you mean to us.
We are also incredibly thankful for our restaurant partners and the local chefs that we’ve been fortunate to work with over these last three years. Each of our partners prioritize quality, local ingredients and it’s has been an honor to be a part of that equation for the successful mission of their own businesses.
Without a doubt though, we know we wouldn’t be where we are today without all of the customers we’ve had the honor to meet and serve at local farmers markets. Our customers, once strangers, are now friends we look forward to seeing and connecting with each week. The significance of these relationships is certainly something we could never have predicted three years ago. We thought our greenhouses gave us purpose, but it’s really you, our customers that give us the determination to do what we do.
Thank you to everyone who got us where we are today! We can’t wait to see what the next three years has in store!
In keeping with a tradition we started in our first year at the market on our birthday weekend, we will be donating 20% of our market sales on Saturday, August 12 to Feeding Medina County. Thank you for helping us pay our gratitude forward.
