Carrie Nichols and her husband Scott created Happy Harvest Sunflowers located in Lowell eight years ago. They both grew up in the area and have been together for 25 years. Being able to provide a stand that brings such positivity to their family and the area means a lot to them.
“It has been a blessing, and it's transformed into something so amazing. Sometimes we still can't believe it. I can't believe we're selling so many flowers; I can't believe this is happening. Every year, we have to plant more. It’s almost surreal,” Carrie Nichols said.
What the sunflower stand is today began as a small, self-serve pumpkin stand. The family began planting and harvesting pumpkins together and setting them out along with a box for community members to put their payment in.
“My husband used to plant tons of pumpkins every year, and as a family, we would harvest them all. We would put them out in our yard and have kind of what we do now but the pumpkin version. We’d have a box out there and everyone would come and take the pumpkins and leave their money in the box. That’s how we did our little Christmas fund every year,” said Carrie Nichols.
As their children began moving away and beginning their own families, Carrie and Scott Nichols began brainstorming ideas as to how to make the stand easier for the two of them to keep it running. The idea of a sunflower stand came about inadvertently after the couple began a sunflower garden.
“We realized that the pumpkin stand was hard work as we got into our 50s. About eight years ago, we started thinking about how we could make this a little easier. We were sitting outside, and I said, ‘I wish I had a sunflower field next to the barn to wake up in the mornings, that would be so cool.’” she said. “We had a little bit of extra land around the barn we weren't utilizing and so we threw birdseed down and grew it for fun.”
After the sunflowers began blooming, friends began coming to take pictures in their garden, and the positivity began to spread. The Nichols decided to cut the flowers and set them out alongside the pumpkins, and they quickly noticed customers were enjoying the flowers.
“I thought, ‘You know what, let's do it next year. I'll put a little table out in the driveway.’ We would sell out every day with a little buffet table and a can. My husband actually was like, ‘I think we're onto something here,’ Carrie Nichols said.
That is the moment when ‘Happy Harvest Sunflowers’ was born. Over the next few years, the couple planted more flowers and upgraded their stand. The stand took off locally, and they even began taking their flowers to farmers markets.
“We always go to Bulldog Park market every Saturday in Crown Point. We have a great following there. We also do the Cedar Lake market the second and fourth Wednesday of the month,” Carrie Nichols said.
The stand is a walk-up, self-serve table where you are able to pick out your pre-cut flowers.
“You pick out which bundle of fresh flowers you want to have, put the stems in the bag to take them home with you, and put five bucks in the box for the bundles, and it's 15 dollars for the jar arrangements. They usually last about a week or so because they come from the field and go straight to the stand to your home with no refrigeration. Some people in the summer think that the flowers are wilted but it's just because of the heat. As soon as you get them in your home, they perk up,” Carrie Nichols said.
The positivity the stand spreads is what makes all the hard work worth it. Carrie and Scott Nichols both have full-time jobs and work on the stand in their free time. In order to ensure the stand is always stocked when they are at work, they hired people to help them manage the stand and keep sharing the joy.
“The flowers bring out the happiness in everyone. It's the best relief to see people happy and sharing the flowers. I love when people come by explaining, ‘I'm dropping these off for my mom or my grandma,’ and sharing because it's making more happiness,” said Carrie Nichols.
The stand is open from dawn to dusk every single day of the week. To find more information about Happy Harvest Sunflowers, please visit https://www.facebook.com/happyharvestsunflowers/.