Hidden Gems: Meet Sarah Zimmerman of Apple and Dove Family Farm

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah Zimmerman. 

Hi Sarah, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself
Mike and I (Sarah) met over 20 years ago while living in San Diego. I was 19 and he was 21. Best friends since the beginning, we were never ones to take the “normal” path. After briefly living in Michigan, and deciding we hated snow, we moved to Nashville. Mike got his MA in Theology at Vanderbilt and I pursued a career as a vet tech. Ever since I was a little girl, I had a dream of owning a farm. This dream, never went away but had only become stronger over time. My husband shared this dream but life kept getting in the way. We had 3 children, I stayed home and we were just living day-to-day. One night, we were sitting on the couch talking and “dreaming” again and we got mad. We realized that we weren’t doing anything to make it reality. So, we decided to start looking into properties and everything fell into place super-fast. We found a place with 16 acres. A fixer-upper but after many months or waiting and negotiating, it was ours. We renovated it in 6 months and then started building our dream farm. Fences and buildings, coops, and gardens. One buy one we filled them with cute animals and beautiful flowers. We now raise Nigerian Dwarf Goats. They are the cutest little things you’ve ever seen with the craziest personalities; I want to say that my dream was also to be this romantic flower farmer but if I’m being honest, it wasn’t like that. The flowers found me. The first year, they were tucked into a corner of our garden. But from the first bloom and bouquet, I was hooked. Designing it and giving it away, I can’t begin to tell you the wonderful feeling it gave me. It set something inside me on fire and I knew this was our future. Along with the goats of course. So last year we went bigger. Then in July, I suddenly lost my mom. I found myself supplying the flowers for her funeral. It wasn’t until I was sobbing in the garden, cutting stems for her arrangement that it hit me, how important flowers are and the role they play in all of life’s big moments. From showers to weddings, proms to funerals, flowers are there. There is magic in them and I’m not exactly sure what that looks like for the future of our farm but I know I want to share it and I can’t wait to find out. 

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Definitely not. First, the house we chose with the budget we had, was a dump and had to be completely renovated. There were also no barns, buildings, or fences on the property. So, we had to figure out how to do it ALL. We worked 80+ hours a week, busting our buns and figuring it all out. As first-generation farmers too, we didn’t have anyone who knew how to do this. Thankfully, God put amazing people in our path that have answered our million questions and become not only our cheerleaders but friends. Without the kindness of others and YouTube, we would still be at the starting line. 

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Apple and Dove Family Farm is a Cut Flower and Goat farm. We are a family of 6, first-generation farmers that want a simpler life surrounded by beautiful things. We raise Nigerian Dwarf Goats, and we sell creamy goat milk soap products and delicious goat milk fudge, our flowers, are hand-selected, handpicked, and grown with all the love. We know how important the role flowers play in people’s big moments is and we want to be the farm that supplies them. We want people to know that when they give our flowers that they are truly a gift of love because they have been grown from exactly that. We grow our flowers naturally and pesticide-free, so that when you smell their heavenly fragrance that you are only breathing in goodness. We want to help create a better environment for our bees to ensure sustainability in our food industry. We believe in supporting American Grown Flower Farms so that we can guarantee flowers for all important future events and building our local economy instead of sending it overseas. While we become better at flower farming, we will continue to focus on building and educating the community in all things flowers and strive to share what we learn on the way. This summer we will be opening our farm up to others and will begin to offer Upicks, Yoga, Goat Yoga, and Classes and Events. We hope to be able to create memories for families while providing a beautiful life for ours. 

We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
I believe true success is found when you are happy. If that means you’ve reached some financial goal, that’s great but I believe you can also be counted as a success if you learn a new skill, make someone smile, teach a class, design something pretty. I think success is defined by the creator and their goals. 

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.appleanddove.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/appleanddove/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/appleanddove/