WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.700 Welcome to Rooted Agritourism. I'm Dr. Liz Fidler 00:00:02.700 --> 00:00:04.900 -Murgan, owner of Sunny Mary Meadow, a U -Pick 00:00:04.900 --> 00:00:07.040 flower farm, wedding florist, and event venue 00:00:07.040 --> 00:00:09.539 in central Minnesota. Our mission is to serve 00:00:09.539 --> 00:00:12.400 anyone rooted in agritourism, value -added agriculture, 00:00:12.699 --> 00:00:14.880 and rural entrepreneurship. The people turning 00:00:14.880 --> 00:00:17.260 ideas and raw products into thriving businesses 00:00:17.260 --> 00:00:21.109 and experiences. Let's dig in. Hello and welcome 00:00:21.109 --> 00:00:24.230 back to another episode of Rooted Agritourism. 00:00:24.230 --> 00:00:27.010 I'm your host, Dr. Liz Fidler -Morgan, and today 00:00:27.010 --> 00:00:31.489 I'm really excited to share that my book is finally 00:00:31.489 --> 00:00:35.229 available for presale. So if you have been here 00:00:35.229 --> 00:00:38.229 for a while, you know that I have been writing 00:00:38.229 --> 00:00:41.600 a book, a memoir. for years. I've been talking 00:00:41.600 --> 00:00:45.039 about it. Ultimately, I'm very proud of the message 00:00:45.039 --> 00:00:48.840 that it shares and what I hope helps others, 00:00:48.939 --> 00:00:52.880 if that makes sense. So it did not start out 00:00:52.880 --> 00:00:55.799 as the hopeful, reflective version that is coming 00:00:55.799 --> 00:00:58.340 out, but it really, it honestly, it started out 00:00:58.340 --> 00:01:01.039 pretty angry. If I'm being honest, I was suddenly 00:01:01.039 --> 00:01:04.000 widowed at 31. The next day I found out I was 00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:07.760 pregnant and I sat down to write in those first 00:01:07.760 --> 00:01:10.819 six weeks. Because I didn't know what else to 00:01:10.819 --> 00:01:13.359 do with everything that I was feeling. And so 00:01:13.359 --> 00:01:15.599 for months, that book was kind of a journal. 00:01:15.680 --> 00:01:18.120 And it was a list of things that I wish people 00:01:18.120 --> 00:01:22.060 understood about grief and how lonely it feels 00:01:22.060 --> 00:01:26.060 when people don't know what to say. I wrote that 00:01:26.060 --> 00:01:29.200 initial 20 ,000 words and I put it in my drawer. 00:01:29.280 --> 00:01:32.140 And for reference, 20 ,000 words is maybe 70 00:01:32.140 --> 00:01:34.859 pages, something like that. And then I just, 00:01:34.900 --> 00:01:37.280 I sat on it for about a year, year and a half. 00:01:37.480 --> 00:01:41.040 And then when I took it out later, it didn't 00:01:41.040 --> 00:01:43.260 feel like the book that I wanted to put out into 00:01:43.260 --> 00:01:46.159 the world. Luckily, a lot of it was true, but 00:01:46.159 --> 00:01:48.980 it wasn't helpful and it wasn't healing. And 00:01:48.980 --> 00:01:52.180 I just kind of put it on hold and life unfolded. 00:01:53.260 --> 00:01:56.180 raising the girls and growing the farm and letting 00:01:56.180 --> 00:01:58.700 myself fall in love again and figuring out who 00:01:58.700 --> 00:02:01.299 I was becoming, I realized that the major story 00:02:01.299 --> 00:02:04.620 had changed because I had changed. And that's 00:02:04.620 --> 00:02:06.760 when the real book, the book that it is now, 00:02:07.040 --> 00:02:10.439 Flowers Bloom Anyway, started to take shape because 00:02:10.439 --> 00:02:12.979 the original title was shit not to say when someone's 00:02:12.979 --> 00:02:15.699 husband dies. And then I kind of turned it into 00:02:15.699 --> 00:02:19.340 a self -help book, how to move forward or how 00:02:19.340 --> 00:02:22.229 to. I didn't really want to tell anyone how to 00:02:22.229 --> 00:02:24.009 grieve and I didn't want it to be a self -help. 00:02:24.150 --> 00:02:26.650 And so this isn't a how to grieve book and it's 00:02:26.650 --> 00:02:29.210 not really a sad memoir, but it's a story about 00:02:29.210 --> 00:02:32.770 what it looks like to rebuild your life when 00:02:32.770 --> 00:02:36.650 the one you planned is gone very suddenly. And 00:02:36.650 --> 00:02:38.650 if you've been listening to this podcast for 00:02:38.650 --> 00:02:41.129 a while, you know I'm a planner. You know I don't 00:02:41.129 --> 00:02:44.050 take things to chance. You know that... I'll 00:02:44.050 --> 00:02:45.949 be like, well, I mean, I don't know. I don't 00:02:45.949 --> 00:02:47.629 know. We'll just see. Like, no, there's no we'll 00:02:47.629 --> 00:02:50.030 see. There's no we'll see about anything in my 00:02:50.030 --> 00:02:53.750 life except for this. And this is the story that 00:02:53.750 --> 00:02:57.449 I wished I had. And I wish I was able to read 00:02:57.449 --> 00:02:59.750 it when I was in the thick of everything. So 00:02:59.750 --> 00:03:02.289 I want to take you behind the scenes of how this 00:03:02.289 --> 00:03:04.610 book came to be, what it's really about, who 00:03:04.610 --> 00:03:07.550 it's for, and how you can be part of the launch 00:03:07.550 --> 00:03:09.210 and help support it. I want to talk about the 00:03:09.210 --> 00:03:11.430 farm because Sunny Mary Meadow is literally part 00:03:11.430 --> 00:03:15.090 of every. single story so a lot of you have followed 00:03:15.090 --> 00:03:17.530 my journey for a long time you know this is not 00:03:17.530 --> 00:03:20.349 how the book started out but the first draft 00:03:20.349 --> 00:03:22.870 was so angry but that just isn't the story anymore 00:03:22.870 --> 00:03:27.469 so I rewrote it and rewrote it and this is just 00:03:27.469 --> 00:03:32.550 about living with that fear and instability and 00:03:32.550 --> 00:03:36.979 what moving forward actually looks like so Because 00:03:36.979 --> 00:03:40.020 Sunny Mary Meadow is so deeply tied to this book 00:03:40.020 --> 00:03:43.000 because it was my healing. And I know that many 00:03:43.000 --> 00:03:45.180 of you listening are farmers yourselves. You 00:03:45.180 --> 00:03:48.199 understand the strange comfort of having something 00:03:48.199 --> 00:03:51.560 tangible to work on and what that really meant 00:03:51.560 --> 00:03:54.520 for me. And it's something that just grows when 00:03:54.520 --> 00:03:56.879 everything else feels uncertain. And so when 00:03:56.879 --> 00:04:00.099 I started this farm, I wasn't trying to build 00:04:00.099 --> 00:04:03.280 a brand. or you know everything else that has 00:04:03.280 --> 00:04:05.599 come along with it and the enterprises but I 00:04:05.599 --> 00:04:09.340 was honestly just trying to make this place mean 00:04:09.340 --> 00:04:12.960 something I really felt like I was stuck with 00:04:12.960 --> 00:04:16.259 my late husband's family farm and it was a noun 00:04:16.259 --> 00:04:19.459 not a verb it was a place with some old buildings 00:04:19.459 --> 00:04:22.620 it wasn't a business but I felt like I was stuck 00:04:22.620 --> 00:04:24.980 here I felt like I had no choice I had no choice 00:04:24.980 --> 00:04:27.139 but to stay here with my kids and raise them 00:04:27.139 --> 00:04:29.699 because my husband would literally haunt me if 00:04:29.699 --> 00:04:34.769 I sold it So I wanted something that could just 00:04:34.769 --> 00:04:36.449 kind of hold the weight of everything that I 00:04:36.449 --> 00:04:39.069 was going through. And I wanted something I could 00:04:39.069 --> 00:04:41.209 point at and say, hey, look, something really 00:04:41.209 --> 00:04:45.319 good came of this. And this farm, it... I turned 00:04:45.319 --> 00:04:48.259 it into a place that I could show up even when 00:04:48.259 --> 00:04:50.120 I wasn't feeling well. It gave me structure, 00:04:50.300 --> 00:04:52.720 it gave me purpose, and eventually it gave me 00:04:52.720 --> 00:04:55.300 community. And so many of you that are listening 00:04:55.300 --> 00:04:58.420 are included in it. So yes, it's a grief book, 00:04:58.560 --> 00:05:01.100 but it's also about farming and entrepreneurship 00:05:01.100 --> 00:05:04.319 and identity and raising children and learning 00:05:04.319 --> 00:05:07.379 how to live a full, joyful, really complicated 00:05:07.379 --> 00:05:10.839 life after something devastating. Because grief 00:05:10.839 --> 00:05:14.379 isn't just death. Grief is for anyone that it 00:05:14.379 --> 00:05:17.139 didn't go as planned or, you know, this isn't 00:05:17.139 --> 00:05:19.980 a grief book. It's a keep going book. And Sunny 00:05:19.980 --> 00:05:22.519 Mary Meadow isn't necessarily the background 00:05:22.519 --> 00:05:24.779 of this story. It really is the heartbeat of 00:05:24.779 --> 00:05:26.720 it. And I've been getting a lot of questions 00:05:26.720 --> 00:05:29.220 about who this book is meant for. And honestly, 00:05:29.399 --> 00:05:31.120 it's for a lot more people than you'd think. 00:05:31.420 --> 00:05:33.819 It's for anyone who's lost someone that mattered 00:05:33.819 --> 00:05:37.000 or something that mattered, whether that's a 00:05:37.000 --> 00:05:40.779 person, a relationship. a dream or even a version 00:05:40.779 --> 00:05:44.319 of themselves. It's for anyone who's had to rewrite 00:05:44.319 --> 00:05:48.040 their life in real time. And it's for people 00:05:48.040 --> 00:05:51.279 who feel like they're in this season of and, 00:05:51.379 --> 00:05:53.459 and that's where I live is in this season of 00:05:53.459 --> 00:05:58.019 and. I'm okay and I'm still hurting. I'm rebuilding 00:05:58.019 --> 00:06:02.699 and I still miss him. I'm happy and I'm sad at 00:06:02.699 --> 00:06:05.579 the same time. And it's also for entrepreneurs 00:06:05.579 --> 00:06:08.060 and farmers who listen to this show. Those of 00:06:08.060 --> 00:06:10.600 you who know what it feels like to make something 00:06:10.600 --> 00:06:13.019 out of nothing, to take something broken or uncertain 00:06:13.019 --> 00:06:15.160 and turn it into something thriving. And it's 00:06:15.160 --> 00:06:18.199 for people who love stories, people who see what 00:06:18.199 --> 00:06:20.639 resilience looks like in real life and not just 00:06:20.639 --> 00:06:23.779 in Pinterest quotes. And this book is not a manual. 00:06:24.319 --> 00:06:26.379 It's definitely not a list of step -by -steps 00:06:26.379 --> 00:06:28.560 or advice because trust me, I would write that 00:06:28.560 --> 00:06:31.740 book way differently, but it's a story. And it's 00:06:31.740 --> 00:06:34.439 one that I hope you can see pieces of your own 00:06:34.439 --> 00:06:38.060 story inside of it. And, you know, the publishing, 00:06:38.100 --> 00:06:41.019 I wrote drafts, I rewrote drafts. I had moment 00:06:41.019 --> 00:06:45.259 where I was sure a year ago today, I was sure 00:06:45.259 --> 00:06:47.600 that no one would ever read it. And then one 00:06:47.600 --> 00:06:50.819 day. It all just fell into place. I signed a 00:06:50.819 --> 00:06:53.439 contract with a publishing company and suddenly 00:06:53.439 --> 00:06:55.740 this thing that I'd quietly been working on for 00:06:55.740 --> 00:06:58.220 years became a real book and there's a real team 00:06:58.220 --> 00:07:02.000 behind it. And it officially publication date 00:07:02.000 --> 00:07:05.980 is March 3rd, 2026. But today as this episode 00:07:05.980 --> 00:07:08.819 comes out is when pre -orders open. So in March, 00:07:08.920 --> 00:07:11.759 it'll be available on bookstores, hopefully nationwide, 00:07:11.759 --> 00:07:14.439 but that really depends on how these pre -orders 00:07:14.439 --> 00:07:17.480 go. Pre -orders matter so much more than you 00:07:17.480 --> 00:07:20.300 realize because they determine how many books 00:07:20.300 --> 00:07:22.500 get printed. They see how many people want the 00:07:22.500 --> 00:07:25.220 book, how many bookstores want to carry it. And 00:07:25.220 --> 00:07:27.300 that's the kind of reach that we build. So it 00:07:27.300 --> 00:07:30.300 feels really surreal to say this out loud, but 00:07:30.300 --> 00:07:32.779 these pre -orders really matter. So it's available 00:07:32.779 --> 00:07:35.370 wherever books are sold. But right now we are 00:07:35.370 --> 00:07:38.189 directing everyone to Barnes and Noble pre -order 00:07:38.189 --> 00:07:39.990 link. And that link is in the episode notes, 00:07:40.050 --> 00:07:42.550 or you just type in flowers bloom anyway at Barnes 00:07:42.550 --> 00:07:45.290 and Noble, but it helps with the overall placement 00:07:45.290 --> 00:07:48.480 and visibility. And that's the link that makes 00:07:48.480 --> 00:07:50.480 the biggest difference at this stage right now. 00:07:50.699 --> 00:07:52.540 So you can find the link in my show notes, on 00:07:52.540 --> 00:07:55.100 my website, on my Instagram bio. If you follow 00:07:55.100 --> 00:07:57.420 me in any way, shape or form, you'll see it, 00:07:57.459 --> 00:07:59.439 I promise. But if you've been planning on buying 00:07:59.439 --> 00:08:01.980 the book, pre -ordering it now is the way that 00:08:01.980 --> 00:08:04.500 helps. It helps way more than waiting until launch 00:08:04.500 --> 00:08:07.240 day in March. So we also launched something called 00:08:07.240 --> 00:08:09.500 the Bloom Crew, which is basically a new name 00:08:09.500 --> 00:08:11.000 for the waitlist. So if you're already on the 00:08:11.000 --> 00:08:12.660 waitlist for the book, you're part of the Bloom 00:08:12.660 --> 00:08:14.439 Crew. We're just changing the name, but you're 00:08:14.439 --> 00:08:16.670 going to get some emails on how to support. the 00:08:16.670 --> 00:08:18.509 book, when to share, what to share, graphics 00:08:18.509 --> 00:08:21.550 to use, ways to reach out for your local bookstores, 00:08:21.649 --> 00:08:24.050 local libraries, all of those things. We have 00:08:24.050 --> 00:08:25.910 a lot of stuff coming over the next month of 00:08:25.910 --> 00:08:29.370 shareable graphics. And I'm really excited that 00:08:29.370 --> 00:08:31.610 there's a lot of interviews and interests. And 00:08:31.610 --> 00:08:33.289 there's a lot of journalists that have talked 00:08:33.289 --> 00:08:35.549 about the book and some other really fun things, 00:08:35.669 --> 00:08:37.669 but just a lot more conversation on the podcast 00:08:37.669 --> 00:08:39.769 of grief and resilience and entrepreneurship 00:08:39.769 --> 00:08:42.389 and agritourism and motherhood and rebuilding 00:08:42.389 --> 00:08:45.669 and just complicated beauty of starting over. 00:08:45.799 --> 00:08:48.080 So I just want to say thank you. Thank you for 00:08:48.080 --> 00:08:50.419 your support of the farm, of the podcast, of 00:08:50.419 --> 00:08:52.620 my story. And it's the whole reason that this 00:08:52.620 --> 00:08:55.419 book exists. I wrote it alone, but I didn't live 00:08:55.419 --> 00:08:57.639 it alone. So many of you have been here through 00:08:57.639 --> 00:09:00.539 every chapter of this journey. And Sunny Mary 00:09:00.539 --> 00:09:02.440 Meadow helped me heal. This community helped 00:09:02.440 --> 00:09:05.200 me grow. And now flowers bloom anyway is the 00:09:05.200 --> 00:09:07.460 thing that I'm offering back to you all. It's 00:09:07.460 --> 00:09:10.080 a story that... I hope will help someone else 00:09:10.080 --> 00:09:11.919 keep going on the days that they don't feel like 00:09:11.919 --> 00:09:14.799 it. Pre -orders are open. And truly, thank you 00:09:14.799 --> 00:09:17.830 for helping me. Bring this story into the world. 00:09:17.950 --> 00:09:21.409 So until next time, bloom and grow. Thank you 00:09:21.409 --> 00:09:23.190 so much for listening to this episode of Rudded 00:09:23.190 --> 00:09:25.509 Agritourism. If you enjoyed it, please leave 00:09:25.509 --> 00:09:27.250 a five -star review and share it with someone 00:09:27.250 --> 00:09:29.269 who would find it helpful or inspiring. Your 00:09:29.269 --> 00:09:31.269 support helps us reach more rural entrepreneurs, 00:09:31.730 --> 00:09:34.389 dreamers, and doers just like you. You can explore 00:09:34.389 --> 00:09:36.830 all of our resources at SunnyMaryMeadowCoaching 00:09:36.830 --> 00:09:39.549 .com where you'll find each episode in blog form 00:09:39.549 --> 00:09:41.990 along with free resources to help grow your business. 00:09:42.250 --> 00:09:44.809 You'll also find info on upcoming on -farm and 00:09:44.809 --> 00:09:48.460 virtual workshops. Be sure to check out our monthly 00:09:48.460 --> 00:09:50.740 membership, Foundations of Pedaling Perishable 00:09:50.740 --> 00:09:53.240 Products, where you'll get access to a full library 00:09:53.240 --> 00:09:55.980 of our original course content, plus ongoing 00:09:55.980 --> 00:09:58.379 support through monthly virtual meetups with 00:09:58.379 --> 00:10:00.580 others in the industry. Just click the link in 00:10:00.580 --> 00:10:02.679 the show notes or our bio to learn more. We'd 00:10:02.679 --> 00:10:05.100 love to have you join us. Until next time, keep 00:10:05.100 --> 00:10:06.820 growing with purpose and stay rooted.