Here, at sunset, the views are breathtaking as the sun drops behind the barn and golden foreground of east-facing flowers. Luckily, they left a wet area unplanted, and it became the perfect spot for a viewing platform. “We’ve had a couple hiccups that turned into blessings,” says Letitia.Įarly on, they didn’t realize sunflower blooms face east. In their initial two years, they’ve learned some valuable lessons. “Chris and I have always farmed, so sunflowers were something we felt confident growing,” she says. The first year, around 3,000 people walked the fields during the pandemic as they looked for safe outdoor entertainment. That spurred the couple to plant a sunflower field in 2020, and then they opened the farm as an agritourism destination. Makayla invited her friends to take their photos among the tall flowers. They were inspired by their daughter Makayla, who had planted a patch of sunflowers in high school.
“We knew it would take time, so we looked at what we could do in the meantime to make money,” she says. Once they moved in, they started raising cattle and making plans to turn the barn into a venue. She discovered the farm listing on Friday, attended an open house on Sunday, placed an offer on Monday and got the call it was accepted on Tuesday. “It basically fell in our lap,” she says. That’s how they found the Heath farm three days later. Her husband told her to “keep her eyes open,” so that’s what she did. “I always wanted to start a camp or run a venue,” says Letitia. When the couple became empty nesters and finished remodeling their home, they casually started looking for another property. “Farm life taught them how to work, take responsibility, learn to care for animals, raise their own food and laugh through many memories,” Letitia says. They bought a 5-acre hobby farm in Johnstown, where they planted a huge, 10,000-square-foot vegetable garden and raised cows, turkeys and chickens. After Chris attended DeVry University and they settled in Central Ohio, they decided to pass down the same farm experiences as they reared two children, Nicholas and Makayla. Both recall childhood days of getting up before the sun to feed animals and trying to finish the day’s tasks before sunset. Letitia hails from Ripley and Chris from Huntington.
The Powells grew up farming in their native West Virginia. View Gallery: Take a Tour of Seasonal Sunflowers at 22 Acres Farm in Heath, Ohio
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