So Long, and Thanks for All the Flowers

Adam Calder
Wheatsfield Produce Manager

Wheatsfield wouldn’t exist today if it weren’t for the relationships we have with Iowa farmers and producers. It is through these people we can realize our goals of offering food and services that cultivate a healthy community.

We have been working with one of those local farms, Dalona and Mike Fiscus of Meadowlark Flowers, for fifteen years, and we couldn’t be happier with the fantastic bouquets Dalona creates for us. Their commitment to quality is evident, as the flowers are picked and bundled the day before they arrive at Wheatsfield for maximum freshness and shelf life. They represent stability and reliability in a business that relies on the whims of nature. Twice a week, for three months out of the year, I can depend on Mike’s smiling face (and occasionally Dalona’s) as the flowers are delivered along with the first rays of the rising sun.

In the early years of doing business with Meadowlark flowers, their children living on the farm helped with the gathering of the flowers. Today, their children are all grown up, and have added ten grandkids to the mix! Perhaps the next generation of Meadowlark Flowers is being cultivated out amongst the many leaves and petals.

As surely as children and flowers will grow, the years roll on by. Mike is ready to retire from his job at Iowa State University, so Dalona will no longer have a delivery driver to bring the flowers. Dalona loves flowers, but they are labor and time intensive, and the demands have become more than she wants at this stage in her life. With great sadness, Dalona informed me this will be her last season providing her local flower bouquets to Wheatsfield Cooperative.

We have sold over 2,900 of bouquets from Meadowlark Flowers in the fifteen years we have been selling them. That number represents much rain, sun, wind, bugs, cutting, stooping, bending, weeding and sweating. All of it was done so Dalona could share an affordable burst of local color with our community, year after year. On several occasions, when loss and sadness have touched our cooperative, Dalona has created gorgeous memorial floral arrangements for our staff. She often charged nothing for these special deliveries, or just enough to recover her costs. She has also created stunning floral designs for Wheatsfield celebratory milestones over the years.

We appreciate Meadowlark Flowers, are grateful for all their years of dedicated service. Thank you, Dalona and Mike. May your retirement years be as golden and lovely as the flowers you shared with us.