Our Story
Luke and I (Binta) started our journey together in 2016. Luke was a traveling nurse at the time and I was finishing up my bachelors degree in Accounting. 2017 and 2018 was an exciting couple years. We started our family and moved around the country living in Portland, Me, Charlottesville, Va, and Chicago, Il. During that time Luke was finishing up studies becoming a Nurse Practitioner and I finished up my masters degree in Accounting. It was time to settle down and find a more permanent home. In 2018 we moved back to Quincy, IL so Luke could start his career. While I had a passion for Accounting and working on the side with bookkeeping services, our family was growing and it was becoming harder to balance family and work. During the start of the pandemic we had the opportunity to buy our forever home between Quincy and Payson. We started off with a drive to become more self-sufficient, building a large garden and greenhouse, planting fruit trees, starting a Katahdin sheep herd, and eventually an apiary with 9 hives, As all of this culminated I started going to farmers markets trying to sell excess produce and started selling flowers as well. While becoming a flower farm was not in the plans it soon became a reality and I found a passion for growing flowers and was successfully selling them. During this time, my father passed away. I moved to the US from Senegal in 2010 and had limited time with him after that. We were lucky enough to go see him in 2022 about a year before he passed. He was a hard worker and dedicated to improving agriculture in Senegal. My story is similar to many immigrants. There is a lot of sacrifice. During this time I really put my heart into building a successful flower farm. Expanding a perennial garden, starting a dahlia field, planting hundreds of bulbs, and building a hoop house. Luke has been both my reality check and also my enabler throughout all of this, willing to build anything I ask or help out with along the way. We are still growing and making changes. We are selling flowers, soap, and honey regularly at farmers markets. We are selling dahlia tubers, shipping around the country. We have started a flower subscription and have personalized arrangements available for delivery or pickup for special occasions. We have been humbled by the support of our community and look forward to more growth in the coming years at Sweet Land Farm.
Where to find us
You can find us at the farmers market every Saturday. We make sure to announce the specific days we will be there on our Facebook page, so you can easily stay informed. Additionally, we have a farmstand that will be open during flower season, with regular hours for your convenience. We also host occasional pop-up events throughout the season. Our most popular service is the "Make Your Own Bouquet" experience, which we strive to make as simple and enjoyable as possible for everyone.
