FIELDS of DREAMS

A PAIR OF FLOWER FARMERS SOWS A NEW BEGINNING-TWICE-IN MADISON COUNTY, IOWA.

- HANNAH AGRAN

ADAM O'NEAL remembers the first time he saw lowa. Not visited the state. He'd been doing that for years, staying with the family of his wife, Jenn, over the holidays. (Gray skies. Naked trees.) The first time he really saw lowa, though, was on a fall trip to Jenn's hometown of Winterset for the Madison County Covered Bridge Festival (yes, that Madison County): "It was like 60 degrees. The leaves were changing perfectly and dappling the streets. We were driving down the highway, and they were prepping fields for the next season. And I just could not believe how black the soil was."

For a decade, Adam and Jenn had fantasized about leaving their corporate jobs to run a farm-a country idyll of animals, produce and flowers. They'd toyed with the Pacific Northwest, where property often comes with fruit trees. They'd considered Colorado and Tennessee, places where they had lived. But lowa hadn't entered the conversation until Adam saw that rich earth. He says, half-joking, that the sparkle in his eye that day revived Jenn's love for the state. She doesn't disagree.

That was 2011. The O'Neals had two young kids and a baby. The following years brought a move, gardens, cows, a llama, a farmers market stand and two big realizations: Animals are exhausting, and flowers sell better than tomatoes. So they focused, and row by row, Pepperharrow Farm found its purpose-a dream quilt unfolding in patchwork stripes of peonies, zinnias, cosmos and dahlias.