Founder’s Friday featuring Rachael Smedberg @ Tulip Tree Gardens

Please provide a brief description about your company.
Tulip Tree Gardens Co. is a vertically integrated wellness farm and brand, meaning we grow, process, formulate & manufacture all of our own products. We practice “regenerative agriculture” and implement organic methods & sourcing. We consider ourselves one of the most sustainable and impactful brands on the market. We’re a woman owned, small business, licensed by the state of Illinois for both growing & processing. We control the quality of our oils from seed to bottle, ensuring that only the finest and most sustainable ingredients are used. Quite simply, we believe in formulary that works.

Two hashtags that best describe you
#regenerativerevolution #intentionalchoices

What do you consider your greatest achievement?
My greatest achievement is becoming an entrepreneur. There is a sense of freedom that comes with being an entrepreneur. I have learned that you truly can have the life you choose, not the life that society expects you to choose.

What is your idea of perfect happiness?
As a farmer I find perfect happiness with my hands in the soil with my family. I find my greatest joy surrounded by the ones I love and nature. Happiness is also found in connecting and serving my community reconnecting them with their farmers, food, and soil.

What is something new that you learned about running a business this year?
Pivot may be the word of the year for us in 2020. The pandemic made us look at the profit centers in our business that weren’t making money and we cut those things and focused on things that were making money. We learned that we needed to innovate daily and diversifying our revenue streams is a priority.

What is your motto?
My motto is to make intentional choices. Our business and my lifestyle is built on the foundation of wellness. We can make small intentional choices in what we put in our bodies and what we fill our souls up with. I’ve learned that small changes can make big impacts.

When running your business, what do you struggle with most?
A key struggle of mine is time management & “turning off” from work mode at the end of the day. Being continuously connected in the 24hr world we operate in is taxing on soul. My cup however, is refilled each time I walk the fields, tend plants and return to the soil.