BY JEFFREY HAGE STORIES OF THE HEARTLAND

What began with a single field near Johnny and Sarah Olson’ s Big Lake Township home grew into fields across the region, eventually reaching as far south as Albert Lea.

Families came to mark milestones, photographers scheduled sessions and people carrying grief or hardship found a place to walk among the flowers. The fields became destinations, although they were never intended to be attractions in the traditional sense.

Now, after several years without a public sunflower field, Johnny and Sarah are preparing for what they hope will be a second bloom.

The couple has become the new stewards of a historic lakeside property outside Monticello known as Sun Haven Farm. They hope to bring back the spirit of Fish Sunflowers there in 2027, this time with a permanent home, a formal nonprofit organization and a clearer understanding of what the work will require.

“ We’ re just stewards of it,” Johnny said.

Sarah describes their stewardship of Sun Haven Farm as an“ assignment”— one that calls them to connect people, help redeem stories and give families a place to breathe again.

The property includes two tillable fields, about 25 acres of woods and trails, a half-mile of west-facing lake frontage and an 1864 brick farmhouse.

The Olsons envision sunflowers returning to the land, along with family days,

farm animals, hayrides, walking trails and gatherings near the water.

For now, much of that remains in the planning stages.

Equipment once used to plant sunflower fields across Minnesota is stored in a shed on the farm. Seed boxes, signs and field props remain there, along with equipment bearing the signatures of visitors who once walked through the flowers.

“ It’ s all just sitting there,” Johnny said.“ Seed boxes, props, everything. Waiting for the right time.”

The Olsons hope that time will come in 2027.

The first seeds

Fish Sunflowers began in a field next to Johnny’ s father’ s farm, near the Big Lake Township home where Johnny and Sarah still live.

“ That first field was right next door to Dad’ s place,” Johnny recalled.“ We started it to honor a neighbor, Morris Vandergon, who had a heart condition and a real green thumb for flowers. People just started stopping by. It was pretty unbelievable.”

There were no plans then for large crowds or fields scattered across Minnesota. Johnny was combining his love of flowers with his family’ s farming roots.

“ I love flowers and I love yellow. I have since I was a kid,” he said during the early years of Fish Sunflowers.“ It’ s only natural that I love sunflowers, too.”

Johnny, known to many as Johnny Fish, owns Fish Realty with his wife, Sarah. Farming also connects him to his family history. His grandfathers were farmers and veterans, and time spent on a tractor reminded him of the men who helped shape his life.

“ My grandfathers were farmers and veterans,” he said.“ When I’ m on my tractor farming, I’ m thinking of them.”

Johnny did much of the fieldwork

himself. He cleared trees and stumps, plowed, disked and tilled the ground, then planted seed, sprayed weeds and applied fertilizer.

Visitors began arriving soon after the first field bloomed.

They came for family pictures, senior portraits and engagement photos. Parents brought children. Some people laughed and posed. Others stood quietly among the flowers, thinking about someone they had lost.

The first field became two. Then there were more.

Within a few years, Fish Sunflowers had grown from a local planting into a regional project. Fields appeared in Monticello, Big Lake, Otsego, Dayton, Rogers, Zimmerman, Andover and other communities. In some seasons, the project reached Buffalo, Kimball, Montrose, Gibbon, Braham and Albert Lea.

At its height, Johnny said, Fish Sunflowers was connected to as many as 16 locations, although weather, drought and other problems meant not every planting produced a viable field.

One location drew an estimated 40,000 visitors during a season.

“ We had cars parked on both sides of the road for a mile in each direction,” Johnny said.“ It was nuts. Really cool— but nuts.”

The fields were free to visit. There were no admission charges, and photographers were not charged to hold sessions among the flowers.

The Olsons believed the fields should be shared.

“ They are about what we can do for each other,” Johnny said at the time.“ They are about the effort we can all make in our community.”

Fish Sunflowers eventually extended beyond the bloom season. After the flowers faded, Johnny harvested seeds and used the sunflower oil in products sold to help support the project.

In 2021, the Olsons introduced Sunshine Kernels, an all-natural microwave popcorn made with sunflower oil from Fish Sunflowers. The popcorn was offered through a preorder fundraiser, with the proceeds returning to the Spread the Sunshine mission.

For Johnny and Sarah, the product created a way for the sunflowers to continue serving the community long after their petals had fallen.

“ Once the sunflowers are done blooming, I harvest the sunflowers and use the sunflower oil in amazing products— like this delicious popcorn,” Johnny wrote when announcing the fundraiser.“ By purchasing this popcorn, you are contributing to the Fish Sunflowers project, with all proceeds going back to the Spread the Sunshine mission.”

The fields themselves also carried a purpose. Each was dedicated to people, organizations or causes that mattered to the Olsons and the communities where the flowers were planted.

One field honored people fighting Alzheimer’ s disease and cancer and those facing serious health risks. Others recognized individuals who had made a difference in the Olsons’ lives. The fields became living memorials. For Johnny and Sarah, the reward came from watching people experience them.

The joy was visible in the smiles and laughter, but also in the quiet moments of visitors standing before thousands of flowers.

At times, the sight affected Johnny just as deeply.

Standing before one of the early fields outside Monticello, he looked across a sea of yellow petals and dark centers. His eyes filled with tears.

“ It’ s unbelievable,” he said.“ Heaven’ s got to be like that.”