Darmstadt Daylilies and More rebuilding after 2023 barn fire
VANDERBURGH CO., Ind. (WFIE) - Sarah Dalp is the co-owner of Darmstadt Daylilies and More with her husband, Steve.
Starting off their Daylily farm back in 2020, it was slow-rolling, but they managed to build up not just their inventory but also their clientele.
All of that changed in April of 2023.
“Last April, we were in our home, and we all of the sudden heard a loud bang. We didn’t know what that was. We look outside, and from our house out here, the barn was totally engulfed in flames,” says Sarah.
In an instant, their livelihoods were smoldering.
“I don’t think we salvaged anything from the barn. We had tractors, antique tractors, antique engines, just things that were a lot of mementos for our family. They were all gone,” she recalls.
The property originally belonged to Sarah’s grandparents.
Post-fire, they still had the farm, themselves, and of course, the Daylilies.
So, they got right to work.
“The day it was burning, I told my husband, ‘I just want to rebuild this same barn because it was beautiful,’ big huge hay loft,” explains Sarah. “The next day he said, ‘You know what Sarah, you don’t need a horse barn anymore. You need something that will work for us for the Daylily farm.’ So really, that’s what it’s going to be. It’s going to be a little bit different. It’s going to have an open room, kind of in the front of the barn where we could do anything we wanted, and in the back part will be strictly a barn where we do the planting and the dirty stuff.”
Despite forever missing that Amish barn, the fire has proven it’s never too late to restart and even reinvent.
While they were normally restricted to Daylily season to run their business, the new space and clean slate have offered a chance to find some off-season work, including broom-making and honey.
However, even with the “and more” Darmstadt Daylilies, Sarah knows the Daylilies are the main focus.
Therefore, this year they’ll have over 600 varieties for their customers to choose from.
Potted, weeded, and cared for by hand in their new space, they’ll continue while maintaining that it’s the same place her grandparents once called home.
“We’re very proud of that, and each year we’ll probably just continue to grow and get more varieties and new things for our customers to like,” says Sarah.
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