We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Sammi Peterson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Sammi below.

Hi Sammi, thanks for joining us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

I never considered myself a “risk taker”, as I have always been goal driven and have aspired for more than what I’ve been given in life but from what I thought were conventional ways, until I looked at the decisions I’ve made and realized the vast majority would categorize me as just that, a “risk taker”. I took a risk when I was very young and fell into the midst of addiction. I was very fortunate that I was still young when I made it out of the depths, but not without the motivation of an unexpected pregnancy when I was 17, That brought another risk when I decided to co-parent my child at the age of 18 with their father whom I was never in a relationship with. I then took a risk and went to cosmetology school when they were only 3 months old, and then took one when I decided although I got licensed in that field, the service industry is truly where I felt home.

Throughout the next 5 years, I focused on my experience as a server and bartender, and focused on life with my friends and child. My former roommate and I became members of a CSA (community shared agriculture) and visited the farm where our produce was coming from, and both became inspired with the thought of farm to table, and the connection from earth to hand to mouth, and all the avenues that takes. I took a risk when I asked the owner how one becomes a part of the farm, and was welcomed immediately. I started a few months later, and took a risk with a lower paying job while still serving to be able to physically feel if this is the path I wanted. I’m so grateful for that experience, as it taught me about the field (literally), and connected me with a part of myself I have been craving to discover. I discovered that being a part of a cyclical process was one of the most rewarding things for myself. Being a part of the seed, the transplant, the harvest, the washing and packaging, and the delivery of the crops we are so fortunate to eat was everything I thought it would be and more. Then when I went back to my full time career as a service industry professional, I realized being part of the thought of a menu item, the prep, the execution, the delivery to a guest, and then the bond that is shared through communication and enjoyment of the food directly mirrored that feeling I experienced at the farm.

This entire process is the most beautifully creative thing I can think of, which leads me to the biggest risk I have taken yet: the commitment to create a micro farm, and a farm to table café experience directly connected to it. My current working goal is to purchase a home with some land, and from there start the process of licensing myself to be able to sell my crops, herbs, and edible flowers to farmers markets, restaurants, etc. while also selling my art, which has been a consistent aide to my healing and growth from past addictions and relational domestic abuse. From there, however it forms, I will create a restaurant/café experience that will be a safe place for all who are a part of it, and a place where we can truly feel connected to what we create and how it directly benefits us.

This risk is a giant one, as I didn’t grow up with money, and the service industry is a financially unstable one, but it fills me with such warmth and joy to be working towards this goal, and I know one’s own happiness directly flows into the lives it surrounds. The old adage of “life is about taking risks” is more true than I ever realized. Living life, in it of itself, is a risk, but how exciting it is to be able to take these leaps as individuals, and how beautiful our lives can be because of them.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Throughout my life I have always been a creative, but never considered myself one until recently. I thought all kids were excited about art museums, painting, and taking solo trips around the neighborhood to find the most secluded ponds or fields surrounded by trees. Little did I know that’s literally all it takes, the want and the ability to find beauty in the ordinary and all around us, what we as creatives do best. What a blessing it is that I found beauty in the industry that first captured my heart, the food service industry, which is also the birthplace of my goal, my mission.

The food service industry is one of the most tumultuous, frustrating, rewarding industries out there. It takes a lot of care, attention to the big picture and detail, and patience, which is exactly what it takes to create art. It can break you down, but still provide you with the strongest connections one could ask for with guests and colleagues. It is through the breakdown, yet build up, and all those components that led me to the name of my business and mission, “Doll Farm”,

One restaurant I worked at was notorious for breaking down the human spirit with its work, but it was also notorious for cultivating life long connections and relationships. There was a summer when I started bringing a plastic doll arm that you could place on your finger to work, and started playing around with it with coworkers and guests, This plastic arm became a staple of Saturdays, and “Doll Arm Saturday” was born, helping to create a fun, silly environment where we allow a childish/bizarre thing to bring us joy when our work was making some of us flounder. Doll Arm is no more, but my love for the odd and curious lives on, as does my wish to create a food service environment that folks are excited to be a part of and don’t feel the need to escape. They come to their place of work instead as an escape, as a pure form of connection to plants, food, art, and people. That silly little plastic arm helped inspire Doll Farm, and the connections I made through it have helped motivate me to continue this mission and be able to execute it,

When I left that job, I joined a new team that was more aligned with my new found “farm to table” love, started by being a member of a CSA (community shared agriculture) with my roommate. I carried on that job while I started a new career, a farm intern position at the farm that provided our home with our CSA. Right before starting the farm, however, I did start a new relationship with someone who I thought at the time would be a positive force in my life and new choices, but unfortunately that wasn’t the case. Eventually, going to the farm became an escape. I could learn there, physically feel the earth, interact with it, grow with it, and for a few hours a day separate myself from the city and stress of an abusive relationship I didn’t quite realize was abusive.

While being at the farm I learned more than I can express. I learned to seed, transplant, harvest, wash, package, and deliver the food I had previously been inspired by the year before. Working at the restaurant on the weekends, I was able to see the direct connection of where that food could go and what it can do for us as people and as a community. Every single part of this process was and is so beautiful, it was almost impossible not to establish what Doll Farm was going to be. I knew this would take time, but I wanted to hold myself accountable so I established the name, and have incorporated my art into my mission, which I have fine tuned and developed to properly represent me, and not what I think is expected from my art.

Less than a year into my relationship, and a month after my seasonal position at the farm ended due to winter, my ex started becoming physically violent, rather than just emotionally. It wasn’t long before I broke it off, but as any abused person will tell you, that doesn’t mean everything ends. For months I walked on eggshells, anticipating the needs of someone who wanted to hurt me and ruin what I was working towards, but thankfully started the farm at the beginning of May. Once again, the farm became my escape, my safe place, until one day I drove home and knew something was off. I arrived home, with my then 6 year old child, and a night of terror ensued, That night of terror eventually led to him attacking me with a knife and trying to stab my chest. Fortunately, the only contact was to my elbow, so with the help of former roommates, cops and an ambulance were called, and my abuser was finally taken away.

I still went to work at the farm the next day, thoughts of “why” “what did I do to deserve this” and “will I be able to move my arm again” flooding my brain. Ironically, we were hand weeding that day, so I talked to the owner of the farm and told him what happened and he told me to take as much time as I needed. I took off a couple months, but still worked at the restaurant, and eventually got promoted to supervisor and then manager. When I returned to the farm I noticed my attitude and world view had changed, and I had to leave the place that once helped me, because it started feeling like an emotional trap and trigger. Leaving the place that helped me realize what my purpose was was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do, but it has brought me to where I am today.

For the past five years I have been developing my skills in a management position. I have grown and been promoted to positions like “Service Manager” and “General Manager”, all while still maintaining my true comfortable server and bartender self. I have tried and failed with relationships, only to gain a much more grounded understanding of myself and who I am in this world. I have also continued my art throughout this time, and have used it as an aide to continue my healing through relational trauma and the basic traumas of life itself. My pride in my sexuality, which has always been a motivator for me, and a topic of shame from partners, has inspired my work, as well as my love for horticulture and the like. My art is my vessel to feel good about myself and the world, and I aim to give that feeling to others.

This coming year I will be developing my land and preparing to be able to distribute crops, herbs, and edible flowers to restaurants and farmers markets, and will start planning and preparing to expand to incorporate what Doll Farm is truly about. Through connections in the service industry, to farming, to my art, I have been consistently motivated and held accountable, and I look forward to any and all opportunities that will help accelerate this time table so this place of community, creativity, and food can be a safe haven for all that are a part of it. Every earring sold, every commissioned painting, every seedling, every conversation, all help to make this dream a reality. What beauty there is in the world when we allow ourselves to see it, and may no one ever successfully take that away from us.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

My mission in my creative journey is to embrace the process of life, specifically the process of the farming industry to service industry, but also just the entire process of creating art. The most rewarding and beautiful thing I can think of is having the opportunity to see the evolution of where something comes, specially if you’re able to be a part of it. It is Doll Farm’s mission to be a source where folks can experience that, and be a community that welcomes everyone and aims to keep itself humble.

Although there are great benefits to our climate that come hand and hand with a farm to table atmosphere, that isn’t what completely drives this mission. Yes, we can all do our part to help our planet, but I acknowledge as a single individual who’s focus is more on my direct community that that is a greater issue than you or I can battle on a global level. Instead, Doll Farm’s goal is to provide a place where everyone, regardless of income, experience, or abilities can join together in the somewhat seeming elitist and classist communities that are art and farm to table. Though there are fantastic local galleries that support artists of all types, there still seems to be an uneasiness with folks who want to create, but feel they can’t or are intimidated by the art scene. Similarly, thought there are amazing community gardens and sources for clean food, the accessibility for a farm to table dining experience is very limited for low income families. You shouldn’t have to have a well paying job to be able to enjoy an experience that makes you feel good in what you’re eating and the community you are a part of. I know fully that this is also a global systemic problem that one mission can’t fix, but it can help it’s immediate community, and from there everything rises.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

Society can do an awful lot to better support artists and creatives of all types, for example; less pressure to have a social media presence, more resources for folks struggling with income who want access to creative outlets, and more financial compensation for those who do create art for income and don’t have the connections into the fine art world. Realistically, that’s a lot to ask for, so just like with my mission, I acknowledge we can only truly help in the ways we are physically able to, but those ways can still be monumental. It’s a tall order for society to fulfill these needs and changes, so what can we as individuals do?

For starters, we can accept that social media isn’t going anywhere, and it has helped a lot of creatives succeed and evolve in ways they’ve never imagined, but we all know how difficult the algorithm can be to even start to navigate. So, engage with posts. Engage with the posts your friends with businesses create, even if its just a “like”. The folks who go lucky or worked for the algorithm to work in their favor didn’t get there without support. It may seem ridiculous and silly, because it is, but it’s the world we live in now and we need to adapt.

I also urge folks to remember the creatives in their lives when it comes to gift giving, home décor, body modifications (tattoos, piercings, cosmetic services), and restaurants. Supporting an individual at their place of work, or a piece of their work, can do so much more than provide them with income, though that is still unbelievably important. It reminds them that someone out there sees them and appreciates them, that their work and effort isn’t unnoticed and to keep going. The littlest purchase can really be everything for a small business or artist, without those the world potentially loses another creative and their drive.

The final thing I can say we can do as humans is communicate. Talk about the creatives in our lives, the unbelievable dining experiences we have, the resources we have found that can help others, etc.. Word of mouth can change a person’s life, because “its not what you know, its who you know” is as true as any other adage out there. No one gets anywhere alone, it just isn’t possible. We need each other, we need community and communication, its how we evolve. “Its the little things that count.” The little things are what we can do to help support creatives and the like, and as cliché as it is, it starts with you, with us, the individuals.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.dollfarmllc.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/doll.farm.art
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/doll.farm.art