When Sunshine Saved My Soul: Growing Dahlias Through Hard Seasons with Kylie Gray Eilers

Follow Kylie on Instagram @boldlygroundedpodcast or @kylieepperson_ Or check out her website www.kylieepperson.com You can find Kylie Gray Eilers on Instagram @graygirlfarms or head to her website to see all she has going on www.graygirlfarms.com   Host Kylie Epperson interviews Kylie Gray Eilers, owner of Gray Girl Farms and Nursery in Royal City, Washington, a fifth-generation row crop background turned first-generation dahlia tuber and flower root farmer. Gray Eilers describes farming in the irrigated Columbia Basin, taking major losses as a first-generation renter, and pivoting by applying potato-production methods to dahlia tubers. She explains scaling from about one acre and 2,000 tubers to roughly 10 acres, shifting from flower delivery to farm pickup bloom buckets, and making most income by digging, dividing, storing, and shipping tubers nationwide, alongside peonies and flower seeds. The conversation also covers postpartum depression, using daily time outdoors as a key support, setting non-negotiables for work and motherhood, social media boundaries, volunteering in local communities, and her recent purchase of a pot-in-pot tree and shrub nursery run as wholesale with pop-up events.   00:00 Welcome to Boldly Grounded 00:45 Meet Kylie Gray Eilers 02:30 From Row Crops to Dahlias 03:38 First Gen Farming Reality 06:36 Going All In on Growth 09:27 Selling Flowers and Tubers 10:21 Farm Visits and Expansion 13:15 Postpartum and Baby Steps 16:21 Motherhood and Perspective Shift 17:39 Burnout as a Young Mom 18:38 Chasing More vs Contentment 19:44 Social Media Exhaustion 22:41 Breaking the Phone Habit 24:32 Boundaries Create Not Consume 26:08 Volunteering and Local Impact 27:33 Ripple Effects and Civic Duty 29:14 Seasonal Posting and Limits 30:26 Buying a Wholesale Nursery 33:14 Building a Legacy and Wrap Up