In celebration of Mother’s Day, Farm Journal is teaming up with FarmHer to highlight farm moms who embody the grit and grace found in rural America.
What started as a Valentine’s Day dilemma has turned into a greeting card business for Melissa Nelson from Moville, Iowa. Her side hustle gives farmers the opportunity to say “I love you” in a unique way.
In addition to running Hungry Canyon, Melissa works as the internship/externship coordinator for the Applied Agricultural and Food Studies Department at Morningside University. She has two busy boys and a third child on the way, helps her husband on the farm and enjoys finding ways to give back to her community.
Let’s take it back to where Melissa’s Hungry Canyon journey began.
She was on the hunt for the perfect Valentine’s Day card for her then-boyfriend (now husband) who loves red tractors. To her surprise, she could only find cards with green tractors. Melissa knew she couldn’t purchase a card that missed the mark.
That sparked her idea for Hungry Canyon.
The first card featured a red combine with a punny saying. From there, Melissa would post her card creations on her personal Facebook and the order requests started pouring in. She put together a website and launched her online greeting card store.
At first, the business was simply Melissa and her husband, Mark, printing, cutting and folding each and every card on their dining room table. Later, they bought a farmstead with a big unfinished basement that now doubles as Hungry Canyon’s studio.
But that wasn’t the only necessary improvement to her business. Melissa now prints her cards at Impressions Print Shop, which purchased a folding machine because of her business, making production even quicker.
Farm Safety for Children
In addition to greeting cards, Hungry Canyon features a line of high visibility clothing for children called Wait For Me. Farm safety is important to every farmer, but Melissa and Mark work alongside their boys, which means extra precautions.
All of the proceeds go to farm and ranch safety education courses to help educate parents. This topic is near and dear to Melissa’s heart because her community suffered a loss from a farming accident.
Whether it’s a greeting card fit for every type of farmer or helping a student reach their career goals, Melissa’s impact doesn’t go unnoticed.
Happy Mother’s Day, Melissa — and all the farm moms who help keep their family, farm and community running.
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