“I was walking the last horse off the farm,” she says. As the last kid at home, it fell on her young shoulders to liquidate the farm’s assets.

While her future was looking bright, Frey’s parents’ financial situation was dire. Little did she know how crucial that good impression with her banker would be. Sixty days later, she walked in the bank with a dusty envelope of $10,000 plus interest. The melon route makes good money, and it will make more if I have this truck.” She asked her banker for a $10,000 loan to buy a delivery truck. Once Frey turned 16, she wanted to expand. “I loved my melon route I loved seeing how different stores merchandised their products. “I grew the 12-store route to 150 grocery stores,” she says.

To provide for herself, she took over the produce delivery business. Photo: Angela Talley Photography 12 stores to 150Īt 15, Frey moved out of her family home and attended high school and college simultaneously. The Frey Farms team includes 70 full-time and 400 seasonal employees. I’d ask them how many they wanted of the watermelons or cantaloupes or whatever we were selling out of the back of the pickup truck that day.” “I had to go into grocery stores and talk to the produce managers. “I made my first sale when I was 8 years old,” Frey says. One bright spot each summer was tagging along for six weeks on her mother’s melon route, where they purchased produce from neighboring farms and delivered it to local grocery stores - earning much-needed money for the family.

The growing season sarah frey