CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio – Although Megh Wingenfeld spent much of her childhood and adolescence on her family’s farm in Valley View, she says this wasn’t particularly the place she wanted to be.
While this may have been the case, from this farming experience Wingenfeld gained a great deal of knowledge about how crops are grown and harvested, what is needed in the soil for successful growth, and much more. This knowledge now benefits people who work and grow in the garden.
Today, at the age of 34, in Wingenfeld it’s all about passing on what she has learned on the farm to people who are hungry for this knowledge. She does this in a number of ways, including Instagram where she has 12,600 followers; your website; and before the pandemic, dealing directly with those who like to grow and appreciate what nature has to offer.
On Instagram, Wingenfeld routinely answers questions that followers send her about all things growing and about herself. She also takes the time to share tips on how to build a garden, drinks or groceries with what gardeners grow, and even which flowers work best in a headband.
“I try to make waxing as accessible as possible for everyone,” said Wingenfeld. “Whether you have a small patio or stairs to grow, a porch or acres in your yard to grow on.”
She has found that her advice was particularly popular during the COVID-19 pandemic, when people want to get the most of their homes, learn how to do more things themselves, and in some cases try to get in touch with themselves yourself and nature.
During his childhood, Wingenfeld split time between her father’s farm and her mother’s home in Brooklyn. While she might not have appreciated life on the farm back then, now, when she thinks about that time, she says, “I didn’t know how valuable what I learned so early in my life would be. I took it for granted.
“It’s not easy to learn how to grow things, but I’m really happy that I practiced for decades and had these things right at hand. So I was very lucky. “
On the other hand, Wingenfeld said: “Country life was not for me. I wanted neighbors and wanted to go to bars and restaurants. “
Where did she want to live? Looking back, she said, “I always wanted to live in Shaker Heights or Cleveland Heights.
“When I was in high school, we went to places like the Cedar-Lee Theater to see movies and I always thought this was an area I would love to live in. This house we have now gives me just enough room to grow things and allows me to live close to the things we have been looking for. “
That move to Cleveland Heights was completed in 2019 when she and her husband Zac moved into a home that spans a quarter acre property to grow and garden.
Aside from Cleveland Heights, Wingenfeld still lives in a place called Brooklyn – it’s only now Brooklyn, NY. She spends about half of her time with her husband, a software engineer who works there, in an apartment in New York.
Megh Wingenfeld answers a question from a follower on Instagram. (Jeff Piorkowski, specially for cleveland.com)
It was a welcome return to New York for Wingenfeld as she lived there as an MSNBC intern helping with guest bookings in 2009. When that internship ended and it was time to return to Ohio, she found another route back to New York, this time as a flight attendant.
In 2015 she founded Wild Fox & Flower to give her family’s farm a boutique feel. Her goal back then was to share the importance of buying local flowers and getting people to get to know better the farmers who grow them.
As the self-proclaimed “Millennial Martha Stewart”, Wingenfeld took her initial interests in agriculture with a DIY attitude and expanded them by sharing her skills and experiences on the farm.
“What I did (from 2016) were these personal DIY happy hours,” she said. “For example, I would have ‘build your own bouquets of flowers’ in local companies.
“People would buy tickets and come over and I would teach them how to make bouquets, or I would teach them how to arrange flowers, how to dry flowers or make wreaths for the holidays, and we would kind of have these a lot social, educational happy hour. Then I would encourage attendees to shop at any store where it was held.
“They got more and more popular, and I liked the educational part of farming and growing and then teaching people how to bring in and use their crops – decorate them with them, make cocktails with them.”
Their last DIY happy hour was in February 2020, right before the COVID hit.
“It was so sad because my business was about socializing and having those happy hours. So I decided to do everything on my Instagram. I started hosting tutorials (online) and posting all of this for free, ”she said.
“In the beginning I published a DIY project (on Instagram) every day, which was a lot. But I had the time because we were quarantined. Now it worked out where I do things, then go on social media and show people how I do it and answer their questions. Share my techniques. “
Wingenfeld has also set up shop to work with local businesses like a local planter company where she shows how to grow in their pots.
“I’ve changed my business so many times and found out what works. And it was fun. So many people have turned to growing. “
She continues to take notes megwingenfeld.com “My website is a place where everyone can find inspiration and ideas for themselves or contact me to work directly with you on a project.”
And if she doesn’t know the answer, Wingenfeld will do the research to give followers the right information they need.
To visit Wingenfeld on Instagram, visit instagram.com/meghwingenfeld/.
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