Hobby Blossoms Into Family Work (taken from Lansing State Journal, May 22, 1955)
Couple Now Do Farming in Greenhouse.  by Kenneth Harkness

A hobby and some doctor's orders have developed into a profitable full-time 
greenhouse operation for a veteran farm couple living eight miles north of here.

The couple is Mr. and Mrs. Myron Howe, operators of Howe's Greenhouse 
on US 27.  They are now eyeing the greenhouse business as a source 
of income, even when they reach retirement age.

The hobby side of the business started back several years ago 
with Mrs. Howe's special fondness for tulips.

BEGAN WITH TULIPS

She had a small bed of them in a field and passersby occasionally dropped in 
to buy bulbs and cut flowers.  Although she later found she was allergic 
to the tulips, she became interested in other forms of flowers and plants.

Eventually the Howe's built a small greenhouse at the rear of 
their farm home but did not commercialize to any great extent.

Mr. Howe, who has lived on the same farm since he was born 57 years ago, 
found out a few years ago that jostling farm machinery and his health were 
incompatible.

And so the Howe's went into the flower and plant business.  
They then built their present greenhouse along the highway.

Mr. Howe says, "We started out in a small way and have grown 
to the point where we can't grow everything ourselves we could sell."

While they sell most standard greenhouse products, the Howe's 
"have sort of specialized in petunias," according to Mr. Howe.

SOIL FOR PETUNIAS

A black loam soil taken right from their farm seems 
particularly suited to the petunias they grow, says Mr. Howe.

Their youngest son, Richard, who just returned from the navy in march, 
will help out as their business gets larger.  Like his parents, he has 
a fondness for flowers, and plans to study floriculture at Michigan State 
College beginning in the fall.

So it appears the Howe's business which "sort [of] got started by accident"
soon will be a family industry.