Hi my name is Linette and I am the owner of Auntie Nette's Flower Farm and Gifts. I have loved flowers since I was a little girl and would help my Grandma DePeau in her beautiful huge garden beds. She would always make the Snapdragon's "talk" by squeezing their blooms and then she would say "Shhh, listen to the flowers talk". I would say "Grandma, Grandma, what are the flowers saying?" She would
say, "They are saying how beautiful you are!" That was one of my best memories of her. My life has taken me on many journey's and some very special friends, such as Marion, helped grow my love of flowers, especially the beauty of Annuals. For years I bought hundreds of dollars of flowers from places such as Davis Greenhouse in Sturgeon Bay, which is now out of business. In 1992 I helped a Southwest Troyette, Laura, to raise money for their fundraiser. After Laura graduated, I continued doing fundraisers for such groups as the Dyckesville Lions Club, St. Joseph Parish, and The Scott Virlee benefit to name a few. All the flowers came from Cornell's and I worked very closely with Yvonne and Gary Cornell. In 2007 Gary and Yvonne told me they were going to be closing down the greenhouses and selling them. The newer hoop houses were sold to Brenda DeValk and he gave me the opportunity to purchase the wooden houses. I did purchase 3 of them. Then came the process of taking them down and moving them out to New Franken. It was a lot of work and I am so grateful to everyone that helped me with that process. I put the greenhouses up on my Dad's land, which was the home of my Grandma and Grandpa Servais. They also had a huge garden and lots of flowers so it seemed like the right place to start my business.
2008 was my first year, we put up 1 70x20 house and that was how I started, man I didn't know where to get products and it was a struggle. The week before we opened Randy Malcore and Mike Jacobs got a crew together and built a little selling shed on to the end of the greenhouse. My brother got me rubber flooring and I used old doors and shelving units from Menards for a counter. I am still selling out of that shed today. Luckily I found a counter at an auction back in 2009, that was a huge improvement for me. In 2009 I added a 2nd greenhouse, there was a lot of damaged and worn out pieces so I was only able to get 2 greenhouses out of the 3 I originally bought. Every year I feel that we are getting better and better and appreciate the growth we are experiencing. In 2018 Greenhouse 3 went up. It houses all the overflow and pre-orders. I am so blessed to have friends and family that have been so willing to help me out, if I tried naming them all I would surely miss someone but I would never be able to do this without my parents Alden and Marie Servais, my best friend and her husband Diane and Gary Jonet, Randy Malcore, Randy Virlee and Mike and Donna Jacobs. They have been there for me from the beginning. I am also grateful for Melissa Bramer, Patty Pucel, Fran and Dave Brunner, Bill and Lisa Selner, Karen Tilkens, Chris Vandervest, Jim Cravillion, Kevin Servais, Denise and Logan Schaden, Joe Vaness, Petie and Doc Cherney, Paula & Eric Shefchik, Michele Borley, Nick and Vicki Gross, Nick DeBaker and Anne Maletzke. My friend Marion Servais is the decorator extraordinaire and I sure do appreciate her talents. Then there is my dear friend Betsy Jadin-Frisque, who is truly my Planting Princess, she is the rock and the get er' done gal. We recycle everything we can and she is always there for me to do the tedious job of cleaning and sanitizing pots. Her willingness to help is so much appreciated and never taken for granted. I am also blessed to have my lawyer Phil Danen, who watches over me and Eric Rondeau for all his help on this site. For years Randy Malcore was the one behind the scenes, fixing and keeping the place maintained. Sadly 2020 was a horrible year for Randy and he lost both of his legs to diabetes. I was lost, things needed to be done that I just had no idea. I am extremely grateful to Randy Virlee, Lyle Malcore and Nick and Vicki Groose who have had my back, fixing, painting, replacing and fixing some more. They stepped up and the place looks great because of them. I always said it takes a village, I am so blessed that these people are in my life and part of my village. Typing this brings tears of so much gratitude for all of them! Then, last but not least, there is my dear friend Tom Zalaski who is a joy to be around and is on top of all the promotions for Auntie Nette's. I truly have the best friends. On December 8, 2010 the Diocese of Green Bay recognized "The Chapel" as the only shrine in the United States where Mary appeared to Sister Adele Brice. Since then there has been steady traffic on County K of people going to the shrine. I have been blessed that they stop in and checkout the greenhouse on their way to and from "The Chapel". So we have seen a huge increase in traffic in out little town of Champion. But I love visiting with the travelers and learning about where they are from and what flowers do best in their area of the country. I hope you will make the drive out to visit us during our season. I would love to meet you and appreciate each and every one of you.
