About us.

Located in Lakeland, FL – New Sparta Gardens is a dream coming to fruition. Family land for generations of central Florida farmers, used to provide and sustain, eventually developing into a commercial citrus grove, then wiped out by citrus greening – it sat dormant for years. In 2018, my husband and I bought the declining acreage and original standing farmhouse with the intention of one day rebuilding it into a thriving location for family, friends and our community. Holding to his longtime goal of one day being its caretaker and keeping a promise he made to his grandfather when he was a boy.

It was just the three of us for 21 years. My husband, Bud, myself, Heather, and our son, Noah. We traveled, wrote, published, coached and developed potential in others. This was our family. We all had our own interests, dreams and goals, but together we made it all work as a team. Then, in October of 2017, everything changed. Our son lost his life in a motorcycle accident when another driver failed to yield.

Devastated, Bud and I worked to stand strong and work towards this dream we still had and felt even deeper now to also keep the promise to our son of continuing the legacy of this land.

We had the acres of dead orange and grapefruit trees leveled. We fenced, tractored, tilled, continued the small area crops for family vegetables and worked to rebuild things. Then in December of 2021, Bud contracted Covid, was hospitalized for a few days, came home and was recovering well. By January, he didn’t appear to have a trace of issue.

On January 21, one month before our 26th anniversary, he was doing a brief cardio routine in the yard, before heading to one of the local high schools to coach the weight lifting the team before they were to compete at Regionals the next day. He collapsed in the yard experiencing coronary failure due to complications from Covid. Unknown at the time, the virus would leaving scarring on the heart muscle. A select number of people would be impacted by this having to return to exercise at a slower more controlled rate. Those who were more athletic or professional athletes were monitored for the condition. Bud never knew he was a candidate for the issue and the impact of it was not widely known at the time.

I lost him that day, that moment.

So now it’s just me, the dream, two dogs, two cats, an old John Deere tractor in need of repair and a farmhouse I’m restoring one plank of wood at a time.

I’m carrying on, the way we did. Building what we saw and I still see as a great potential. There is tremendous beauty here, wild, promising and still filled with hope.

We built our family and poured ourselves into others with the mindset that all things are possible with commitment, dedication and vision. I will continue the journey – for them – for myself – for all of us… All of us.