Phil’s great-grandfather was a farmer and orchard owner. Phil however took a long detour by working as an industrial sales manager, tech company executive, real estate investor, restaurant manager, and actor. In his early seventies, he decided to join his wife Anikó in helping to fulfill her dream of creating an organic orchard. During the process, Phil realized that he loved working with the land. Most of the time you can find him atop his favorite toy, a blue tractor.

Growing up in Hungary, Anikó spent many summers wandering through her grandparents’ garden and the orchard belonging to the local parish. Once in the US, she started planting edible landscapes around her home.

A few months after Anikó was laid off from her medicinal chemistry job the second time, she had a vision of owning a large orchard filled with happy families picking delicious and healthy produce. Her last three years in the pharmaceutical industry were in the new area of Green Chemistry aiming to reduce the amount of hazardous and toxic chemicals used in drug research and manufacture, so it was obvious that her orchard will have to be as sustainable as possible.

With the enthusiastic support of her husband Phil, whose initial reaction was “Well, I have never been a farmer before”, the two of them embarked on a joyful journey of creating Sweet Retreat Orchard.

Anikó is also a Reiki practitioner and the owner of Green Sage Garden. She shares her most defining spiritual experiences in her memoir Breadcrumbs…Searching for a Father Who Never Left.