Let’s get this started in the right context. This is by no means a how-to series on starting a flower farm. If there were a how-to takeaway concept, it would be to follow your heart and create a path that works for you, because if there’s one thing above all else that I’ve learned so far, it’s that you have to listen to YOURSELF.
Gardening was never “in me.” I’m a trained commercial agronomist. Ask me to read a soil test result and I can recommend what you should apply to your soil to grow a good corn and soybean crop – but before 2018 I would say, “I can grow a field of crops, but cannot keep a garden to save my life.” I’ll talk about where my interest changed in part 2 of the series!
Cut to 4 growing seasons later, and I wrapped up my first intensive cut-flower production year. I still don’t feel like a gardener per se. In my head, a gardener has a big picture concept that they can create. I grow flowers in small square footage to produce long stems, and many, many blooms. A flower farmer.
My journey to business and entrepreneurship will be different than yours. It’s very hard not to compare, but it’s also not very helpful! The path I take my business in the future will be different than others as well. For example, I do not have a strong interest in floral design. Weddings? No, thank you. Have you met my friends Caroline, Jill, and Michelle?
Education. That’s where the mental wheels go to work for me. Truth be told, I have a geography degree because I wanted to enter the field of environmental education. Not in a classroom, but in the community. Workshops, open houses, extension and engagement with interested community members and groups. Agricultural education and advocacy has become a passion of mine, and the flower farm with U-cut events, and dreams of future workshops will fill this desire for extension and engagement with non-farming families and community groups.
The message here is that my business plan and goals will be different than yours, and that’s ok! There’s room at the table for all of us 🙂 Thank you for being here, I hope you’ll follow along my 5 part series, and share with a friend!
-Jess