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Ep.11: Lori Bochner's Journey from Home Gardener to Flower Farmer
2.5k Plays1 year ago
In this episode, we have the pleasure of chatting with Lori Bochner from Bochner Farms, a picturesque flower farm nestled in rural central Iowa countryside.
Lori's journey into the world of flower farming was an unexpected adventure, born out of a love for cultivating beauty in her suburban surroundings. From a home adorned with blooming flowers to a sprawling farm bursting with thousands of blooms, Lori's transformation into a flower farmer is a true testament to the magic of following one's heart.
Join us as Lori shares the story of Bochner Farms and the journey of turning a dream into reality. From the joys of country living to the challenges and triumphs of flower farming, Lori's tale is sure to leave you feeling inspired.
In this episode, hear about Lori's accidental journey into flower farming, starting from a simple weekend retreat for camping and fishing on 50 acres of raw land to a full-fledged farm with a farmhouse and fields brimming with vibrant flowers.
Discover the beauty of the cottage garden at Bochner Farms, a healing place that emerged from a place of loss and grief, showcasing the power of flowers to bring comfort and solace. Learn about the Giving Color Initiative, where every flower purchased from the farm contributes to feeding the hungry through donations to Meals from the Heartland.
Get ready to be inspired by the passion and dedication of Lori Bochner and the beauty of flowers in this heartwarming and insightful episode of the Backyard Bouquet Podcast.
In this episode, you’ll hear about:
- 00:02:37 - Introduction to Bochner Farms
- 00:15:51 - Managing U-cuts and flower harvesting
- 00:25:20 - Favorite flowers to grow from seed
- 00:30:24 - Creation of the cottage garden
- 00:35:36 - Giving Color Initiative at Bochner Farms
- 00:43:47 - Plans for the upcoming year
- 00:49:05 - Hosting events at the flower farm and the size of gatherings
- 00:51:11 - Advice from Lori Bochner
Show Notes: https://thefloweringfarmhouse.com/2024/02/27/lori-bochners-journey-from-home-gardener-to-flower-farmer/
Learn more about Bochner Farms:
- https://bochnerfarms.com/
- https://www.instagram.com/bochnerfarms
- https://www.facebook.com/bochnerfarms
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Transcript
Introduction to Backyard Bouquet Podcast
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome to the Backyard Bouquet podcast, where stories bloom from local flower fields and home gardens. I'm your host, Jennifer Galitzia of the Flowering Farmhouse. I'm a backyard gardener turned flower farmer located in Hood River, Oregon. Join us for heartfelt journeys shared by flower farmers and backyard gardeners. Each episode is like a vibrant garden, cultivating wisdom and joy through flowers. From growing your own backyard garden to supporting your local flower farmer,
00:00:32
Speaker
The Backyard Bouquet is your fertile ground for heartwarming tales and expert cut flower growing advice.
Lori Bockner's Journey into Flower Farming
00:00:39
Speaker
All right flower friends, grab your gardening gloves, garden snips, or your favorite vase because it's time to let your backyard bloom.
00:00:56
Speaker
Hi flower friends! Today we have the pleasure of chatting with Lori Bockner from Bockner Farms, a picturesque flower haven nestled in rural central Iowa countryside. Lori's journey into the world of flower farming was an unexpected adventure born out of a love for cultivating beauty and her suburban surroundings.
00:01:18
Speaker
From a home adorned with blooming flowers to a sprawling farm bursting with thousands of blooms, Lori's transformation into a flower farmer is a true testament of the magic of following one's heart. Lori is responsible for marketing and strategic planning for the farm, and she loves being able to witness the joy that Bauchner Farms and its flowers provide to others. What began as a simple weekend retreat for camping and fishing on 50 acres of raw land
00:01:47
Speaker
quickly blossomed into a full-fledged farm, complete with a farmhouse and fields brimming with vibrant flowers. From the Tranquil Cottage Garden to the sprawling flower fields, Lori and her family have turned this hidden gem into a slice of floral paradise. Today, Lori joins us to share the story of Faulkner Farms and the journey of turning a dream into reality. From the joys of country living to the challenges and triumphs of flower farming,
00:02:15
Speaker
Lori's tale is sure to leave you feeling inspired. So without further ado, let's dive into the enchanting world of Bockner Farms with Lori Bockner. Good morning, Lori. Thanks for joining us today. Good morning, Jen. Thank you so much for inviting me. It's exciting to be here. And you described everything so beautifully. Thank you very much.
00:02:37
Speaker
Well, you have an absolutely beautiful farm and I have to start with a little story of how I discovered you.
From City Garden to Expansive Farm
00:02:44
Speaker
Okay. I was thinking about adding some raised beds to my backyard and I was chatting with my mother-in-law and she sent me your Instagram profile about two years ago and I started stalking you and I was just absolutely blown away with how incredibly gorgeous your farm is. You have a working farm, but you also have your incredibly
00:03:04
Speaker
well thought out and planned cottage garden. So I can't wait to chat with you about your farm and the cottage garden today. And so to just dive right in, I know I talked a little bit about your background, but can you tell us a little bit more about who you are and your journey into flower farming?
00:03:22
Speaker
Sure. Yeah, so as you described, it really is true. I like to say that we are accidental flower farmers because that was never our intention when we lived in the city and my husband and I both had jobs in town and we had the prettiest flower gardens in the neighborhood for sure.
00:03:41
Speaker
But we never really thought we would live in the country. Certainly never thought we would be flower farmers. We always just love flowers. So we ended up buying the land. We have 50 acres, just a little bit south of Des Moines in Iowa. And we
00:03:56
Speaker
We bought the land just to go camping and gator rides and fishing and just hanging out in nature. And we just kind of fell in love with the place. But what happened was we outgrew our flower gardens at home. And so then we thought, well, gee whiz, we have 50 acres. Let's start planting some flowers.
00:04:14
Speaker
So we kind of did it for overflow. But then people started to hear about the flowers. And then we thought, oh, I wonder if we could share the flowers. And then now we started to sell some of them. And then we ended up spending more time out here and built the house. And so we've been at our farm since about, and we moved in at the very, very end of 2018. So we've been here for, this will be our sixth year out here at the farm. So you are about the same amount of time into farming as I am.
00:04:42
Speaker
I love it. There's so many learning adventures over six years that we can chat about today, I'm sure. So you bought your land for camping and just enjoyment with your family. Tell us at what point when you realized that you had outgrown your home gardens and you decided to start growing flowers on these 50 acres,
00:05:11
Speaker
How did you start? Tell us, did you use 50 acres? Did you start with a small plot? How did it begin?
Challenges and Expansion of Bockner Farms
00:05:19
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's really weird. You know, life just unfolds and you have no idea. Sometimes you wonder, like, why do I even plan? Because the fates of the universe are going to chart your course and whatever is going to be is going to be. So when we first started, we started with day lilies. And so my husband and his father who passed away a few years ago, they like love day lilies, collect day lilies. We have over 500 different varieties. I don't talk about it very much in our social channels.
00:05:48
Speaker
because we haven't had too much time to spend on it lately, but hopefully this year will be different. So we planted a row about a hundred foot long and just split out because with daylilies, you know, they grow big into shrubs and you have to split them. So that's how we kind of ended up outgrowing our garden. So we had all these daylilies. So we just
00:06:06
Speaker
literally tilled up a row, planted them all, but then made the cosmic error of realizing we had no water source. Because when we bought our land, and it's like we're gardeners, we know flowers need water, what were we thinking? But the land had no infrastructure, no buildings, no electricity, no water, no nothing.
00:06:26
Speaker
And so here we had 100 foot of day lilies and no way to water them. So we ended up, we do have a pond on our property. So we ended up having to get a big old water tank and pump it out of the pond and drive it all the way up this big hill to the daily field to water the day lilies. And so then we're like, okay, this isn't working. And then we started to plant another row of day lilies and another row of day lilies. And then we started planting the cup flowers. And this is like maybe a two to three acre area of our farm.
00:06:55
Speaker
And so we ended up putting in a well, and then we actually started growing full cut flowers. So we were like, if we're going to invest in this, then we probably need to actually start to sell some stuff. And so then my husband, he ended up driving down to take care of the flowers several times a week.
00:07:11
Speaker
And we did some farmer's markets back in, this would have been in 2018. And I say like we did two farmer's markets, not two separate markets. I'm talking two days of farmer's wine. Like that's really always sold in 18. And it just became difficult to try to care for the flowers and not live there. And so that's when we decided to build.
00:07:34
Speaker
And so now we've moved most of the cut flower operations really close to our farmhouse because we do have water, city water from the road that comes in here. We have electricity up here. So it's just a lot better. Cause the daily field is a good hike away. You have to take a gator ride and go back there and up a couple of hills. So it's, it's kind of a hassle to get back there. So we don't go there as much, even though we live here, but we spend most of our time on our
00:08:01
Speaker
farmhouse section, which is about five acres, I would say. And our land is kind of weird because it's broken up into different parcels. So you have to, it's like multiple big hills. And then you go down the hill on a little trail that you're driving on the gator or whatever. And then it'd go up a hill to another section. There's like five separate areas of the farm. And so it's a little bit difficult to traverse because it is rugged.
00:08:31
Speaker
just agricultural land, but we spend most of our time right now at the front of the property by our house. So you have 50 acres within several parcels, and it sounds like with the rugged terrain of those 50 acres, how many acres are you actually flower farming on? So it's kind of, I don't know if you want to say embarrassing to say. I mean, I guess the moral of the story is you do not have to have a big parcel of land to grow thousands and thousands of flowers.
00:09:02
Speaker
Our section of the farm here by our house that we grow all of our cut flowers is, like I said, about five acres. Our flower farm portion of it, because that includes our cottage garden and our barn, it includes everything. The flower farm section is probably
00:09:24
Speaker
40 feet by 150 feet. So I don't know what the math is on that, but that's like the entire flower farm. It's consists of four pretty long rows and then six very short rows that are perpendicular to that. And then also our dahlia field. So I'm not counting our dahlia field. Our dahlia field is probably 150 feet. We have 11, no, excuse me, we have 13, 150 foot rows on our dahlia field.
00:09:51
Speaker
which is behind a little cottage. So, but that's it. I mean, it's really, people come out and they're like, oh my gosh. I mean, it's spread out because we have the cottage garden and then, you know, and then we've got some other race beds. We have a couple of different show gardens. We have our cottage that we built and we have a whole garden in front of that.
00:10:09
Speaker
And then the Dahlia field, we're building a pavilion this year because we have this massive lawn right next to the cottage garden. So we're putting a pavilion up where we can host our dinners and things. So you can kind of walk
Innovative Garden Design and Visitor Experience
00:10:22
Speaker
through. I like to design the space. So it seems like you're
00:10:27
Speaker
going into different rooms. Like in one room, you're in the flower field. And then you walk through a little path, and then you go to the cottage garden. And then you walk through that. You go through a trellis and across a little lane, and then you're in a very small lavender field and another perennial garden. And then you walk through a flower tunnel, and then you end up by our cottage. So I just want people to go to wander around and just explore the space.
00:10:53
Speaker
I love that. And me too. I wander around and I swap those things too. I build it for me and then I just share it with others.
00:10:59
Speaker
I think that's one of the best things about flower farming is there's so many days in the summer that I just find myself wandering and looking at everything in amazement thinking, wow, I grew all of this. And that's a pretty special feeling. I have a bazillion questions already swimming in my head from everything you just said. So I'm going to try and ask them because I know that our listeners are probably wondering some of them as well.
00:11:24
Speaker
First, lots of our listeners love dahlias. There's a total craze around dahlias. So you mentioned you have, I think you said 11 rows of 115, 13, 13, 150 foot rows. That's a lot of dahlias. So a couple of questions for your dahlias. How far apart do you space those dahlias? One foot. One foot. So what is that? I'm trying to think you have
00:11:49
Speaker
You have so a thousand. Yeah, it probably ends up be about 125 ish per row. So whatever 125 times 13 is, that's about what we've got. I don't know how. I have to do the math real fast too. You said 125. 125 plants probably each row. So 13 rows times 125. So that would be just over 1600.
00:12:14
Speaker
1600, okay, I was saying like 15, yeah, 1800, okay. Yeah, and we actually probably could plant more. That's just the, because that area of our farm is also the parking lot. So I can't expand the dahlia field any bigger than it is. Like the footprint has to stay the same. So that's about all we can fit in the field, but yeah. That's a lot of dahlias though. It's a full-time job just taking care of that many. What do you do with your dahlias?
00:12:42
Speaker
So are you talking, what do we do? How do we plant them, grow them? Or how do we sell them?
Managing U-Cut Farm Operations
00:12:48
Speaker
Or what are you? Do you sell them? Do you grow them for tuber production? What do you do with them? We do grow them for tuber production. We also grow them for flora sales. We do bouquet subscriptions. We do flowers for some events. And then we have u-cuts.
00:13:08
Speaker
at our farm too, and so we'll have several opportunities for people to come and take dahlias home. So I've always been curious about u-cuts. Because I don't have a u-cut, I've always been curious, do you ever have to worry about people cutting too deep or not cutting long enough? I imagine there's a lot of maintenance that goes along with a u-cut.
00:13:31
Speaker
Yes, so I'm a little bit crazy when it comes to the u-cuts for the dahlia. So we, as I said, we have our cut flower field, the flower farm field, and then we also have the dahlia field. When we do u-cuts, we allow the people to go in with their clippers and things into our flower farm rows.
00:13:55
Speaker
but not into the actual dahlia field to cut themselves until the very end of the season. But while we're in the midst of the growing season, you're absolutely right. If people don't cut, you have to be very particular about how you cut the dahlias or the next stems are either going to not flower well or be little stubs.
00:14:12
Speaker
So we and then also I'm worried about disease too like I don't want somebody coming in with dirty clippers and then all of a sudden I've introduced disease into my my dahlia field so we will cut buckets of dahlias and put them in our flower studio and then we'll send them out into the flower rows where if they're hacking on zinnias and the stems aren't the right length for how you should harvest them I don't really care because
00:14:36
Speaker
They'll be fine. So we'll let them go out into that field and cut as much as they want from there. And then they can come in and grab as many dallies as they want to add to. So we let them tour through the dahlia field, but not actually going there with clippers. Now at the very end of the season, when I'm maybe like,
00:14:53
Speaker
you know, two to three weeks before frost, then I'm not as particular about the cutting section. So we'll let them hack away and do what they feel like they want to do. But we do sterilize all their clippers. We either require that they use ours or that they go to a sterilizing station and sterilize their clippers so that we don't have disease.
00:15:15
Speaker
So we're a little bit particular about the Dahlia field. I think with the state of the Dahlia industry, you have to be a little bit particular. I know that would just give me too much anxiety. And I'm not in a spot where with my zoning, I can do a you cut. But I think I'm one of those that.
00:15:32
Speaker
have too much anxiety to worry about other people cutting my flowers. So kudos to you. But I love that you have the dahlias pre-cut so they can add them. And you said it's at your floral studio so you have a stand on your site where people can purchase flowers.
00:15:51
Speaker
We do not have an open stand. We when we built our house, we knew we were going to be flower farmers. And so what we did was we have our farmhouse and we have our garage and then attached to the garage on the opposite side is it's almost like a
00:16:07
Speaker
four car garage, but it's a concrete floor. It's a structure with heating and cooling. And we have it painted real cute in there, but that is our flower studio. So when people come for events or tours or even you cuts, we'll have everything set up in the studio and because they're conditioned in there and then we can talk about the farm, but then they can also set their vases in there, but it is actually a structure attached to our house.
00:16:33
Speaker
Gotcha. Thank you for that clarification. How often do you open your farm up to the public? We are only open for special events, so we're not regularly open. We ended up having to put a really big fence around our property because there were times, awkwardly, where my husband and I would come out of the house and there would be a van of people standing there.
00:16:55
Speaker
to come and look at the flowers. I remember a long time, Jim and I, it was like an evening, like a Friday evening, and my husband and I like to go on flower dates. And so I was in my pajamas with a glass of wine, jumping in the gator. We open up our garage door, because we like to toodle around, right? Because that's what farmers do for fun. And there were people out there. It was so embarrassing. I was sitting in my pajamas.
00:17:19
Speaker
So, we ended up putting a fence and there's a gate and it says, not open to the public, just because it's just my husband and I here and we can't handle having open hours. So, we usually do, during the growing season, we usually do at least one to two events per weekend. Other than that, we're not open to the public. We do allow people to book private tours or private UCuts and we do those on Tuesdays.
00:17:48
Speaker
outside of that or not open. It's just, it's just us with the gate shop. That would be hard walking out and noticing that there were people in your field because it is most flower farmers farm where they live. And it's nice to have a little bit of privacy sometimes so that you're not working 24 seven, seven days a week.
00:18:10
Speaker
Yeah. And I feel bad because we are in the middle of nowhere. So people have to really, really find us. So these would have been people that got our address off Google, drove all the way out here, pulled into our farm and were wandering around. And so I do feel bad now because are they doing that still and the gate is shut and they can't get in and they have to turn around and go back home. So I do, I do feel bad, but you're right. You do need a little bit of private time because this is your home. Can they see the flowers through the fence?
00:18:38
Speaker
Not very well because as you enter our property, you go up a little bit of an incline. You can see the pergola of the cottage garden. You could probably see some of the lavender field, but that would be it. Most you would not be able to see from the road. Well, I can't blame them. Your property is so beautiful. Everything that I've seen on social media is just
00:19:01
Speaker
stunning. And so I think that's one of the challenges though of social media is that people see our farms and they want to come by. I've had people show up from out of state and they said, oh, we're passing through your town and we wanted to come see your farm.
Balancing Farm Life and Social Media Impacts
00:19:16
Speaker
And I had one person ring our doorbell at seven o'clock in the morning on a Sunday wanting to see it. And I said, I'm sorry, we don't do farm tours, but
00:19:22
Speaker
We purposely built, we're surrounded in a neighborhood and we purposely built a low fence so that people can see it from the sidewalk. That's nice. Yes. But it's hard. I always feel bad saying, I'm sorry, but you also have to set boundaries and protect your time with your family. So you said it's just you and your husband that run the farm?
00:19:43
Speaker
Yes. Yes. We do have adult children. I have four adult children. Two of the four will help occasionally. I'm very fortunate too because my daughter who helps a lot actually back in 2020, she did work for us part time. So she's very familiar with what to do. And then our, my son and his girlfriend work at a local landscaping company and garden center. So they know exactly what to do as well. And so anytime I can get their help,
00:20:13
Speaker
It's always appreciated. But we don't have any employees, it's just my husband and me. That's a lot of work for the two of you. It is. Is it a full-time job for the two of you?
00:20:25
Speaker
I do work outside of the home too, but it is a full-time job for my husband. And the funny thing is, I don't know if it's ironic, sad, funny, or what, but now that we live here and we have the flowers, I don't have time to do the camping and the fishing and the Gator rides very often. It's like, what the heck have I done to myself? But it's worth it because it is, it's beautiful.
00:20:46
Speaker
So you said that you work outside the home. I think quite a few listeners have a similar situation where I've talked to a lot of flower farmers where they have a Monday through Friday job, and then they flower farm on the side, especially those that have a smaller flower farm. Can you talk about how you juggle two jobs? Because flower farming is a very demanding job, and I don't know your other job, but do you have any advice for people that are trying to navigate two jobs like you do?
00:21:16
Speaker
Yeah, you know, I don't talk about my job outside of the farm because that's a completely like if you would define Lori, the farmer versus Lori, the other human, you know, I try to separate it totally.
00:21:28
Speaker
So it is, like I said, not something I talk too much about, but I will say, you know, the best thing about just juggling two things is how you would juggle anything in life. You just don't let, you know, you don't let your flower farm become so big and time intensive that you can't also handle your other responsibilities. I mean, it could be a job. It could be young children at home. It could be other obligations just in life. I think the nice thing about flower farming is you can make it as big or as small as you want.
00:21:56
Speaker
you can be intentional about how much time you dedicate to it. And I dedicate pretty much all my free time to it because I am completely and 100% obsessed with flowers and growing flowers and showing others how to grow flowers or inspiring people to grow flowers is
00:22:16
Speaker
definitely my purpose. So I dedicate maybe more time than I healthily should. But it really is. It really is just, you know, make this like we have made decisions not to do things because I don't I can't get too burned out to where all of a sudden I don't like growing flowers anymore. You know, so I keep it the right size for for the amount of time I have to dedicate to it.
00:22:44
Speaker
I think that's great advice. I think it's really easy to burn out when you take on too much, especially by yourself because like you said, a few rows can produce a ton of flowers.
Avoiding Burnout and Growing Efficiently
00:22:58
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:22:59
Speaker
People can get, you know, you see these other farmers and they've got, you know, rows and rows and rows and rows and they're doing all these amazing things and they're selling this and doing that and selling this and doing that. And you think, cause I even think this like, man, I'm just like this little girl with like four rows of flour. Like who am I to even call myself a flour farmer?
00:23:17
Speaker
But I think that comparison game can be really dangerous. And then there's also the other side of it is every flower is beautiful. People ask me, what's your favorite flower? And it's like the same. I couldn't pick my favorite child. I want to grow them all. But you can't do that either. You can't grow all the things that you think are pretty because it will overwhelm you. So I try to be very diligent about which flowers I choose to grow as well so that I don't get overwhelmed.
00:23:48
Speaker
I think that's a great point. Can you tell us what flowers do you choose to grow and how do you determine what to grow? I choose the flowers that are not fussy. If you are a fussy flower, I do not want to grow you. I might think you're beautiful, but I'm not going to grow you. And so that's probably been the biggest help for me is if it is super easy to grow. And I did a reel on our social about my five favorite cut flowers to grow from seed.
00:24:17
Speaker
And I picked them because they're just workhorses. They bloom for a long time. They are easy. You know, if it's hard to harvest, that's super annoying bachelor's buttons. Love them in the field. Hate to cut them. So I don't grow bachelor's buttons because of that. Or like this year, unfortunately, I don't have a covered growing space. So I'm not, I'm only growing like 50 Renunculus and 50 Anemone.
00:24:43
Speaker
because I currently don't have the right environment to make it so that it would not stress me out. So since it would stress me out and take too much time, I'm not growing them this year, which it makes me really sad because I really love a Renunculus and anemone. But I just choose to grow things that are easy to grow. There's plenty of beautiful flowers that are easy to grow and will give you buckets and buckets and buckets of blooms without buckets of stress. So that's how I choose.
00:25:11
Speaker
You just said that on your Instagram page, you had a reel with five flowers. You like to grow from seed. Would you mind sharing those five flowers with us here? Yes. So the five, my five favorites to grow from seed are zinnias because other than maybe some powdery mildew, which I have some tricks to get help and mitigate that risk. Um, they're very easy to care for.
00:25:35
Speaker
Then I've got Solosia. Solosia is amazing. You've got all kinds of texture, shapes, sizes, colors. They are not disease-ridden at all. They attract beneficial insects. They bloom forever. Love them. Gomphrena, it's a little bit of a pain to harvest, but you get gajillion flowers from a tiny little patch, and they're so cute, and they dry well, and I love them. So Gomphrena would be one.
00:26:02
Speaker
is another one. So let's see. And Rudebek is, it's again, the same like easy to grow, not fussy, blooms forever. So Rudebek is Enya, Silosha, Gomfrina. Oh man, I can't remember the fifth one. I'm gonna have to go back and watch it. I can't remember the fifth one. What the heck was it? Maybe it'll come to you as we chat and we can come back to it.
00:26:26
Speaker
While you're thinking, you mentioned you have some tricks for zinnias. Would you be willing to share your tricks with us? Yeah, this is kind of weird, but I swear it works. At least it does for us. So I don't like spraying a lot of stuff in my field, right? So once the weather gets hot and the zinnias, we've pinched them and they're blooming, I mix milk
00:26:55
Speaker
and water in a big old spray backpack spray pack or a pump spray pack. And I spray the leaves of the zinnias in the heat of the sun, like you do it at two o'clock in the afternoon when it's hot and sunny. And we spray those leaves with that milk and water solution. I want to say it's like
00:27:18
Speaker
20% milk, 20-25% milk, 75% water. And then we just spray that on and then the sun dries it fairly quickly. And I don't know if it's something in there that just the powdery mildew doesn't want to grow on it. If you already have powdery mildew, it doesn't work. But if you don't yet have powdery mildew, then we spray probably every two weeks. And I've been able to stave off powdery mildew
00:27:46
Speaker
till the very last couple weeks of the season before frost. I mean, like really for a lot longer. It usually does eventually come, but even like last year we had it, it was very, very dry last year cause we had a drought. So that probably contributed to, but we, I had sections of my zing is it never did get powdery and they'll do it all. So it's a really easy way to prevent that without any chemicals.
00:28:11
Speaker
So you use that as a preventative measure prior to any signs of powdery mildew. Yep. So, you know, our zine is usually start blooming late June, early July. So I start spraying probably by mid July and then we'll do it a couple of times. I'll do it like mid July, then I'll do it early August, then mid August and early September. And then we usually quit about then and let, let nature run its course at that point. But I swear I like, I don't know, it works for us.
00:28:40
Speaker
I'm going to have to try that. I had powdery mildew set in so early this year on my zinnias and I even succession sewed them. And even my succession, I had a couple of weeks that were really good. And then the powdery mildew set in so fast that it was just devastating. I was thinking, Oh, I really love zinnias, but I really hate the powdery mildew. So thank you for that tip. I am going to try that and all.
00:29:05
Speaker
I'll report back and let you know how it works here in Oregon. Let me know. I would love to know that it works for somebody other than us because I think it does. I have heard about the milk before and I've heard about using it on pumpkins and I've never thought to use it on zinnias. So because my pumpkins always get powdery mildew. Yeah. Give it a try. So you have your cottage garden besides your rose. Do you also cut flowers from your cottage garden?
00:29:35
Speaker
I do not cut from the cottage garden. I will let the, when you cut people come, I will let them cut a few things if they really want to. Usually there's so many flowers in the flower field, they don't need to, but I will say we grow the hyacinth bean vine in our cottage garden. And so in the fall when we have the you cuts, I will let them come and cut some of the beautiful pink, you know, flowers from the vine. Plus it helps me trim the vines back. So yeah, cut all you want from there.
The Healing Cottage Garden
00:30:02
Speaker
But yeah, so we do not cut, other than deadheading and just maintenance, we do not cut flowers from the cottage garden. Can you tell us about your cottage garden? Because we see that all the time on Instagram and it's so beautiful, especially I love your videos where the sun's setting and there's this golden glow with all of your flowers. How did the cottage garden come to be?
00:30:24
Speaker
Oh, I love to tell this story, but I hate to tell this story because I hope I don't cry. I'm like I'm crying even thinking about if I'm going to cry. So it's actually a kind of amazing story. The cottage garden was never in our plans. We actually at the time
00:30:42
Speaker
before the cottage garden existed, we didn't really even do tours. Like our farm was just, we were out on the road with our flower trailer and doing markets and events. And we did not have people at the farm at all. And so it wasn't like, you know, any, I mean, a flower farm is always pretty, but you know what, like it wasn't designed to be an escape place.
00:31:03
Speaker
But in the sort of been like September of 2021, I just had this weird feeling like I just had to build a cottage garden. I had to build a whole bunch of raised beds. This is terrible. I hate telling this story.
00:31:18
Speaker
After two years, it's still really, really raw. Anyway, we start. My husband, God bless him, who wants to just support me in whatever I want to do. I'm like, dude, I want to build some raised beds. We have this section over here. I want to build a bunch of raised beds. He's like, okay. I had it all drawn out. There's going to be 22 of them. It was going to be massive. He's like, good Lord, what are you doing? I said, I just feel like we have to build it. It's going to be cool. He's like, okay.
00:31:43
Speaker
So we got a bunch of our kids and bunch of lumber, and we just started laying it all out. We built all the raised beds. We had dump truckloads of soil and compost and just started filling them all up. And so this was probably, we got done with it. I remember I have some pictures on my husband's birthday, which is October 23. So we probably got finished by around the end of October. So everything was all laid out and looked ready to go. And then on November 15 of 2021, our granddaughter passed away.
00:32:12
Speaker
And that didn't see that coming. That was out of the blue, heartbreaking, gut wrenching. But the weird thing is that whole winter, I had this distraction of, you know, how am I going to bring life into this cottage garden? It was my healing place. And so I spent the entire winter like googling like crazy, you know, like cottage garden styles. What a cut, you know, what is college cottage garden color options, cottage garden flowers. And
00:32:41
Speaker
I ended up buying a whole bunch of different kinds of flowers I'd never grown before, and I was going to try to sew them from seed. And I spent hours over my maps figuring out how I was going to lay it all out and design it. And so it really did save me and give me something that I could grow alive.
00:33:01
Speaker
And so yeah, so I did that. And then in the spring, we planted everything. And I remember with my daughter, I mean, oh my gosh, hundreds of plants. It took us forever to plant that whole thing. But my goal was just to fill it with as much life and as much color as our granddaughter just was a very colorful, amazing person. And so yeah, so we planted it and then it grew. And then
00:33:24
Speaker
It got really pretty, and so I started taking videos of it, and the videos just went viral. People all over the world are saying, this is my favorite, most beautiful garden of all the internet.
00:33:35
Speaker
I don't know. I just went out there and started playing like crazy. I don't know. It's weird, but it changed everything on our farm. That garden changed everything because then it shifted to where, so then the growing season of 22, I didn't care as much about the flower farm. I only cared about the cottage garden because it was like my solace. It was my healing place.
00:33:58
Speaker
We didn't do much expansion on the flower farm, but at the end of that 22 season, people wanted to come and see the garden. They wanted to see this. I had Garden Gate Magazine calling me. They wanted to come out and everybody was talking about this garden. I'm just like, I'm just this little girl in Iowa who didn't even plan to grow this. It's become something amazing. Then in 23,
00:34:20
Speaker
I'm a big introvert, so it was a little bit scary, but I thought so many people want to come and see the garden. It's brought me so much joy and so much comfort.
00:34:29
Speaker
Can it also do that for other people? So we decided to open up the farm and actually do tours, do u-cuts. We had to ship shape up the place to make it public ready. Because having a production flower farm looks a little different than having a flower farm that people want to tour for agri-tourism. So we made a whole bunch of changes this past season in 23.
00:34:52
Speaker
And now I would say probably two thirds, maybe even three fourths of our business is all around the garden and tours and teaching people because so many people want to grow a garden just like ours. And so I put together a PDF guide that's on our website that shows the whole process of how we built it and how I made decisions. And if it gives me great joy to know that that one little garden could help.
00:35:19
Speaker
you know, spark a whole bunch of other beautiful gardens. So yeah, so that's the story of the cottage garden.
00:35:25
Speaker
Well, thank you for sharing. I want to acknowledge how sorry I am for the loss of your granddaughter. I can't imagine how devastating and hard that must have been for you. And I love hearing how you already had this cottage garden in the works, and it provided this source of healing for you. I think that's one thing that I hear over and over again, and has rung true for myself as well as
00:35:50
Speaker
our flowers have the ability to heal. Someone said it so beautifully to me this last fall as I was going through a difficult time. And they said, isn't it amazing how flowers meet us exactly where we are? So true. So 100% true. Yeah. And there are so many people that have that same story that say I'm living proof. So it's really cool. It is really cool.
00:36:14
Speaker
There's something really healing about just putting our hands back in the dirt and grounding ourselves versus sitting on the phone all day and scrolling or sitting at a desk, moving your body and just being part of nature. It's indescribable. And I love that you have opened it up to share it with the world. I mean, anyone can go online and we'll provide links to all of this in today's show notes so that people who aren't already following you can see your beautiful cottage garden. Yes.
00:36:45
Speaker
I know that you have a huge heart besides opening up your cottage garden. I'm very curious to ask you, I was reading on your website, you have a project called Giving Color. Can you share about that with us please?
Bockner Farms' Charitable Mission
00:37:02
Speaker
Yes. So Giving Color has been around since the very beginning of our farm. I have always been passionate about
00:37:09
Speaker
Feeding the hungry like you know, we have such abundance in this world people should not be hungry we can we can do this so I've always been very passionate about that and been very involved in food dries and food banks and Meals from the heartland if you haven't heard of meals from the heartland or if any of the listeners have not go out to meals from the heartland com they feed people Locally here in the Midwest also across the United States and around the world and they do food packaging events and they're a great organization
00:37:37
Speaker
So at the very beginning of our flower farm, I claimed a little phrase called flowers feed the soul. They can feed the world too. And so we donate a meal
00:37:49
Speaker
to Meals from the Heartland for every flower purchased from our farm. So if you buy a bouquet subscription, or if you come to an event and cut flowers, or if you come to one of our dinners, or any of those types of sales, when we have our flower trailer, if you're out at an event and you see us, we donate a meal. So we've fed thousands of people through our Giving Color initiative. And it's really great. Every time I saw it, I balled on this thing, right?
00:38:17
Speaker
I ball every time I drop off of a donation check too, because I get to pose for the picture. And I always ask the lady at Mills from Heartland, like, how many people did this donation feed? And then she'll calculate it up. And it's just such a big number. And so it really is wonderful to know. Again, flowers, I believe we just talked about it. Flowers feed the soul. They're special. They're magic. And so I'm glad that our flowers can also help feed some hungry folks out there in the world too.
00:38:44
Speaker
That is amazing. You gave me goosebumps telling that story. I love it. The flowers feed the soul and you are literally feeding people as a direct result of your flower sales. That's really beautiful. Do you know out of curiosity, I love being able to give back from my farm. What does it cost to feed one person? I would have to probably check the website.
00:39:09
Speaker
for exact numbers, but my recollection is it's about a dollar and 10 cents is the cost to package one meal. It might be like a dollar, I don't know if inflation now it might be 125, I'm not sure, but each of the meal packages feeds six people.
00:39:26
Speaker
So when we, every, so when you buy a subscription from us or when you buy a cut flower field, and I like to say it, when people come out to the farm and we're giving them their orientation, I'll count up how many people are here. And I said, every ticket of yours fed, you know, provided a meal. So this many people times six, this is how many people we fed just today by being here today. And I think people really resonate with that. But yeah, so it's about a dollar, I would say a dollar and a quarter ish, um,
00:39:55
Speaker
for six people. Wow. Amazing that you can make such a huge impact doing that. Thank you. That's incredibly kind and amazing. For people that are listening today and thinking, Oh, I love this idea that Laurie gives back.
00:40:13
Speaker
How would you suggest that a farm find ways to give back to their community? I know not every community might not have a donation like that. I talked on a previous episode with Misha from Farm Lux and she makes donations to her local food bank. Can you think of any ways that farmers could contribute back to their local community?
00:40:36
Speaker
I think it's whatever you're passionate about. There are so many wonderful things that you can do to give back. I think just looking for those opportunities of things that just touch your heart. For example, we have a florist that we've sold some flowers to who's amazing. They're doing a Galentine's event and they're raising money for an organization called Chrysalis, which is
00:41:00
Speaker
organization here that helps young women and girls learn how to just you know and be empowered and take control of their lives and gives them hope for the future. It's a great organization and they're doing this Galentine's event and so I reached out to the owner and I'm like hey how about we donate a sunset tour and you can sell like little raffle tickets you know people can buy donations for a raffle ticket and then we'll give away a tour for eight people this summer and maybe help you guys raise some more money for Chrysalis and she's like oh my
00:41:28
Speaker
gosh, that would be great. And so again, it's just finding those things, just, you know, look around and whatever touches your heart, just reach out because every organization, every cause, they always need lots of help. So no matter what it is that you love, just be creative. Like we like said, we're giving away a tour, which the tours, probably like a $300 value. I don't know, I have to do the math. A lot of math today. Yes, we do. My head's hurting.
00:41:58
Speaker
So it's 35 bucks a ticket times eight people. So whatever the math is on that, that's the value of the prize. But for us, we're saying that you coordinate the date with us whoever wins. It's just some of our time. It's not that huge of an out of time thing for me, but if it can get A, people excited about flowers and B, help the Chrysalis Foundation get some more money for the donations, then
00:42:22
Speaker
It's a huge win. So I would say just look for the things that touch your heart and just reach out because the organizations will love any and all support.
00:42:32
Speaker
I love that. And I like how you are giving a gift certificate for the summer because right now we don't have flowers blooming. So instead of saying, I don't have anything in bloom right now, you said, well, I can give you this. And then they have something to look forward to. And it also benefits your business too, because you're getting your name out there, especially for newer farms.
00:42:54
Speaker
I have found it's a really great way to build your name in the community is when you donate your flowers or your services or time, people learn who you are.
00:43:04
Speaker
I personally have found that people tend to buy based on us and not our flowers is we find someone that we connect with. Like I found your account and I just instantly connected. Your garden was so beautiful and there was something that just spoke to me. And I think we all have that opportunity to have that connection and finding the people that we can connect with and then donating our services or time. I love that. That was really beautiful. So thank you.
00:43:33
Speaker
Thank you. I want to go back to the very beginning out of curiosity. We started by talking about your day lilies that you planted. Yes. I love day lilies. I have never tried cutting them as a cut flower. Do you cut them? No. We have some day lilies in our cottage garden, and we have day lilies around the property. And so I always tell people when they come for you cuts, don't even cut these. You will be sadly disappointed.
00:44:00
Speaker
Day lilies are called day lilies for a reason. They only bloom for one day. So if you cut that day lily and put it in a vase, it'll be dead by morning. Actually, even if you don't cut it, that flower will still be dead by morning. They only bloom for one day. So yeah, I, they are not a cut flower at all, but they're a beautiful garden landscape flower and they are, they fit in the whole you are not fussy at all category. And they're just
00:44:28
Speaker
There are so many colors and shapes and sizes and I'm attracted to the ones that are almost as tall as me with blooms as big as my head and I've never seen ones like that. Yeah, they're there if you explore like I said, there's day lilies are a little bit like dahlias because day they're a lot like dahlias actually um because they they grow bigger so just like you know you have dahlia tubers or whatever they um come in all kinds of shapes sizes colors
00:44:57
Speaker
forms, just amazing variety. And then daylily seeds are just like dahlia seeds, where the seed of the parent plant, it gets pollinated. And so it will grow its own unique flower. The only way to propagate daylilies is by splitting them off and planting them. You can't grow a daylily from seed. It will be its own unique flower. So daylilies are great.
00:45:23
Speaker
That's very fascinating. Do you save the seeds and try growing them? We used to, and we had more time, and my husband and I, we need to get back to it. Actually, 2024, one of our huge projects is going to be to go to the daylily field because everything is so huge. We need to probably get a temporary crew hired.
00:45:46
Speaker
to go in and rip the entire thing out, split everything out, reline it all out. I'll probably sell a bunch of day lilies this year because if we actually get to that project and then we hopefully will have it in a more manageable way and we'll start hybridizing again. We do have a couple that, because we hybridized a few years ago and there's one that I call banana ripples. It is a really, really cool day lily.
00:46:10
Speaker
And when we would have, we used to have an event called Lily Fest. And when people would come in the field, they would see banana ripples, which is not named yet. So I hope to register that name. So listeners, if you're naming a daily, don't steal it. I want to use banana ripples. They would be drawn to this beautiful day, Lily. And they would keep saying, is this one for sale? Or like, no, it's not even registered yet.
00:46:33
Speaker
So we'll get back to hybridizing, but it is a lot like hybridizing dahlias. You get a whole bunch of clunky weird ones or ones that just aren't that spectacular. And so when you find the epic, beautiful, perfect day lily, it can be very sought after. That is so cool. I have not spoken with anyone else who hybridizes day lilies and I did not know that was something you did. So I hope you'll share more about that on your social media this year. Yes, I hope so too.
00:47:02
Speaker
So you mentioned that one of your goals for 2024 is to work on the day lily field.
Future Plans for Bockner Farms
00:47:09
Speaker
What else do you have in store for 2024? So in 2024, we're allocating some time to the day lily. So for the other parts of our business, I am trying to keep things a little bit more simple.
00:47:22
Speaker
than we have in the past. So it's really going to be just kind of layering on what we did in 23. So in 23, we started doing farm to table dinners. We started doing, we are doing a floral and wellness retreat this year because mental health and all that and how flowers can help with that is a big deal. So we're going to do that. We're going to do date nights. So just some different types of events here at the farm.
00:47:46
Speaker
We do some flower subscriptions and a few events with our trailer, but it's going to be pretty much like contained to that. And then any of our extra time is going to be spent trying to get that daily feel back under control. That's going to take a bit. But we're building a pavilion, as I said. So we are trying to at least up our game. So when people come to the farm, it's because last year was our first year doing events. So we didn't have a ton of infrastructure.
00:48:12
Speaker
So we're going to try to tidy it up a little bit. I've got big ideas for that pavilion. My husband's probably like, oh my Lord, lady, what are you doing? I want to create a total vibe with that thing. We're going to hang things from the ceiling. It's going to look like you're stepping into this little paradise, if it all turns out according to what's in my mind, with orbs of hanging lights and bistro lights and vines. I don't know. It should be cool.
00:48:36
Speaker
So we will be decking that out. But outside of that, yeah, it's just going to be selling the flowers and doing the events that we've been doing last year.
00:48:44
Speaker
That sounds exciting. Your pavilion, how big is it going to be? I was originally picturing something small, but what you just described sounds really big. Have you seen my cottage garden? Does Lori do anything small? And my cottage is small. It's 12 by 16, but everything else seems like it's just big. It is, I could have it wrong a little bit, but I think it's like 35 by 50 or 30 by 50 feet. Oh, that's amazing. Is what it's going to be.
00:49:12
Speaker
And so the goal is to be able to fit at least 50 people in tables and like a little bar and make it that, that will be the place that our farm to table dinners will take place. Do you think you'll ever do weddings or anything like that onsite?
00:49:28
Speaker
People ask all the time and so far no and because I'm gonna flip back to the I don't like things that are fussy a Wedding is a very fussy event. There's lots of details and I don't want that stress, but we do We have hosted like last year. We did a bachelorette party a couple different bachelorette parties. We've done birthday parties We did a baby shower and
00:49:51
Speaker
So those types of things are much more low key events. So that is really the type of event. And then any of our events that we do that we booked for private would be even micro size, like 50 people or less. Because I just don't want huge crowds out here just because I don't know, it kills the vibe. I want the vibe to be magic. I don't want the vibe to be commercial.
00:50:17
Speaker
50 is a nice size. I was a wedding photographer for 12 years. And I loved all my clients. I had really great clients. I was picky. I always said that they interview me, but I also interviewed them. And some of my favorites, though, were the ones that were under 50 because they're more intimate. And I found that a lot of corporate retreats
00:50:41
Speaker
are also starting to really enjoy and seeing the benefits for mental wellness of getting their employees outdoors. So maybe you'll have some corporate employees, if anyone's listening, that is a backyard gardener and also works with corporate retreats or anything. I could see something like that being a really beautiful spot too. It would be great. Yes, I agree. Well, I can't wait. I hope you will document it on social media as you're building the pavilion.
00:51:11
Speaker
I will, it will be, yeah, it's gonna be exciting as soon as the weather warms up this spring, probably March, April, we'll get it constructed so that we can use it this season. And then, yeah, and then I'll be excited to get it decorated. So it'll be fun. I'll share it all.
00:51:28
Speaker
I can't wait. Well, you have shared so much with us today. I've loved learning more about your farm and the cottage garden and giving color and the future plans that you have for this year. It sounds like you are going to be a busy lady juggling several big projects. Yes, it's going to be fun.
00:51:53
Speaker
Well, it'll be a beautiful year because I know you're going to have lots of flowers. Before we wrap up today, is there any parting advice or anything you would like to leave our listeners with today? I think probably the biggest thing, and I said a little bit about this before, but just follow your heart. You do you. There are so many ways you can go with the flower business, everything from growing just a few flowers on your porch to a massive flower farm.
00:52:22
Speaker
Just follow your heart. I know for my journey, it has been twists and turns at unexpected things.
00:52:29
Speaker
So my word of the year, I don't do resolutions, but I do a word of the year. My word of the year this year is just grace. And so I would say to everyone, just give yourself some grace. Don't compare yourself to others. Follow your own heart, your own dream. Go as slow as you will need to go. Completely pivot if you need to pivot. Stop if you need to stop. Do whatever you need to do. Follow your heart. Flowers are supposed to make you happy. And so do what brings you joy. And that would be my biggest advice.
00:52:59
Speaker
And don't forget to screw up because if you screw up, you learn a lot. My dad always told me, you will learn more from a mess up than you will from a success. So don't be afraid of fail. Fail fast, fail proud. I like that. I've never heard that before. Fail fast, fail proud. Yes. It's part of the process of growing.
00:53:19
Speaker
Today, I'm doing an Instagram Live just today, actually, for my first time. I'm scared to death, but I'm like, fail fast, fail proud, just jump in. What's the worst that can happen? I don't know. It's a disaster. Big deal. So yeah, just don't be afraid to try. I love that. One of my mentors told me something very similar, and she said, do it messy, do it scared, do it anyway, just do it.
00:53:46
Speaker
Yes, I love that. I love that. Do it scared because it is so true. It's so easy just to kind of back out, you know, when it gets scary, but just do it scared, fail fast, fail proud.
00:53:58
Speaker
You got this girl. Our failures are our greatest learning opportunities.
Connecting with Bockner Farms Online
00:54:05
Speaker
Well, this has been so much fun, Lori. I know that most of our listeners probably already follow you on social media, but for those that are just meeting you for the first time today, can you please share with us how can people find you?
00:54:21
Speaker
We are on Instagram, that's probably the platform I'm most active on, and we're Buckner Farms, so you can find us. We are on Facebook as well, and then our website is bucknerfarms.com. And if you aren't local to us and you do want to see some inspiration, we do have a guide, like I said, on our website, how to build a cottage garden that's got a bunch of information about how we built ours, so I encourage you to consider checking that out too.
00:54:45
Speaker
Thank you, I will include links in our show notes to all of those social media sites and websites so that people can connect with you. And I would love to have you back on maybe this fall after you have constructed your pavilion and had a season of events and you could share with us how it's gone and any lessons learned and advice for those looking to add more to their gardens or farms.
00:55:12
Speaker
I would love to. And yes, I'm sure there'll be some great successes and some epic fails that I'll be able to share and I'll still be here standing. So yes, that would be great. I would love to come back. And thank you so much for inviting me today. It's been really fun.
00:55:26
Speaker
It's been a pleasure. Thank you so much. And I'll be cheering you on. And I can't wait to see the construction take place of your pavilion. And also, I'm so curious to watch your daylily process of maybe selling some of those off and hybridizing those. I always think it's so fascinating, whether it's dahlias or daylilies or bearded iris, whatever someone is breeding. It's always really fun to see new introductions to the floral world. So thank you so much.
00:55:56
Speaker
Yes, I promise I will share more on that this year. Fabulous. Well, happy gardening, my friend. We'll talk again soon. Thank you so much. Have a great day. You too.
Conclusion and Podcast Engagement
00:56:08
Speaker
Thank you Flower Friends for joining us on another episode of the Backyard Bouquet. I hope you've enjoyed the inspiring stories and valuable gardening insights we've shared today. Whether you're cultivating your own backyard blooms or supporting your local flower farmer, you're contributing to the local flower movement, and we're so happy to have you growing with us.
00:56:29
Speaker
If you'd like to stay connected and continue this blossoming journey with local flowers, don't forget to subscribe to the Backyard Bouquet podcast. I'd be so grateful if you would take a moment to leave us a review of this episode. And finally, please share this episode with your garden friends. Until next time, keep growing, keep blooming, and remember that every bouquet starts right here in the backyard. This is Jennifer Galitzia of the Backyard Bouquet.
00:56:58
Speaker
Signing off to head back outside to tend to my garden.