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Ep.70: Behind The Dirt on Flowers: How Shannon & Lyndsay Built Thriving Cut Flower Farms
242 Plays33 minutes ago
In this episode of The Backyard Bouquet Podcast, host Jennifer Gulizia of The Flowering Farmhouse sits down with Shannon Allen of Bloom Hill Farm and Lyndsay Biehl of Wildroot Flower Co. — the powerhouse duo behind The Dirt on Flowers Podcast.
Shannon and Lyndsay pull back the curtain on what it really takes to build a thriving flower farm. From humble beginnings to leading two of the most recognized farms in the industry, they share honest insights about growth, grit, and learning through every season.
You’ll hear how they’ve turned passion into profitable, purpose-driven businesses while staying true to their roots — and why embracing imperfection and community has been key to their success. They also give us a behind-the-scenes look at DirtCon, their new virtual summit designed to connect, educate, and inspire flower farmers from around the world.
If you’ve ever dreamed of starting or scaling a flower farm, this episode will leave you feeling encouraged, grounded, and ready to dig into your own next chapter.
In this episode:
- How Shannon and Lyndsay built successful flower farms from the ground up
- The mindset and resilience it takes to grow season after season
- Lessons learned from the real side of flower farming
- The vision and purpose behind DirtCon, their virtual flower farming summit
Episode 70 Show Notes: https://thefloweringfarmhouse.com/2025/10/15/ep-70-behind-the-dirt-on-flowers-podcast/
Links mentioned in this episode:
🌼 Learn More About DirtCon
Ready to connect with other flower farmers and grow your business? 🌸
Join DirtCon, the virtual summit created by The Dirt on Flowers team — featuring expert speakers, real-world strategies, and inspiration for every stage of your flower farming journey.
👉 Click here to learn more and grab your ticket. (affiliate link)
🎧 Subscribe to The Backyard Bouquet Podcast for more inspiring stories from flower farmers, gardeners, and dreamers who are growing beauty and purpose one bloom at a time.
Sign up for The Backyard Bouquet Newsletter: https://thefloweringfarmhouse.myflodesk.com/backyardbouquetpodcast
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Transcript
Intro
Introduction to Guests and Podcast
00:00:57
Jennifer Gulizia
Hey, flower friends, welcome back to the Backyard Bouquet podcast, where we explore the beauty, challenges, and lessons that come from growing flowers and building a life that blooms with purpose.
00:01:08
Jennifer Gulizia
I'm your host, Jennifer Galizia of The Flowering Farmhouse, and today's conversation is such a treat. Today, I'm joined by Lyndsay Biehl of Wild Root Flower Co. and Shannon Allen from Bloom Hill Farm, two powerhouse farmers who and the voices behind the Dirt on Flowers podcast.
00:01:28
Jennifer Gulizia
Both of these women have built incredible flower businesses from the ground up. And what I love most is how honest they are about the real side of farming, the grit, the growth, and the moments that test your resilience.
00:01:42
Jennifer Gulizia
In this episode, we're talking about the lessons they've learned in the field, how they've grown through the tough seasons, and what inspired their brand new event, DirtCon, created to bring flower farmers together.
00:01:53
Jennifer Gulizia
Before we jump in, if you're enjoying these conversations, please take a moment to follow or subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss any of our weekly episodes filled with stories and inspiration to help you grow in your garden and beyond.
Transition to Flower Farming
00:02:07
Jennifer Gulizia
All right, let's get into today's episode with Lyndsay and Shannon. Hi, ladies.
00:02:12
Shannon Allen
Hello.
00:02:13
Shannon Allen
oh
00:02:13
Lynds
i
00:02:14
Jennifer Gulizia
Thanks for joining me.
00:02:15
Shannon Allen
What an intro. Oh my gosh, that was so sweet.
00:02:18
Lynds
i know.
00:02:19
Shannon Allen
Yeah.
00:02:19
Jennifer Gulizia
Well, you guys have a lot to offer, so it's so fun to have you here.
00:02:20
Shannon Allen
Yeah.
00:02:23
Jennifer Gulizia
I mean, we've got three podcasters here, so
00:02:26
Shannon Allen
Yeah.
00:02:26
Lynds
and know. You know what you mean business when everybody shows up and like with a mic and headphones on, you know, you're good.
00:02:32
Shannon Allen
yeah
00:02:33
Lynds
Yeah.
00:02:34
Jennifer Gulizia
Totally. It's been a while since I've had two guests at once. So this is going to be fun. And hopefully we can keep this concise as I ask you both questions because there's a lot to cover.
00:02:44
Shannon Allen
Mm-hmm.
00:02:44
Jennifer Gulizia
So let's go back to the very beginning. I think that most of my listeners are probably familiar with you, but we do have a lot of backyard gardeners besides flower farmers that also listen to the podcast.
00:02:56
Jennifer Gulizia
So could each of you give me like a one to two minute introduction of who you are and what you do?
00:03:02
Lynds
Yeah. So I'm Lyndsay and I have Wild Root Flower Company. I am in Southeast Ohio. So the very, I say I'm in Appalachia. So I'm kind of in the hills of Southeast Ohio.
00:03:14
Lynds
I have, I've had, this is my ninth season with Wild Root and I have a background in horticulture. I started, in the, in the industry at 16 and I'm going to be turning 43 very soon.
00:03:28
Lynds
so I've kind of been in this flower world for, for many, for many, many years. Love it very much. So, started Wild Root just as a transition from the landscape world. So I worked for arboretums and did sort of the public gardening sector, have a lot of background in perennials, woodies and that sort of stuff. And so I transitioned to farming about 10 years ago. Yeah.
00:03:50
Jennifer Gulizia
Awesome. Thank you.
00:03:51
Jennifer Gulizia
And what about you, Shannon?
00:03:51
Lynds
yeah
00:03:53
Shannon Allen
Yeah. I'm Shannon at Bloom Hill Farm. So we're in Uniontown, Ohio, which is like Northeast Ohio. We have a larger farm, you know, for flower farms. So we're like in the 20, we grow around 20 acres or so.
00:04:08
Shannon Allen
We have a large wholesale business and this is our ninth year. So Lyndsay and I, our farms have kind of grown from baby farms to what they are today alongside each other, which has been kind of a fun thing for us. But I farm with my husband, Judd. So you'll hear me refer to him every once in a while.
00:04:24
Shannon Allen
Him and I are kind of the dynamic duo here that have grown the farm just from basically what we could handle when we had little kids, you know, at a fourth of an acre, to what it is now. So, I had zero background in farming, not one other than just growing things that I loved.
00:04:41
Shannon Allen
and then, so we're, my husband and both are first generation farmers learned by the old school of hard knocks, made a lot of mistakes and kept, uh, pushing forward and,
00:04:52
Shannon Allen
growing and the things that my customers loved. And now I get to be here and get get to educate other farmers, which is super fun. And that's kind of part, Lyndsay and I have always bonded together over the hard things that come with farming. And now we kind of get to share, commiserate, inspire, you know, on the podcast, which is pretty fun.
Overcoming Early Challenges
00:05:12
Jennifer Gulizia
I love that a friend shared a proverb with me this last week. And hopefully I don't butcher it. My friend, Danny, she has the most amazing cookie business in town called Danny's Kitchen.
00:05:23
Jennifer Gulizia
She hosted a local mastermind and she opened it up with this proverb this last week. And it said, alone, you can go fast, but together you can go far. And I was just kind of thinking about the two of you, like nine years, lot of farms don't make it to nine years.
00:05:33
Lynds
Yeah. Yeah.
00:05:34
Shannon Allen
me Yeah.
00:05:38
Jennifer Gulizia
And so how cool that you guys have gone super far together.
00:05:43
Lynds
yeah
00:05:43
Shannon Allen
Yeah.
00:05:44
Lynds
Yeah, we there wrote a lot of early years that we we always talk about it, but we would sit in our cars, you know, we would drive home from our nine to fives and we would sit and talk and we were kind of scaling at kind of the same place.
00:05:45
Shannon Allen
Well,
00:05:58
Shannon Allen
Mm-hmm.
00:05:59
Lynds
And so we were just encouraging each other, you know, it'd be like, okay, if you can do this, I can do this. And, you know, trying, you know, what what worked and what didn't. So it's it's been amazing. Really fun to take that and then transition it into the podcast because I feel like we really can relate to a lot of people that are growing from a hobby.
00:06:15
Lynds
grow They're just growing just growing flowers in their backyard and their vegetable garden to people that are doing it to make a living at it. so
00:06:24
Jennifer Gulizia
That's awesome. Okay, so you're both in Ohio.
Collaboration and Market Strategies
00:06:26
Shannon Allen
Mm-hmm.
00:06:26
Lynds
Yes.
00:06:27
Shannon Allen
Ohio Gals.
00:06:29
Jennifer Gulizia
Did you know each other in real life before starting your farms?
00:06:33
Shannon Allen
No.
00:06:33
Lynds
No. No.
00:06:34
Shannon Allen
No.
00:06:35
Jennifer Gulizia
How did
00:06:36
Shannon Allen
Well, there used to be, which they keep asking us to revive it, but we just do not have enough time, energy. But there used to be an Ohio flower farmers group and we would have meetups.
00:06:49
Shannon Allen
What did say, Lyndsay Like once a year, maybe?
00:06:50
Lynds
Once a year. Yeah.
00:06:51
Shannon Allen
Yeah. And they would have speakers come in. And when we were baby farms, like in our first year, we attended one at Leo Burby, think it was at Leo Burby Ball Company.
00:06:59
Jennifer Gulizia
hu
00:07:01
Shannon Allen
at Leo Burby, yes, at Ball Company.
00:07:02
Lynds
yeah
00:07:06
Shannon Allen
And we met there and then just kind of kept in contact over the years here or there. But and we started realizing like we had a lot of parallels in our business. You know, we were kind of like doing the same things at the same time. So it's kind of grew as it, we grew together, you know, in a lot of ways. So it just kind of, it grew from that point.
00:07:25
Lynds
yeah
00:07:26
Jennifer Gulizia
That's awesome. So how far away are you from each other?
00:07:30
Lynds
We're about just under two hours.
00:07:31
Jennifer Gulizia
Okay, so have you been to each other's farms?
00:07:32
Lynds
who Oh yeah.
00:07:34
Shannon Allen
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
00:07:35
Lynds
Yeah. Many times. yes we Yeah. she's in a very She's in a very populated big area. She has, i mean, she really has millions of people access around within probably 45 minutes.
00:07:41
Shannon Allen
a
00:07:46
Lynds
I don't know what you're in a lot.
00:07:47
Shannon Allen
Yeah. I don't even know. Yeah.
00:07:50
Lynds
I mean, she's close to Cleveland.
00:07:51
Shannon Allen
Akron, like Canton, Cleveland. Yeah.
00:07:54
Lynds
Yeah. She's not far.
00:07:54
Shannon Allen
yeah
00:07:55
Lynds
And so where I am, I really am, way we joke and say I'm in Appalachia, but I really am. I'm in a very small town, small community. And so our you know our reach within 45 minutes is maybe 35,000, 40,000.
00:08:13
Jennifer Gulizia
no
00:08:15
Shannon Allen
Mm-hmm.
00:08:15
Lynds
And I think the other thing too that's really cool is that Shannon and i have We're very, we're similar, but very different businesses that were kind of going in different directions where Shannon really wanted to kind of scale.
00:08:25
Lynds
And she's doing like, they do thousands of bouquets every single week to grocery stores. And to me, that's really like, that isn't the direction that I have taken. partially because of my, my market, I really, i really can't, I don't have access to kind of all of that.
00:08:40
Lynds
and so that's been one thing that's really appealing, I think to even our listeners, in, you know, our insider group, there our membership group, where they can kind of ask any question and you're we're hitting it sort of on both ends of the spectrum.
00:08:50
Shannon Allen
Mm hmm.
00:08:51
Lynds
So it's kind of nice.
00:08:53
Jennifer Gulizia
That's awesome. I love that you brought up the point about location too, because like we have a new 20 acre farm and we had a customer picking up their bouquets this weekend and they said, well, you've got all, we yeah were growing on an acre this year.
00:09:01
Shannon Allen
o
00:09:07
Jennifer Gulizia
And they said, well, why aren't you using all of this space?
00:09:07
Lynds
Mm-hmm.
00:09:10
Jennifer Gulizia
And i was like, well, we have to build the market first. It's a lot of work.
00:09:14
Shannon Allen
Yeah.
00:09:15
Lynds
Cause I want a life.
00:09:15
Shannon Allen
You can grow a crap ton of flowers. You can grow a crap ton of flowers on one acre.
00:09:18
Lynds
Yeah.
00:09:20
Shannon Allen
I mean, truly. like we
00:09:21
Jennifer Gulizia
So many.
00:09:22
Shannon Allen
we see other flat We see other farms you know who come to us and talk. I mean, they're doing so much. Joanna Webb is one of our speakers at Durk. She does... she does like flipping of beds, like making that use of small, I mean, it's like an art form to do that.
00:09:37
Lynds
who
00:09:37
Shannon Allen
But that's like a unique thing about flowers is that you can earn a high amount of, a fairly large amount of money in the farming world from a pretty small space.
00:09:37
Jennifer Gulizia
Yeah.
00:09:47
Shannon Allen
I mean, that's the cool thing about it. So it can be whatever you want it to be and need it to be, but When when we because there's like other bigger farms around us, too, you know, and they hear, oh, 20 acres.
00:09:59
Shannon Allen
like Oh, that ain't nothing. do you know how much work it goes in?
00:10:02
Jennifer Gulizia
yeah
00:10:02
Lynds
Yeah.
00:10:03
Shannon Allen
it We've been one acre, you know, so it's just a different a completely different scale than like soybeans, corn and all the regular stuff.
00:10:11
Lynds
Yeah. And they even, we had somebody come to our farm this spring and, she had been to Shannon's and when she came, we, we, farm we actually have in production like around three acres.
00:10:11
Jennifer Gulizia
Totally. Uh-huh.
00:10:21
Jennifer Gulizia
okay
00:10:21
Lynds
And so when she came to the farm, she she said like how much smaller it really was. And she's like, no offense. And I'm like, it's intentional. I mean, I don't, you know, we, I scale back on production and and try to make things more efficient.
00:10:35
Lynds
Kind of like Jenny, you know, Jenny Marks talks about always like being the most efficient you can.
00:10:41
Lynds
And that's, that's the direction I've came, I've, I've gone to not to say Shannon's not efficient. That's not at all what I'm saying. She has to have what she does to produce what she does. But You know, there's, it's, it's just like creating that business to be whatever it is that works for you, I guess. so yeah, but.
Managing Growth and Expectations
00:10:58
Jennifer Gulizia
Totally. Well, and depending on what you're surrounded with can make such a difference too. Because like our last growing space was surrounded by a residential neighborhood and I was growing on an acre there. And everyone was like, this is so massive.
00:11:10
Jennifer Gulizia
But now that there's like this huge open space around it, everyone's like, that's an acre.
00:11:11
Shannon Allen
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:11:15
Jennifer Gulizia
It doesn't look like very much.
00:11:16
Lynds
Yeah.
00:11:17
Jennifer Gulizia
And you're like, it's a lot.
00:11:19
Lynds
It's lot.
00:11:21
Jennifer Gulizia
So I love that you both have taken very different paths. Lyndsay you've been in horticulture since you were 16, and Shannon, you said you started with zero experience.
00:11:30
Shannon Allen
here
00:11:31
Jennifer Gulizia
How do you think your early experiences with starting a flower farm have shaped the evolution of your business today?
00:11:40
Jennifer Gulizia
Who wants to go first?
00:11:40
Shannon Allen
Well, I mean, yeah. I mean, for me, I'm like, oh my gosh, those early years were so traumatic.
00:11:47
Jennifer Gulizia
Did you start on your same field?
00:11:47
Shannon Allen
They were like, yes. So when we purchased our home, we had three kids. I literally kids. brought my third child home from the hospital, and everybody was three and under.
00:12:00
Shannon Allen
So I everyone in diapers, and we were starting the farm that following year.
00:12:03
Jennifer Gulizia
Oh, wow.
00:12:04
Shannon Allen
So we just had two acres, you know, and we're like, well, it's conventionally farmed. Like, but maybe we could do something, you know. So they're like, okay, we saw that. There's a farm near us, well, about two hours away in Columbus, Sunny Meadows. If you're in fire farming, you've heard of Stephen Gretel.
00:12:19
Shannon Allen
We like consulted with them. We're like, wow, like, okay, this could be something. We didn't know what it was. we't know what we were doing, you know? So those first years were like so, I hate saying traumatic, but I mean, they were a little It's like so much learning and growth and like, you know, obviously like the mirror that entrepreneurship is for you is can be brutal, you know, like you're just like figuring it out and you have kids who are young and you're trying to do your best and you want it to grow And so I think it really pushed me to be tough, you know, and figure figure out like what are my customers asking for and doing more of that and only those things, you know. So I'm like, okay, they're asking for more Lysianthus. How do I get more Lysianthus? So like every year we just grew it, listened, grew it, you know, had all the – I feel like –
00:13:10
Shannon Allen
There is no easy button. I think like that, if that could be Lyndsay and I's goal in all of this is just for people to get into it, knowing that it's not going to be easy. Like, and no matter what career you get into, entrepreneurship is hard.
00:13:23
Shannon Allen
and that Whatever you're doing, it's it not just flower farming, but it's there is no easy button.
00:13:24
Jennifer Gulizia
Yeah.
00:13:29
Shannon Allen
But if you can learn to embrace those early years and like know that you're going to make mistakes and learn from those mistakes, and that's what Lyndsay and always try and do like, it's okay. like every mistake is like a piece of data for you moving forward.
00:13:41
Lynds
Mm-hmm.
00:13:43
Shannon Allen
Now we try to be what we wish we had. You know, we always say that we wish we had us, you know, when we were in year one to three, just to like have some reassurance that these things are normal and they're going to be okay.
00:13:48
Jennifer Gulizia
yeah
00:13:55
Shannon Allen
And, and, And I think just learning that grit, you know we didn't have us. So we like had to do it ourselves. We had to figure our way, white knuckle through it.
00:14:07
Shannon Allen
And I think from those mistakes, like you just learn to be better and having that attitude. Like Lyndsay and I both have that, you know, we're like every year we need to be better. You know, every mistake makes us better. And I feel like that has why we've been successful over time. But, you know, that's Lyndsay i' goal I's goals. Like how do we teach grit? Like how do we teach that that just animalistic like push.
00:14:29
Lynds
Mm-hmm. Pick yourself back up.
00:14:31
Shannon Allen
Yes. So that's kind of our goal.
00:14:32
Lynds
Yeah. Yeah.
00:14:33
Shannon Allen
And it comes from like, you know, a lot of mistakes in the beginning.
00:14:38
Lynds
yeah
00:14:39
Jennifer Gulizia
I think our mistakes are our best teachers.
00:14:41
Shannon Allen
Oh, yeah.
00:14:41
Lynds
For sure. Yeah, they are for sure.
00:14:42
Shannon Allen
Mm hmm.
00:14:44
Lynds
i think for me, i coming into farming with a horticulture background, i had this insane pressure on myself because i have a bachelor's degree from Ohio State in horticulture. I surely can grow stuff. And I found the challenges just as Shannon's talking about. I was stepping into...
00:15:01
Lynds
agriculture in a very different way that I had previously. So I had all of this pressure on myself to know exactly how to farm. And it's a really different concept you know when you're farming for production versus just having a you know a backyard garden. And it is very different. So it took me a few years to, one, take the pressure off of myself, but just to kind of echo what Shannon said, that it's a being an entrepreneur is a really good mirror. And that's the thing I think that shaped me still that I carry that theme now is that I really am self-reflective of like how I show up by my business. How can I learn?
00:15:37
Lynds
and how can I just, you know, create more balance for myself? There's it's just always constantly evolving as a business owner. and I think, you know, learning those early years where I was super hard on myself makes me a better business owner now because I'm, I'm a lot more, I'm a lot, I give myself more grace now than I did. So.
00:15:56
Jennifer Gulizia
That's so important. You both talked about like the first early years being really difficult and having to have a lot of grit. I bet there were times that you wanted to just give up.
00:16:08
Jennifer Gulizia
What was the moment when you realized that this is the moment or sorry, this is what I'm meant to be doing? Like, was there a specific moment that you realized like this is hard, but this is also what I'm supposed to be doing?
00:16:20
Lynds
Mm-hmm.
00:16:21
Shannon Allen
yeah, I'm trying to think if there was like one moment, I think, you know, when you're first starting out, you, you have like zero confidence. i mean, we see this, we see this all time. We have like no confidence. And there was a time in our first year when, we didn't know what we were doing and, and we had a market that was kind of knocking at our door. Like, Hey, we really, really like you guys to come. And we like, we don't know if we,
00:16:45
Shannon Allen
We're going to have flowers. Like I said, like we didn't know. We said no. And then it's like universe whispers, you know, that come to you sometimes. And so like a week before the market, we realized, okay, we're going to have like this huge flush of sunflowers.
00:17:00
Shannon Allen
So we called them like, if you're still taking somebody, you know, we'll come, you know, we'll come sell our sunflowers. We were so scared. I mean, can't even, this is like the most scared I've ever been in my life. And I literally had three children under three. but Okay.
00:17:12
Shannon Allen
And we went there and like, I mean, the line for our flowers, the positive words, encouragement, people like loving it, the stories, the customer interactions. I mean, that was like the day we're like, okay, like this can be something.
00:17:28
Shannon Allen
You know, we have a niche at the time. mean nine years ago, like nobody was really doing it. There was a few people doing it that are like the trailblazers that we know now, you know, but it wasn't really a thing.
00:17:37
Jennifer Gulizia
Thank you.
00:17:38
Shannon Allen
And I think that was, for me, my personality. I needed that external piece of someone being like, wow, this is so cool.
00:17:46
Lynds
yeah
00:17:48
Shannon Allen
And sometimes you're just working by yourself, you know feeling like you don't know what that you're doing, only seeing the mistakes. It's hard to see that. And I think I, me personally, like I'm energized by that external piece. like People saying, oh my gosh, I love what you're doing. Or i love I need that to keep filling my cup. That's why we do You Pick. That's why we do Retail. So we can have those kind of cup filling conversations.
00:18:13
Shannon Allen
So for me, that was like the moment I'm like, okay, Shannon, you know, get your big girl pants on. Like we need to to sit down and have a plan and like do this for real.
00:18:20
Lynds
Yeah.
00:18:22
Shannon Allen
Like no more just throwing seeds in the ground and wishing that whatever comes up, comes up, you know? So I'm pretty tough, you know, we can be pretty tough on ourselves. So me, I'm always just at that point, I was like, you need to do this for real and then start getting serious about it.
Core Crops and Business Insights
00:18:37
Jennifer Gulizia
I love that.
00:18:38
Lynds
yeah
00:18:38
Jennifer Gulizia
I love the the reminder that we do need that outside reinforcement because it you see your customers get those flowers and their expressions.
00:18:42
Shannon Allen
Yeah.
00:18:49
Shannon Allen
Yep.
00:18:49
Jennifer Gulizia
it's It's such a joy to be able to share those flowers.
00:18:52
Shannon Allen
Nothing like it.
00:18:53
Jennifer Gulizia
Yeah.
00:18:53
Shannon Allen
Mm hmm.
00:18:53
Lynds
Yeah. Yeah. yeah
00:18:54
Jennifer Gulizia
What about you, Lyndsay
00:18:55
Lynds
Yeah. I think my, you know, I kind of always, I always knew like from the time I was 16, that this is what I wanted to do. So there really wasn't this, but I never found my place within the industry. And so when I kind of into farming, I had a couple of similar situations, just exactly like Shannon.
00:19:12
Lynds
We had a, we had a downtown market and we sold like a hundred bouquets in 30 minutes.
00:19:12
Shannon Allen
Mm-hmm.
00:19:16
Lynds
And it was like, I went back crying, you know, like, why are these, what, it why why, why are they buying these flowers?
00:19:17
Jennifer Gulizia
Wow.
00:19:23
Lynds
you know i couldn't understand it but it was that it is that motivation to to figure it out when we sold out our design and dine, you know, tickets the first, the first year. And, uh, you know, that's, it was 20 tickets, but I'm, I couldn't believe that people were handing over $150 a ticket and I was brand new, you know? So it, I've, what I love about owning a business is that I love idea generation is like my thing. I love coming up with new ideas and running with them. And,
00:19:50
Lynds
And so this is like satisfied that horticulture itch. And then also this like, you know, and and I love helping people too. So the workshops and even what we're doing with the podcast, it just kind of has satisfied it all in a way that I never really was able to find in those early years of my career. So, yeah.
00:20:07
Jennifer Gulizia
I love that. Thank you. I feel like we're sticking around a lot on these early seasons, but I kind of love this because I think most listeners know you at least in the present. So hopefully we're pulling some tidbits out from the past here today.
00:20:17
Shannon Allen
Yeah.
00:20:17
Lynds
Mm-hmm.
00:20:20
Shannon Allen
Yeah.
00:20:21
Jennifer Gulizia
When you look back on those first few seasons, is there one thing that you wish someone would have told you when you were getting started?
00:20:29
Shannon Allen
Oh, I mean, we're pretty stubborn.
00:20:29
Lynds
I don't know if I would have listened. And I think I might have heard it.
00:20:32
Shannon Allen
and
00:20:32
Lynds
i know.
00:20:33
Shannon Allen
Yeah.
00:20:33
Jennifer Gulizia
yeah
00:20:33
Lynds
I wish i I, in some ways, because I am that idea person, i tend to like, I would do a lot of ideas and I wouldn't drop anything.
00:20:44
Lynds
And so i you don't have to do everything. You can be really good at one thing. You know, it's like Charlotte Smith talks about that, right? Like the one, doing the one thing, simplifying.
00:20:51
Jennifer Gulizia
Julie.
00:20:53
Lynds
Jenny talks about that. and I, in, in now the phase in my life that I am going into 10 years into my business, I am moving in more of that direction. So I think there is this need, this feeling to say yes to everything and everyone when you're new. Cause I was, I was running flowers on my, between my nine to five And, you know, running flowers to a bank for somebody that would a $20 bouquet.
00:21:18
Lynds
And you were, you know, just – there was so much hustling that went into that where i don't think I had to say yes to everything, you know, weddings and all this stuff. And now I'm at a place in my business that I feel like I don't have to do all of that.
00:21:31
Lynds
And I think I could have started out that way. Like I said, I don't know that I would have actually listened to it, but it is really solid advice. But, yeah.
00:21:39
Shannon Allen
Yeah.
00:21:39
Lynds
Yeah.
00:21:40
Shannon Allen
Yeah. You know, I'm like thinking about this and I think, you know, for now, and it's the it's funny that the things that we wish we would have had, like we're always instructing other people now that we're nine years into this, but something that I've learned that I wish somebody would have told me was that I don't have to grow the fancy stuff to have a good farm.
00:22:03
Shannon Allen
It's like one, mean, like I look at my bouquets and stuff now and like 80% are easy to grow stuff, like cheap to grow, easy to grow, fuss stuff. And then sometimes like the magic in my bouquets, like the cuteness in my bouquets does come from the fancy stuff, like the Lizzie, the Dahlias and like all that. Those are absolutely necessary in my mind. But when you get started,
00:22:28
Shannon Allen
I just feel like, oh, you just like you're like starting Bells of Ireland from seed and like the scab.
00:22:31
Lynds
Scabiosa? Why did I ever grow scabiosa? Like, I don't know. Thank you. Stuff gets tangled to harvest.
00:22:38
Shannon Allen
But eat
00:22:39
Lynds
Yeah.
00:22:41
Shannon Allen
the seed catalogs like draw you in. And like when you're just getting started, it is that like it's that dream nature of it.
00:22:43
Jennifer Gulizia
Totally.
00:22:44
Lynds
yeah
00:22:44
Jennifer Gulizia
Right.
00:22:48
Shannon Allen
And I wish someone would have said like, no, no, no, Shannon, you need to concentrate on growing 80 to 90% just the tough stuff. Because my customers, they want their flowers to last a long time.
00:23:00
Shannon Allen
So when they get that experience, they're like, oh, yeah, I need more, i need more, i need more.
00:23:01
Jennifer Gulizia
right
00:23:06
Shannon Allen
And I think that's kind of what sets us apart. But it's really easy to get sucked into that at the beginning. It's like growing all the fancy dancy, finicky, fussy, you know, tangly things that are super cute but not essential to success.
00:23:23
Jennifer Gulizia
Absolutely. Those are both really good pieces of it pieces of advice. Lyndsay you and I are in similar sized towns. And when I started out, I kind of felt like I had to do it all because I was in a small town.
00:23:35
Shannon Allen
Yeah.
00:23:35
Jennifer Gulizia
I was like, I can't niche down to one thing because the market's not big enough to support one thing.
00:23:36
Lynds
Yeah.
00:23:41
Jennifer Gulizia
And now it's like, don't have to do all of these things because that kills myself.
00:23:46
Lynds
Yeah.
00:23:46
Shannon Allen
yeah
00:23:46
Jennifer Gulizia
And you can see, oh, you just because you're in a small town doesn't mean you can't niche down. I don't know if you ever had that similar experience or not.
00:23:53
Lynds
Oh, yes, absolutely. I mean, and then when you start looking at it, you've got, you know, it's still, when you look at the pie as a whole, it's little pieces, you know, slivers here and there. and I'm like, okay, if I cut that little piece of the pie out, I can grow that other piece that's doing really well.
00:24:10
Lynds
And that's what, like, I actually feel super excited even for next season because I'm even relieving more I'm even relieving more stuff off of my plate. So I feel really, i feel excited and energized about, about that and being able to be in that place in my business and have the confidence as a business owner to recognize that and not feel like I have to, I can say no and I don't have to serve everybody. So.
00:24:35
Shannon Allen
Yeah.
00:24:35
Jennifer Gulizia
I like that. You don't have to serve everybody. That's a good good reminder sometimes it feels like you have to in a small town.
00:24:38
Lynds
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:24:41
Jennifer Gulizia
you want oh Especially if you're a people pleaser, like, I want everyone to be happy. And so, yeah.
00:24:45
Shannon Allen
Sure.
00:24:46
Lynds
Yep. yep
00:24:46
Shannon Allen
Yeah.
00:24:48
Jennifer Gulizia
And Shannon, that reminder about like that 80% of the flowers. I mean, I remember my first season I planted, because I'm i'm a dahlia person. Like I've loved dahlias my whole life.
00:24:56
Shannon Allen
yeah
00:24:56
Jennifer Gulizia
So I planted mostly dahlias. And then by the end of the season, it's like, crap, what am I going to put with filler? And then you end up like over stuffing your bouquet because you don't have that other stuff.
00:25:01
Shannon Allen
yeah Yeah. Yep.
00:25:05
Jennifer Gulizia
So I think that's a a good reminder that like you can never have enough of those other flowers.
00:25:06
Shannon Allen
Yep.
00:25:09
Shannon Allen
Yeah. No, no shame in the Celosia marigold Gomphrina game, you know, Dianthus, I'm to think, Amaranth, like all these super easy stuff.
00:25:15
Jennifer Gulizia
no
00:25:22
Shannon Allen
I mean, it it makes the fancy stuff shine where they don't shine by themselves all the time.
00:25:26
Jennifer Gulizia
Absolutely.
00:25:29
Jennifer Gulizia
Yeah, exactly. Well, yeah, if you get a whole bunch of dahlias bunched in together, they kind of just smoosh with each other.
00:25:33
Shannon Allen
Yeah.
00:25:33
Jennifer Gulizia
And then it's like, what am I paying for?
00:25:34
Shannon Allen
yeah
00:25:35
Lynds
Yep.
00:25:37
Lynds
Yeah.
00:25:40
Jennifer Gulizia
Okay, let's see here. We've talked a lot about your early years. I don't think we've actually clarified. What is your business model?
00:25:49
Jennifer Gulizia
You each have very different business models. So who do you serve with your farm?
00:25:55
Lynds
You go, Shan.
00:25:56
Shannon Allen
Okay. So we do, we're a large, I would say like half of our business is grocery or wholesale. So we do a large, two large grocery chains in like the Northeast Ohio area.
00:26:04
Jennifer Gulizia
okay
00:26:09
Shannon Allen
And we do like around 2,500 bouquets or so a week for the for those chains. Yeah. those chains And then I also have like we have a small retail farm stand.
00:26:16
Jennifer Gulizia
wow
00:26:19
Shannon Allen
We do you pick. We do like we're doing like three to four festival events a year doing you pick. And we have a CSA. that's pretty much for us. So over the last couple of years, like just because we're already in the Akron, Cleveland, Canton doing grocery deliveries.
00:26:36
Shannon Allen
We are also doing florist deliveries now, too. So mostly just event florist, not retail florist. So we have somebody that kind of manages that now, too.
00:26:44
Lynds
Mm-hmm.
00:26:44
Jennifer Gulizia
Okay. And what about the size of your team? It's not just you and your husband, is it?
00:26:48
Shannon Allen
No, definitely not. I have my Rachel. If you listen to the podcast, I'm always referring to Rachel. She's like my admin. She's like my other half in a farm in a farm way. And so she her and I run kind of the farm the logistics of the day-to-day farm vendor, customer management, and all that together.
00:27:10
Shannon Allen
My husband runs the like field op track tractor work. And then we have eight, eight H2A employees that come up seasonally from Mexico to help us out. And then two seasonal delivery drivers.
00:27:24
Shannon Allen
So we have, there's quite a team that kind of makes all of this happen, but also allows me to do these things and not be cutting every single flower as the farm has grown over time.
00:27:36
Jennifer Gulizia
Thank you for sharing that piece because I think sometimes people go, well, am I supposed to manage all of this by myself?
00:27:37
Shannon Allen
Mm-hmm.
00:27:40
Shannon Allen
Oh, heck no.
00:27:42
Lynds
No.
00:27:46
Jennifer Gulizia
What about you, Lyndsay
00:27:46
Lynds
So yeah, so my farm, we do, we have a you pick that was open on Saturdays this year, which is one of the things that's going to actually change for us next year.
00:27:55
Lynds
we run a CSA subscription and we, we have a really great flower stand that is open 11 months out of the year. And we sell at farmer's market. So we are mostly like a retail retail focus as our customer. We have a few wholesale outlets, but you know nothing that really it eats up much of our business. Workshops are a really big piece of what we do. So they're about the...
00:28:18
Lynds
the The biggest three pieces of my pie, which are about 30% of my business, just I guess under 30%, I was looking at it last night, Christmas, we do a big Christmas business, my flower stand, and my workshop piece.
00:28:30
Lynds
So those like those, if I had to say like that's what I do, that's the biggest piece of my pie. And so for my employee side of it, I have, for the field side, I have four part-time employees that sort of make up you know, it's essentially like two full-time employees. That's kind of how we, you know, this the schedule shakes out.
00:28:49
Lynds
And then i have someone that helps me on the admin side a couple, you know, 20 hours a month. And then i have somebody that also does some of the retail positions. So run some of those you picks and things like that.
00:29:00
Lynds
So six part-time, some are more part-time than others, you know, 22 hours, 20 to 30 hours a week or something like that. But, but yeah, that's kind of my breakdown.
00:29:10
Jennifer Gulizia
Thank you for sharing that. You just mentioned 11 months the year you're open.
00:29:12
Lynds
Yeah.
00:29:14
Jennifer Gulizia
Do you grow and flowers 11 months the year?
Seasonal Operations and Cost Management
00:29:17
Lynds
So we have the way our, the zone that I'm in, I'm in six, I'm in six B. And so we force tulips for Valentine's day. So we, uh, the only month we're closed is January.
00:29:25
Jennifer Gulizia
Okay.
00:29:27
Lynds
And so we will open for Valentine's day. And then, our greenhouse, uh, tulips typically start in March. So we'll force tulips up and through, you know, up till March until our stuff, our outdoor stuff starts in our greenhouse and our high tunnels.
00:29:41
Lynds
So then we're selling there. And then, we roll all the way through Dahlia seasons, which takes us through like mid end October. November's pretty quiet month in the beginning. So there's like, uh, the end of October through mid November, and then we transitioned to Christmas stuff. So, we transitioned to Christmas, after about mid November. So yeah, it's, it's a pretty, it's a happen in place, the stand.
00:30:05
Jennifer Gulizia
What do you do for Christmas flowers?
00:30:07
Lynds
So we don't grow flowers. We actually do Christmas wreaths. So we do, yeah, we do Christmas wreaths, centerpieces.
00:30:10
Jennifer Gulizia
Oh, okay.
00:30:14
Lynds
oh my gosh. all all kinds of All kinds of fun stuff. Swags. and our In our shop, we sell ornaments. There's just all kinds of Christmas-related things that we sell. So that that so pretty much takes us through, it's it's a fast and furious six weeks, but we run a lot of A lot of Christmas greens through here.
00:30:33
Lynds
Shannon does as well too. But yeah, it's a pretty, I've done that one I'd started actually before I've had the farm. So that was a really easy transition for us. And it's been, it's just great because it also keeps people thinking about the farm in the winter, you know?
00:30:45
Lynds
So it's really just like a month where they're kind of not, and then we're kind of swooping back in around Valentine's day.
00:30:46
Jennifer Gulizia
Totally.
00:30:51
Lynds
So
00:30:52
Jennifer Gulizia
Okay. So do you both grow and harvest greens from your own property or do you bring in greenery that time of year?
00:31:01
Jennifer Gulizia
Okay.
00:31:04
Lynds
we'll get a lot of like, uh, Northwest greenery and then some Southern greens mixed in. Now we do harvest. Shannon has like a tree farm that's kind of close to her, but we, we do forage.
00:31:14
Lynds
We say, I say forage, you know, like pine and some other things, boxwood stuff locally if we have it, but to really get the bulk of what we do, we buy, we buy most of that stuff in.
00:31:24
Lynds
So, yeah.
00:31:25
Jennifer Gulizia
Okay, that's awesome that you're able to keep your customers coming pretty much year round like that.
00:31:29
Lynds
Yeah.
00:31:31
Jennifer Gulizia
Did i hear correctly on one of your recent podcast episodes that you were both toying with not doing tulips next year? Or are you still doing some?
00:31:40
Lynds
Some.
00:31:41
Shannon Allen
minimal ish well we we both pretty much cut our orders in half ish would you say linds yeah yeah just for next year
00:31:47
Lynds
Yeah. Yeah, we both did.
00:31:52
Jennifer Gulizia
Yeah.
00:31:52
Lynds
Just to see how it is.
00:31:52
Jennifer Gulizia
hopefully
00:32:05
Shannon Allen
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
00:32:06
Lynds
You know, it's not a one for one. So that is something that we're we're looking with to to kind of reduce waste and cut back. So.
00:32:14
Shannon Allen
Yeah. And also on the tulip piece, it's Lyndsay I just encouraging people to be looking at their real numbers with these things. So if you're like a hobby grower and you want to become, you know, a you want to start making money, like you do have to dive into the unpretty side of farming.
00:32:32
Shannon Allen
And for us, you know, that's really looking at those costs. And for me this next year, it meant not selling to one of our biggest grocers because I just cannot come at the bulb price.
00:32:43
Shannon Allen
Like it doesn't make sense for us next year.
00:32:44
Lynds
Mm-hmm.
00:32:45
Shannon Allen
Like not to say that that won't change because it's so hard because we had a great year this year with it. But, you know, year to year, those things change and it's okay. Like farming gives you a clean slate each year to make those decisions year to year.
00:32:58
Shannon Allen
And I find like a lot of freedom in that. But sometimes as farmers, we do things because we think we should, but not because we're really looking at the numbers. And so that was that the main That is a really great episode. If you're somebody who's really thinking through tulips or any kind of expensive or risky crop, you know, it's it is good to to look at those things. And Lyndsay and I are are just always encouraging ourselves and then, you know, practicing what we preach too on that and making those changes when we when we see fit.
00:33:31
Jennifer Gulizia
That was a great episode. Do you happen to know offhand what number that is? If not, we can link it in the show notes.
00:33:36
Shannon Allen
You know, yeah, yeah, we can look it up.
00:33:37
Lynds
Yeah, I can link it in the, move one second here.
00:33:39
Jennifer Gulizia
Yeah.
00:33:41
Shannon Allen
Yeah.
Authenticity and Storytelling in Farming
00:33:42
Shannon Allen
And it's just, it's not from like, it's not political. We got so many questions like, thank you for not making it political. And that was our number one goal. Like it is not political. it is just a business decision from year to year as, as the cost of crops rise and fall in.
00:33:55
Jennifer Gulizia
Totally.
00:33:57
Shannon Allen
Lyndsay and I have been having this tulip conversation lately. for like the last two years between each other as the bulbs have like slowly crept up and the risk too, you know, with tulips like too short, not usable, you know, tulip diseases. Lyndsay's had all kinds of problems over the last two years, some in the field, some in the tunnel. It's just, they're not a guarantee, but the hardest thing is that they come at a time when your customers just are ready for flowers, you know?
00:34:24
Jennifer Gulizia
Totally.
00:34:25
Shannon Allen
So that's the hard thing. that' That's what makes it hard to say no. That's like the love affair with tulips, Truly. And so just, you know, encouraging people to make those business decisions.
00:34:31
Lynds
Yeah.
00:34:35
Lynds
Yeah. That was episode 209.
00:34:36
Jennifer Gulizia
i love that conference. 209. Perfect.
00:34:38
Shannon Allen
Yes.
00:34:38
Lynds
Episode 209, Tulip Deep Dive. Yep.
00:34:41
Jennifer Gulizia
Just encouraging people to know their numbers though. Like, I think that was the big message in your episode.
00:34:44
Shannon Allen
Yeah.
00:34:46
Jennifer Gulizia
And I think that was so good because even I was like, okay, do I really need tulips next year? And like, course I do, but yeah, exactly.
00:34:51
Shannon Allen
Yeah. What is it truly costing you? Yeah, truly. Yes.
00:34:58
Jennifer Gulizia
That kind of leads me right into my next section here is that you guys have both built very successful and thriving farms, but you're also incredibly honest about the not so pretty parts like analyzing those numbers.
00:35:10
Jennifer Gulizia
How do you keep the authenticity when everything online is pushing us to perfection?
00:35:16
Shannon Allen
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
00:35:17
Lynds
We actually, we just had this conversation.
00:35:20
Shannon Allen
yeah
00:35:20
Lynds
I was, and we can maybe answer it in two parts, but like with the podcast, Shannon and I are just, I think that is why people have resonated with us is because we really are just like authentic and honest about sort of blowing the pixie dust out of the way with flower farming because,
00:35:23
Shannon Allen
view
00:35:40
Lynds
Oftentimes, I think too, oftentimes the fantasy is sold. The fantasy is sold to people. The easy button is like, there's there's a, this is the thing. This is the one course. This is the one anything that's going to make it a hundred percent. and even with like what we have coming up that we're going to talk about. But it's like, we, this is a piece of the pie. We've always tried to encourage from the farming aspect to just be really honest about what our struggles are.
00:36:07
Lynds
You know, our uncuts are, we say they're unfiltered and it really is. You hear us from week to week or progression of the season what we're struggling with, what worked, what didn't, what do we want to change?
00:36:18
Lynds
And so, you know, for me, i I want to show up. i went If you are my customer, if you take it from the podcast to my farm, if you're my customer and you show up for a UPIC or you come for a workshop,
00:36:31
Lynds
I want you to get the same person that shows up on social media as that you have in front of you. You know, i so being honest and kind of sharing the struggles but specifically about tulips.
00:36:41
Lynds
I mean, i lost, gosh, how many, 15, 17,000 tulips or something.
00:36:45
Shannon Allen
Oh my gosh, yeah.
00:36:46
Jennifer Gulizia
Oh my gosh.
00:36:46
Lynds
It was a ton. Yeah. and we call it to I called it Tulip Gate, but it was a really great opportunity for my customer, my CSA customer, for it not just the farming community, but just people in agro, you know, to learn about small scale farming and what that is. And so, you know, I had advice from people that were like, eh, just like brush it under the rug. Don't say anything about it I was like, well, that's really not how I roll.
00:37:08
Lynds
And so I, you know, I shared it. It was a learning opportunity. for my customer as well as other farmers too. And so I think that, you know, perfect's boring.
00:37:18
Lynds
I mean, that's like, that's what everybody's feeds are. Sure. You've got people have hundreds of thousands of followers and these really pretty like curated feeds and they're beautiful to look at. but that isn't, that isn't real, real life.
00:37:29
Lynds
And we still do present the pretty, you know, we still do keep it beautiful.
00:37:31
Jennifer Gulizia
Yeah.
00:37:33
Lynds
If you look at our Instagram feeds, we're not showing all of that stuff, but, but yeah, I don't know.
00:37:38
Shannon Allen
now
00:37:38
Jennifer Gulizia
Your homepage on your website, though, even has your dirty hand.
00:37:39
Lynds
and I don't know.
00:37:41
Jennifer Gulizia
I love it. I was, remember yesterday or two days ago, I was like shaking hands.
00:37:42
Lynds
Yeah.
00:37:45
Jennifer Gulizia
I'm like, oh my gosh, I am so embarrassed that people are seeing my hands right Totally.
00:37:50
Lynds
Yeah. We, um, We,
00:37:57
Jennifer Gulizia
Totally.
00:38:06
Shannon Allen
Although sometimes they things. they They think that and then they come out and they're like, oh, okay, this is something different, you know.
00:38:12
Lynds
Mm-hmm.
00:38:12
Shannon Allen
But i it does like people want to feel a common bond. And it's good to present the pretty and we do that. We really do. And it's in our safer spots is where we're the most vulnerable.
00:38:27
Shannon Allen
On the podcast where we have, you know, listeners who good, bad, and ugly get to hear it all. And also from like our customers and our email newsletters that we get to connect with. And I think at the end of the day, it's like people want to root for you. They want to come along in the journey and bringing them along. Like that's part of the customer journey, the process to get people to fall in love with your farm and want to drive a little bit further to come to you as opposed to going to – I don't, the grocery store and getting like the 599 sunflowers. Why are they coming to pay $20 at my farm?
00:39:03
Shannon Allen
Well, because they want to root for me, you know? And so we've kind of create those relationships and it comes with presenting the good, the good and the bad, not all bad. i mean, there's like, there's a limit, you know, would say, you know, so, it's just, you know,
00:39:15
Lynds
Mm-hmm.
00:39:15
Jennifer Gulizia
Right.
00:39:19
Shannon Allen
peppering in that you're real people with real struggles and this is, and farming is full of ups and downs and everybody, it's an education piece for the customers too. So I think bringing them along is a really important part.
00:39:32
Jennifer Gulizia
Absolutely. One thing that I've learned over the years is someone once told me, you don't share your wounds because it sounds like you're asking for pity. But if you share from your scars, you're sharing wisdom and advice.
00:39:46
Shannon Allen
o
00:39:47
Jennifer Gulizia
And so I've really had to learn because like when we first lost our growing space, it was like I shared about it, but it was still so raw that I hadn't really had time to process it.
00:39:47
Shannon Allen
Yeah.
00:39:57
Shannon Allen
Yeah.
00:39:57
Jennifer Gulizia
But I have continued to share my story. And like when we opened up our farm stand at our new farm for the first time this year, I was blown away by how many people came out and they're like, we've been following your story. Like, we're so excited that you have new land where you can put down permanent roots. And I wanted to be the first person to support you. I mean,
00:40:14
Jennifer Gulizia
My first bouquet I sold this season was to a vegetable farmer who was like, she lined up and she's like, I want to make sure that you know that your farming community supports you.
00:40:14
Shannon Allen
Oh.
00:40:18
Lynds
That's awesome.
00:40:22
Jennifer Gulizia
And I was like, how cool is that?
00:40:23
Shannon Allen
Oh yeah.
00:40:24
Jennifer Gulizia
like
00:40:24
Lynds
awesome.
00:40:25
Jennifer Gulizia
Because I have shared those wounds. And like you said, people were rooting. They they don't want to see you fail. They want to see you be successful.
00:40:29
Shannon Allen
Yeah.
00:40:30
Lynds
Mm-hmm.
00:40:31
Jennifer Gulizia
Yeah.
00:40:31
Shannon Allen
Yeah.
00:40:31
Lynds
Yeah.
00:40:32
Shannon Allen
Yeah.
00:40:33
Lynds
And there's a limit. There's a, like, it becomes a point where you're like, all right, Debra, like that's enough of the, you know, wine and, but you're not doing that. You're sharing from a real experience.
00:40:42
Shannon Allen
yeah
00:40:43
Lynds
You know, if you're on there every week sharing your woes, it would be a different, it'd be a different vibe on that social page.
00:40:48
Jennifer Gulizia
Right.
00:40:50
Lynds
But, you know, I think you're doing it from a really honest place. And I think that's really cool to see people show up for you like that. So.
00:40:55
Shannon Allen
Yeah.
00:40:56
Jennifer Gulizia
Yeah.
00:40:57
Shannon Allen
Inspiration, not desperation.
00:40:57
Jennifer Gulizia
Yeah.
00:40:59
Jennifer Gulizia
Oh, I like that.
00:41:00
Shannon Allen
Yeah.
00:41:00
Jennifer Gulizia
That's a good way to look at it. Yeah.
00:41:01
Shannon Allen
Yeah.
00:41:01
Jennifer Gulizia
You want to inspire people because it's kind of like you talk about with the grid. It's like, okay, everything is
00:41:05
Shannon Allen
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Scaling and Personal Goals
00:41:07
Jennifer Gulizia
figureoutable.
00:41:07
Jennifer Gulizia
Like you don't have to know how you're going to scale from one fourth acre to 18 acres right away.
00:41:14
Shannon Allen
Mm-hmm.
00:41:14
Jennifer Gulizia
but I bet you took that first step, which leads me into my next question is, how did you scale from one fourth of an acre to 18 acres, Shannon?
00:41:18
Shannon Allen
Mm-hmm.
00:41:23
Jennifer Gulizia
Or 20? Sorry, your website said 18, but you said 20. So...
00:41:26
Shannon Allen
Yeah.
00:41:26
Jennifer Gulizia
so
00:41:27
Shannon Allen
Well, it's not fast. It's something that grows over time. So, you know, you grow what you think you can and you're like, okay, like i see opportunity. i think I think that's the heart.
00:41:40
Shannon Allen
That's the Enneagram. Lyndsay and I are both Enneagram 3. What are you, Jen? What's your Enneagram?
00:41:45
Jennifer Gulizia
I need to take the test.
00:41:46
Lynds
Oh.
00:41:46
Shannon Allen
What?
00:41:46
Jennifer Gulizia
I don't know.
00:41:47
Lynds
oh
00:41:48
Shannon Allen
okay, well, Lyndsay got, Lyndsay made me take it. Cause I was like, don't really want to, but now once you understand, it's actually a cool way to understand people, but, it's the three, you know, in and Lyndsay and I both were like, Oh, when we see an opportunity, it's like hard to pass it. so i'm like,
00:42:08
Shannon Allen
okay, people, I'm still saying no to people. And so I got into this routine, you know, like probably five years ago or so where i every time I said no to somebody, I wrote it down in and a note on my phone because I hate saying no more than anything. I'm like, hey, I could do, i could grow more of this. I could grow more of that. I want to say yes to opportunities.
00:42:28
Shannon Allen
So every year, me personally, like I always grew more than I knew that I could sell because like I want to be able, but I want to be a position where go out and hustle and sell more not say no.
00:42:39
Shannon Allen
So really just over time, it's just from that mindset, just growing a little bit by little, adding a little bit more, adding extra revenue streams to be able to sell the flowers, thinking, you know, how could my customers have a better experience, which is how we added the other and a farm down the road we purchased two years ago that we can have bigger events with more better parking. It was like a complete Crab show at our at our home farm.
00:43:05
Shannon Allen
So better parking, better experiences, other revenue streams for the farm, because think you get to the point, too, where it's like, I don't want to grow more flowers. So how am I going to increase my revenue?
00:43:18
Shannon Allen
And it's doing the things that we're doing better. Okay. And then adding other complimentary things.
00:43:22
Lynds
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:43:24
Shannon Allen
So like with that came the Airbnb and then with that, you know, came making the events a little bit bigger and adding vendors. So it just kind of grew from there a little bit as a time at a time as I saw opportunities.
00:43:36
Shannon Allen
But I think, you know, really i just always put put myself in a yes position. i want opportunities. to say yes. And that's like just my personality. So every year I'm growing a little bit more than I know I have capacity for. And with the goal that i I always want to be out there, out there saying yes and being open to new opportunities and not ever kind of being a point where i'm just like,
00:44:00
Shannon Allen
I'm going to say no because I can't or don't want to. I want to be able to do things I want to do. So that's how I guess it's kind of grown over time. But it's not fast and it's not without a lot of heartache and hard times and mistakes and learning and redoing and a lot of help and soul searching and thinking it through and winter business planning sessions and all those things.
00:44:09
Lynds
Mm-hmm.
00:44:12
Jennifer Gulizia
Yeah.
00:44:23
Shannon Allen
You know, that's all part of it. But that's a kind that's what lights me up about the business. Like I love that side of the business. So I always like doing that.
00:44:32
Lynds
She always talks about, phil she we talked about on a podcast earlier this year. She's talking about her goal for the year was to find gaps and she wanted to fill the gaps.
00:44:39
Shannon Allen
hello
00:44:40
Lynds
And I said my goal for the year was to find a gap and take a nap. So we're in different parts of our business where was like we, I love her energy and her, in and so I'm just in a different, I'm in a different phase of my life now where I just got, I got married later in life.
00:44:44
Jennifer Gulizia
I love it.
00:44:53
Shannon Allen
Yeah.
00:44:57
Lynds
I got married, I've only been married for a year. And, And so now I'm just sort of like I'm transitioning to finding those spaces and creating it. Like not that I still I'm like on fire about my business.
00:45:07
Lynds
I still love things about my business.
00:45:08
Shannon Allen
Yeah.
00:45:09
Lynds
I mean, I there's it's not that I'm giving up on it. It's just a different um's I'm just in a different space with it.
00:45:11
Shannon Allen
Yeah.
00:45:15
Lynds
But yeah, there the whole she was talking about finding a gap.
00:45:17
Shannon Allen
feel like I'm taken out.
00:45:18
Lynds
And I was like, yeah, I'm going to fill it.
00:45:19
Shannon Allen
I forgot about that.
00:45:19
Lynds
and I'm taking a nap. Yeah. She was talking about it again.
00:45:21
Jennifer Gulizia
yeah
00:45:22
Lynds
I was like, oh, yeah, I feel tired just listening to you. Yeah.
00:45:27
Jennifer Gulizia
Shannon, have you read the book, The Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes?
00:45:31
Shannon Allen
Oh, my gosh.
00:45:32
Lynds
three book recommendations.
00:45:32
Jennifer Gulizia
I feel like you would like that one.
00:45:34
Shannon Allen
yeah Okay. Okay. The year of yes.
00:45:37
Jennifer Gulizia
Yeah.
00:45:37
Shannon Allen
I need to do more reading.
00:45:37
Jennifer Gulizia
By Shonda Rhimes.
00:45:39
Shannon Allen
Okay.
00:45:40
Jennifer Gulizia
She said yes to everything that came her way for a year.
00:45:40
Shannon Allen
Got it. Oh, and how'd that go?
00:45:44
Lynds
Oh my gosh.
00:45:46
Shannon Allen
Don't ruin it.
00:45:46
Jennifer Gulizia
Amazing for her.
00:45:46
Shannon Allen
Nevermind. Okay.
00:45:47
Jennifer Gulizia
Yeah.
00:45:48
Shannon Allen
Okay.
00:45:49
Jennifer Gulizia
Well, I mean, look at, look Shonda Rhimes success.
00:45:49
Shannon Allen
Okay. True.
00:45:51
Jennifer Gulizia
So yeah, it's,
00:45:52
Shannon Allen
Yeah. Yeah. i Yeah, it's it's it's it's so hard because it is important to like be efficient in the things that we do and sell the things that we grow. one hundred Yes, absolutely. I agree with that.
00:46:07
Shannon Allen
But every year I just like I really do like pushing myself. I like I see flower farming i just because I more enjoy I enjoy this side.
00:46:10
Lynds
Mm-hmm.
00:46:16
Shannon Allen
as a sales job. You know, I encourage people like, it is my job to sell the farm.
00:46:19
Jennifer Gulizia
Thank you.
00:46:21
Shannon Allen
It's my job to find new revenue revenue streams for for the farm. It's my job to sell myself. Like when I call a florist, I envisioning myself as a salesperson. I'm overcoming their obstacles. Like this is a business, you know, so I really do run it that way. And I am energized by the sales piece.
00:46:38
Shannon Allen
So that's like my personality, you know, so, and if Lyndsay I more than anything, encourage people to create a farm that suits them, you know, and I think that that's the goal.
00:46:48
Lynds
Yeah.
00:46:50
Shannon Allen
That is the main goal.
00:46:52
Jennifer Gulizia
I love that. I'm curious because we are, we have less than 90 days left in the year, which is just wild to me.
00:46:58
Shannon Allen
Mm-hmm.
00:46:58
Jennifer Gulizia
And you're talking about every year. do you guys choose a word of the year?
00:47:02
Lynds
We do.
00:47:02
Shannon Allen
Mm-hmm.
00:47:04
Lynds
h We do every year.
00:47:04
Shannon Allen
We do.
00:47:05
Lynds
We do it our last episode of the year. We, do, but yeah, we've, I've done it. I've done it for probably, I'm just not into like a, mantra or like my theme for the year. So a word has like kind of settled. Has the word for me has been like more settling.
00:47:21
Lynds
I've been able to stick to it, I think in a different way. So already have my year, my word of the year for 26.
00:47:25
Shannon Allen
I know. Lyndsay's good. She's already got hers. Me, I don't know yet.
00:47:29
Jennifer Gulizia
I do too. so
00:47:30
Shannon Allen
What?
00:47:31
Jennifer Gulizia
what are your words for 2025?
00:47:31
Lynds
What's yours?
00:47:32
Jennifer Gulizia
Ooh, like that.
00:47:33
Lynds
so mine, it mine was connection and Shands, you, she, it was magic.
00:47:39
Shannon Allen
What's magic?
00:47:41
Jennifer Gulizia
who
00:47:41
Shannon Allen
Yes.
00:47:42
Lynds
Yes.
00:47:43
Shannon Allen
Yeah.
00:47:44
Jennifer Gulizia
like that
00:47:45
Shannon Allen
Lyndsay why did you choose yours again, Lyndsay?
00:47:47
Lynds
Connection.
00:47:48
Shannon Allen
Yeah.
00:47:48
Lynds
Just because i i really felt like I wanted to reconnect with my customer. I really feel like as a whole, what we are struggling with as an it's our country is just a lack of connection.
00:47:53
Shannon Allen
Mm hmm.
00:47:59
Lynds
I think that's what people are searching for, connection, better connection to themselves, a connection to nature, to each other.
00:48:01
Jennifer Gulizia
Thank you.
00:48:05
Lynds
And at at the core of what I do at Wild Root, that's what I want. And so i felt like, you know, the previous year, it was a little chaotic for me. And so for rolling into the season. I was like, I want to have more connection with myself. And, you know, I got into June, I've been taking once i've been taking Wednesdays off.
00:48:25
Lynds
I still get my weekends. Occasionally I don't, but like I've been taking Wednesdays. I've been taking a month, one week, a month off. And like, those are the things where I'm like, I still, you know, and I still want to have a successful business.
00:48:33
Jennifer Gulizia
Wow. Totally.
00:48:37
Lynds
It's just like defining what does success look like for each person. And we get so caught up on social media.
00:48:41
Shannon Allen
No.
00:48:44
Lynds
I mean, it you know, you could think as a podcasting partner, I'd be like comparing myself to Shannon, like, oh my gosh, I'm failing. I'm not doing this right.
00:48:51
Shannon Allen
no
00:48:51
Lynds
I'm not scaling. It's like, I don't feel that, you know, it's like, I'm true to like, what is driving with me and what success looks like to me. We have a profitable business. I'm, you know, an employer for five, six people and I'm happy.
00:49:05
Lynds
And those are the things that, you know, like, what are those things that define success for me? I've had to like redefine that and it's changed over the years. So, Yeah.
00:49:15
Lynds
don't know.
00:49:15
Shannon Allen
Mm-hmm.
00:49:16
Lynds
Yeah.
00:49:17
Jennifer Gulizia
I love that. And how did you choose magic?
00:49:19
Shannon Allen
Oh, yeah.
00:49:20
Jennifer Gulizia
Or how's that working out this year? it
00:49:23
Shannon Allen
Pretty good, I think. Yeah, so the idea behind magic was i was and getting to a point where I'm growing enough flowers, I think, to meet what I want to do. so I'm like, how do I make my customer experience, my life, all it, just more magical? Like when people come to the farm, like what kind of experience are they having when they come to the flower stand? Like how are they feeling like this is just like, oh the coolest thing.
00:49:48
Shannon Allen
Oh, my. gosh. You know, i love it when people are like, oh my gosh, this exists. You know, they're like, they can't believe it. And I like, I love that. You know, I'm like, so for me, it was, how do I make my customer experience better?
00:50:01
Shannon Allen
How do I make the farm continue to be a magical spot for me too? Cause you know, we see the work in it and that's why, you know, I like when we do our, you pick a design workshops it's like,
00:50:12
Shannon Allen
It's always good for me to come see it through your guys' eyes because sometimes all we see is the work in it. So just to focus on that customer experience and my own experience within the farm to make it more magical and finding those little those little shifts of things that we can do to create that better experience for everybody. Yeah,
00:50:31
Jennifer Gulizia
I love that.
00:50:31
Lynds
What was yours? What was your word of the year?
00:50:33
Shannon Allen
yeah what was your word?
00:50:34
Jennifer Gulizia
I had three words and then we had a family one.
00:50:35
Lynds
Oh.
00:50:36
Shannon Allen
Oh, wow. Okay.
00:50:37
Jennifer Gulizia
because I felt like I needed it this year. So my.
00:50:40
Lynds
Yeah.
00:50:40
Shannon Allen
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
00:50:42
Jennifer Gulizia
Well, guess we had, yeah. So my words were abundance because with the new field, I was like, what if I can't grow anything?
00:50:46
Shannon Allen
Mm-hmm.
00:50:48
Jennifer Gulizia
So i was like, I want an abundant mindset, not a lack mindset.
00:50:48
Lynds
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:50:52
Jennifer Gulizia
And we've had an abundance of flowers and we've had an abundance of weeds. So abundance means everything. is money And then gratitude. I wanted to focus on finding what I'm thankful for each day.
00:51:03
Jennifer Gulizia
And then kind of like you, Shannon, I was whimsical or whimsy.
00:51:07
Shannon Allen
Mm-hmm.
00:51:08
Jennifer Gulizia
i i knew it was going to be a grind this year. So we wanted to make sure everything was fun. Gratitude was our family word. And then i had a business coach this last year. She's like, you got to have the word fluid in it.
00:51:18
Jennifer Gulizia
She's like, you have to be willing to be flexible.
00:51:19
Shannon Allen
Oh.
00:51:22
Jennifer Gulizia
She's like a new farm. You have no idea how things are going to happen. And boy, have I had to be fluid this year. Like we thought we'd have a barn by now. Well, we don't have a barn by now. We we thought we'd have irrigation in April.
00:51:30
Lynds
Yeah.
00:51:30
Shannon Allen
Mm-hmm.
00:51:32
Jennifer Gulizia
We got irrigation in June. So, I mean, everything has just been this moving timeline and it's like, how do you find gratitude and move with all of it?
00:51:34
Shannon Allen
Mm-hmm.
00:51:41
Jennifer Gulizia
so
00:51:42
Shannon Allen
Yeah. I like that.
00:51:43
Jennifer Gulizia
So you mentioned you have a word, Lyndsay picked out for next year. Is that a secret?
00:51:46
Lynds
yeah
00:51:46
Jennifer Gulizia
Tell your final year end of season.
00:51:47
Lynds
No, no, no. I can tell you.
00:51:49
Jennifer Gulizia
and
00:51:49
Lynds
Yeah. So I, I love, do this, I did this exercise probably four or five years ago with my core values. And the one that is like, i have several core values, generosity, freedom.
00:52:00
Lynds
there's, intimacy, not in a, you know, connection piece is where that comes in.
00:52:04
Jennifer Gulizia
uh-huh
00:52:04
Shannon Allen
you
00:52:04
Lynds
Those were up at the top of my list. And freedom is one that I really feel like I struggle with, with the farm because a farm can feel like it owns you, right? The crop, a thing has to be picked, a task has to be done, you know, these, these things that, and I, I,
00:52:21
Lynds
have had this mindset around that like the, the farm traps me. and so I, my goal, my goal in owning my business and what my really, what my focus is for 2026 is to have freedom for myself personally outside of my business, because we all know as entrepreneurs and both of us, all, all of us running multiple businesses with a podcast and with your farm that,
00:52:43
Lynds
it takes up a lot of brain space. you know It's 24-7, 365.
00:52:45
Jennifer Gulizia
Mm-hmm.
00:52:47
Lynds
And so in enable i want to to allow myself to have more freedom in my personal life. like i used to love to can and i had my own vegetable garden.
00:52:59
Lynds
i there is no tomato on this There's not been a tomato on this farm for years. And so that's something for myself I want to have back. I want to have a cutting garden for myself again you know because I absolutely love wandering and you know, going out and picking flowers for myself, but making that more of a priority that I don't feel like, you know, it's this constant hustle. Uh, and, and there's obviously spring, there's times of the year that that's just like, it is what it is, but how can i you know, how can I make that a priority throughout the whole season for myself? So, yeah.
00:53:32
Jennifer Gulizia
I love that. That's a great word. Do you have one picked out Shannon? or Are you still thinking?
00:53:36
Shannon Allen
No, I do not. Lyndsay is so ahead of me. usually I'm a last minute. I'll be, we'll be recording that last episode. You're like, all right, Lyndsay got five words.
00:53:46
Shannon Allen
Which one, which one, which one do you like?
00:53:51
Jennifer Gulizia
You can have five.
00:53:51
Shannon Allen
oh
00:53:51
Lynds
Well, for, you can't have five.
00:53:52
Shannon Allen
Yeah. Yeah.
00:53:53
Lynds
It's just like, it's, it's always, I feel like my word always kind of comes to me because of the pains or whatever I'm feeling through the current season. And that's really where it's like, I've just been like, okay, what is not working this season for me, whether that's in my business or my personal life and how can I kind of pull that in?
00:54:01
Jennifer Gulizia
Totally.
00:54:08
Lynds
And so that's, I feel like that's kind of where that's gravitated out of, but yeah.
00:54:13
Jennifer Gulizia
Mine's similar to yours.
00:54:13
Lynds
But it's yours.
00:54:15
Jennifer Gulizia
Nourish.
00:54:15
Shannon Allen
Oh, that's a good word.
00:54:16
Lynds
Yeah. Yeah.
00:54:17
Shannon Allen
Yes.
00:54:18
Jennifer Gulizia
Because I'm just so tired this year. It's been like such a grind and it's such a good way. Like I'm not complaining, but I'm like, I need more time to nourish my family, to nourish myself, nourish what we've put down in the farm too. It's like we planted an entire acre of flowers this year, which Maybe it looks small to some people, but that whole space needs to be nourished to come back next year.
00:54:37
Shannon Allen
That's a lot.
00:54:38
Lynds
Yeah.
00:54:40
Jennifer Gulizia
So next year, instead of being an expansion year, is a nourishing year.
00:54:44
Lynds
Perfect.
00:54:45
Shannon Allen
I like it.
00:54:45
Lynds
Yeah, that's great.
00:54:46
Jennifer Gulizia
So speaking of next year, you guys
DirtCon Announcement and Continuous Learning
00:54:48
Lynds
Yeah.
00:54:48
Jennifer Gulizia
have something really exciting on the horizon.
00:54:51
Lynds
Mm-hmm.
00:54:51
Shannon Allen
Mm-hmm. o
00:54:52
Lynds
We do.
00:54:52
Jennifer Gulizia
You want to, but but well, I guess it's not really spilling the beans because most people have heard, but tell us what you're cooking up.
00:54:55
Lynds
Yeah.
00:54:58
Lynds
Yeah. we So we Shannon and I, actually, when we started our podcast in 22, we kind of had this idea that we wanted to do a virtual conference. We wanted to be able to bring farmers because this this podcast was kind of born out of people asking us questions and feeling like we wanted to be able to help more people and you know, not to talk trash in the flower farmer Facebook group, but it's grown to a point that there's not a lot of, you got to find your footing on what's actual solid, you know, whether it's it's good advice or not.
00:55:26
Lynds
And so, you know, the podcast was kind of born out of that space. And so we have been kind of dreaming up this idea to have a virtual conference for flower farmers or just for farmers. doesn't even have to be for flower farmers or people that are just in the dreaming stage of their business, that they're growing flowers. And how do we,
00:55:44
Lynds
incorporate, you know, how do we get a lot of people there? we We talked about doing an in-person conference, by the, the virtual was like, man, this, this is, we want it to be affordable.
00:55:49
Shannon Allen
Yeah.
00:55:55
Lynds
We want it to be packed with information and give people the confidence to walk away and run, either take off with their dream or to revitalize what they're already doing.
00:56:05
Lynds
So we're hosting DirtCon, which is our January 10th and 11th. It's a two-day virtual conference. We have 16 awesome speakers through the industry. And yeah, it's it's a great... Tickets are on sale now. And it's a... Yeah, we have a dirt bag. So we call our listeners dirt bags.
00:56:24
Lynds
I should reference that. We...
00:56:25
Shannon Allen
Yeah.
00:56:26
Jennifer Gulizia
I love that.
00:56:26
Lynds
We, yeah, we call it, we call our listeners dirtbags. I don't know. i I think I said it one time and Shannon kind of cringed and then people latched onto to it and that's kind of how it stayed. But, we, yeah, we, we have a dirtbag ticket, which is our entry level, gives you access to two days. And then we have a dirt boss ticket that gives you a lifetime access to the conference and to be able to, have the speaker downloads and then all the templates and all that stuff too. So yeah, very excited.
00:56:51
Jennifer Gulizia
Very exciting. I should add that quite a few of your speakers have been a guest on this podcast. I know I saw Charlotte Smith is one of your guests.
00:56:58
Shannon Allen
Yeah.
00:56:58
Lynds
Yeah.
00:56:59
Jennifer Gulizia
And did I see Laurie Hernandez and Lenny Larkin?
00:57:00
Shannon Allen
Yeah.
00:57:00
Lynds
Yep. Lori.
00:57:01
Shannon Allen
yeah
00:57:02
Lynds
Yep.
00:57:05
Lynds
Jenny.
00:57:06
Jennifer Gulizia
Jenny Marks? Yes.
00:57:07
Lynds
Yep.
00:57:07
Shannon Allen
Yeah.
00:57:07
Jennifer Gulizia
I'm sure there's a few others on there too. was looking at your list.
00:57:10
Shannon Allen
yeah
00:57:10
Jennifer Gulizia
You've got a great lineup of speakers.
00:57:12
Shannon Allen
who
00:57:12
Lynds
Thank you.
00:57:13
Shannon Allen
It really is a good group.
00:57:13
Jennifer Gulizia
And is that is that right around the same time as the ASCFG conference?
00:57:19
Lynds
Yes. It's the week before, I think.
00:57:20
Jennifer Gulizia
Yes. week before so people can really load up on information and then maybe meet some of those people in person the following week.
00:57:21
Shannon Allen
Mm-hmm.
00:57:22
Lynds
Yep.
00:57:22
Shannon Allen
Mm-hmm.
00:57:22
Lynds
Yep.
00:57:27
Shannon Allen
Yeah, yeah, definitely.
00:57:28
Lynds
absolutely Yeah, absolutely. That's a really good idea. Yeah.
00:57:31
Jennifer Gulizia
You guys should have a meet up there.
00:57:33
Lynds
I know.
00:57:34
Shannon Allen
well
00:57:34
Jennifer Gulizia
are Are you guys going?
00:57:34
Lynds
Shannon's going. Shannon's speaking at ASCFG.
00:57:36
Shannon Allen
Yep.
00:57:37
Lynds
yeah i Yeah, I'm not.
00:57:37
Jennifer Gulizia
Are you?
00:57:38
Shannon Allen
Mm-hmm.
00:57:39
Lynds
I'm going to be in Orlando speaking at another farming conference like a week and a half later. So I figured that was enough travel.
00:57:43
Jennifer Gulizia
Okay.
00:57:44
Shannon Allen
Mm-hmm. The 10th and the 11th.
00:57:45
Jennifer Gulizia
Totally.
00:57:45
Lynds
So, yeah.
00:57:47
Jennifer Gulizia
Yes. Well, that's exciting.
00:57:47
Lynds
10th and 11th.
00:57:48
Jennifer Gulizia
Okay. So DirtCon is January, 2026. What dates?
00:57:52
Shannon Allen
who the tenth and the eleventh
00:57:53
Lynds
tenth and eleven
00:57:55
Jennifer Gulizia
10th and 11th and tickets are on sale now.
00:57:57
Shannon Allen
Yes.
00:57:57
Lynds
Yep. yep
00:57:58
Jennifer Gulizia
And how do people get tickets?
00:58:00
Shannon Allen
They can go to our website, thedirtonflowers.com forward slash dirtcon. We'll get you, Jen, we'll get you a link too that you can use in the show notes too.
00:58:11
Shannon Allen
So we'll make sure we get that over to you.
00:58:11
Jennifer Gulizia
Awesome.
00:58:13
Shannon Allen
But... There's such a great group over there. There's like the speakers, the access to the speakers, they're they're just the industry experts. Like in order to have access to these people, it would cost like a gazillion dollars. So it's so nice that Lyndsay and I can offer something super affordable to give everyone a good learning opportunity and to create you know their farm plan for 2026. That's the goal is to leave
00:58:37
Lynds
Mm-hmm.
00:58:37
Shannon Allen
with a plan, marketing, profit, growing, little bit of inspiration to implement it all. that That's the goal. that's That's what turned Lyndsay and I's businesses around.
00:58:48
Shannon Allen
So we're hoping to give that back to everybody else just just at a really affordable price.
00:58:54
Jennifer Gulizia
I love that. I was picking up my daughter from a friend's house this weekend and my friend is a doctor and she just gotten back from a conference in Hawaii. And I was like, oh, how fun. And she's like, well, it's continued education. And it made me start thinking it's like so many professions have required continuing education.
00:59:12
Jennifer Gulizia
But in flower farming, you're kind of, unless you have these connections, you're kind of out on this island by yourself.
00:59:17
Lynds
Mm-hmm.
00:59:18
Jennifer Gulizia
What an awesome opportunity to have this continued education with some of the industry's best who have literally been in the weeds and in the dirt sharing from experience.
00:59:24
Shannon Allen
yeah yeah thank you
00:59:28
Jennifer Gulizia
So I think that's awesome what you're doing. And it's not bad. to we we invest so much money into our flowers and our plugs and our seeds, but we also need to make sure we're investing in ourselves.
00:59:38
Jennifer Gulizia
So.
00:59:39
Lynds
yeah
00:59:40
Jennifer Gulizia
I think you guys have something really exciting coming up. Thank you for joining me today.
00:59:42
Shannon Allen
thank you
00:59:44
Jennifer Gulizia
Two last things before we say goodbye. The first one is where can our listeners find each of you with your individual farms?
00:59:52
Shannon Allen
Right.
00:59:53
Lynds
Yeah. So I'm white on Instagram. I'm wildrootflowerco. So I'm wildroot underscore flowerco. And you can go to my website at wildrootflowerco.com and you can check out all the things we have going on there.
01:00:07
Jennifer Gulizia
Awesome.
01:00:08
Shannon Allen
And for me at Bloom Hill Farm on Instagram and then bloomhillfarm.com for our website to learn more and connect with us. Obviously, if you want to listen to the podcast, the Dirt on Flowers podcast, you can find us over there two times a week.
01:00:23
Shannon Allen
one very honest, uh, look on Wednesdays at what our farm weeks are looking like the good, the bad, the ugly. there's so much to learn in other people's wins and losses. So Lyndsay i we are super honest over there on Wednesdays. And then we, on Friday, we do like a more educational episode, really topic driven or a really great interview. So, we're two times a week over there at, at the dirt on flowers.
01:00:50
Jennifer Gulizia
Awesome. And we'll have links to all the of those in the show notes today. Before we say goodbye, my final question is, is there anything I haven't asked you today that you want to leave our listeners with?
01:01:02
Lynds
Hmm. I don't know.
01:01:03
Shannon Allen
I don't know. i i
01:01:05
Lynds
I think – I guess I would say we we touched on the grit piece, but this is sort of blowing away that like the pixie dust glitter. It's like being and being a business owner is is challenging.
01:01:18
Lynds
You know, it that comes with a lot of reward – But don't give up on it. Like if you feel like you have an idea and you want this thing to work, you will figure out how to make it work. It doesn't mean that it's always going to be easy, think that's just –
01:01:37
Lynds
it's, it's hard to hear, you know, when you're like, oh man, you're like in a tough spot. but that it does, it's, it's always like a, it's a wave, right?
01:01:45
Shannon Allen
Mm-hmm.
01:01:45
Lynds
It's like hard for a little bit.
01:01:45
Shannon Allen
Mm-hmm.
01:01:46
Lynds
It doesn't say hard forever. And, you know, just believe in yourself and you will make it, you will make it happen, whatever you're doing. so
01:01:54
Shannon Allen
Yeah. And take the step. That's what Lyndsay and I are always encouraging people. They're like so much time is just sitting waiting for the perfect time for something.
01:02:03
Jennifer Gulizia
Right.
01:02:03
Shannon Allen
And Lyndsay and I are fire. What do we say? Fire ready
Embracing Imperfection and Starting Small
01:02:06
Lynds
We safe.
01:02:07
Shannon Allen
aim.
01:02:08
Shannon Allen
Okay. So that's the whole like done is better than perfect idea. Like that is Lyndsay and I in a nutshell. you know we're doing things before we're ready. And that's like, we're in that in that mindset like 95% of the time because you're never ready. So what that's what we're seeing is people just scared to take the step. But you don't have to take a 20 acre step. You just have to take a little baby step and start growing a few things and let it grow from there. And sometimes you know why why we think we have to have it all figured out right away is just ridiculous. you know so just take
01:02:42
Shannon Allen
the first that and you'll be better than where you were, you know, before that.
01:02:49
Jennifer Gulizia
I love that both of those are such great pieces of advice. Shannon, Lyndsay thank you so much for joining us.
01:02:55
Shannon Allen
think
01:02:56
Lynds
Yeah.
01:02:56
Jennifer Gulizia
And this was a great conversation.
01:02:56
Shannon Allen
Thank you.
01:02:58
Jennifer Gulizia
I hope you guys have a wonderful fall. And Shannon, I can't wait to hear what your word of the year is for 2026.
01:03:02
Shannon Allen
Thank you. I know. Okay. I need to get on that.
01:03:05
Lynds
Yeah.
01:03:05
Shannon Allen
I do.
01:03:07
Lynds
yeah
01:03:07
Jennifer Gulizia
All right, ladies, thanks so much for joining us today. Have a good one.
01:03:12
Shannon Allen
Thank.