Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Ep.58: The Slow Flowers Movement & The Power of Local Blooms with Debra Prinzing
170 Plays23 minutes ago
In this episode of The Backyard Bouquet Podcast, we are joined by Debra Prinzing, founder of the Slow Flowers Movement and co-author of The Flower Farmers: Inspiration and Advice from Expert Growers. Debra shares her journey from writing The 50 Mile Bouquet to founding the Slow Flowers Movement—a movement that champions local, seasonal, and sustainable flowers.
In this inspiring conversation, Debra talks about the importance of supporting local flower farmers, how storytelling is transforming the floral industry, and the lessons she’s learned from interviewing flower farmers across North America. Whether you're a flower lover, a backyard gardener, or aspiring flower farmer, this episode is full of valuable insights on how to embrace the beauty and purpose of local blooms.
Tune in to learn:
- What the Slow Flowers Movement is and how it’s changing the way we source flowers
- The stories behind The Flower Farmers book and how it highlights the lives of flower growers
- How the power of local flowers extends beyond beauty to healing and community-building
- Practical advice for new and experienced flower farmers
Join us for an insightful discussion that will leave you inspired to support local flowers and consider the bigger picture behind every bloom.
Show Notes: https://thefloweringfarmhouse.com/2025/05/13/ep-58-the-slow-flowers-movement/
Learn More:
- Slow Flowers Society: https://www.slowflowerssociety.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/slowflowerssociety/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/debraprinzing/
- Purchase The Flower Farmers Book: https://store.abramsbooks.com/products/the-flower-farmers
***Rate, Review, & Follow The Backyard Bouquet***
If you enjoyed this episode, will you please consider leaving the podcast a review? Your review helps make the podcast more discoverable to others and allows me to continue creating more episodes. I'd love to know what you enjoyed most about the episode.
New episodes every week to help keep your garden blooming!
Recommended
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 Galizia of The Flowering Farmhouse. I'm a backyard gardener turned flower farmer located in Hood River, Oregon.
00:00:17
Speaker
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. All right, flower friends, grab your gardening gloves, garden snips, or your favorite vase because it's time to let your backyard bloom.
Spotlight on Deborah Prinzing and the Slow Flowers Movement
00:00:54
Speaker
Hi, flower friends, and welcome back to the Backyard Bouquet podcast. Today's episode is such a special one because I'm joined by someone who's been an incredible champion for local flowers and sustainable floriculture.
00:01:09
Speaker
That's Deborah Prinzing. You may know her as the founder of the Slow Flowers Movement, a writer, a speaker, and a passionate advocate for flower farmers across the country.
00:01:21
Speaker
Today, we're celebrating the release of her newest book, The Flower Farmers, inspiration and advice from expert growers, which she co-authored with Robin Avni.
00:01:33
Speaker
The book is a beautiful tribute to the heart and hustle of flower farmers and a deep well of wisdom for anyone who dreams of growing beauty from the ground up.
00:01:44
Speaker
In this conversation, we're going to dive into the meaning behind the Slow Flowers Movement how it's evolved over time and why it matters more now than ever before.
00:01:55
Speaker
We'll also talk about the stories and themes that have emerged while writing this book and what Debra has learned from the many growers she's met along the way. So whether you're a budding flower farmer, a backyard gardener, or someone who simply believes in the power of flowers, this episode is for you.
00:02:14
Speaker
Let's dig in. Hi Debra. Thanks for joining us today. Hi, Jennifer. it's So, so nice to be with you. Thanks for inviting me. Absolutely. It's so fun to get to talk with a fellow podcaster because you also host the Slow Flowers podcast among the many other things that you do. And now, well, not now because you already were a published author, but now you have another title to add to your list.
00:02:41
Speaker
That's right. It's really exciting to talk about. And thanks for the invitation. Absolutely. It's an honor to have you here with us today. Let's start by going back
Exploring the Slow Flowers Concept and Its Roots
00:02:49
Speaker
to the roots. You are a recognizable voice in the local flowers movement.
00:02:54
Speaker
So can you tell us what does slow flowers mean to you? Oh, thank you so much for asking. I feel like it's kind of a catchphrase that has become universal um worldwide using the word slow flowers or phrase to describe what I care about. And I think a lot of people associate the adjective slow as you know local and seasonal and sustainable. You can put it in front of many consumer categories, but it all came kind of began
00:03:26
Speaker
be in my vernacular when I worked on a book called The 50 Mile Bouquet, which came out in 2012. And I was trying to explain to people, this book is a documentary style book about the renaissance of American domestic agriculture, like this ri sort of resurgence of people growing flowers and wanting to know the farmer.
00:03:46
Speaker
And I was trying to shorten the description. So I said to people, you know, it's like slow food. But just replace it with slow flowers and people, um especially ah in foodie cultures and communities, not just coastal, but you know all over the country. If you were in the culinary world, you're like, yeah, I got it.
00:04:03
Speaker
But it took a while to, you know, for that to take to catch on. my My husband and kids at one point were like, does that mean your so flowers grow slowly? And um yes, of course they do. But It's really just ah um a reference to ah what we now say, which is our mission, which is as a society is to inspire the floral industry and its consumers to embrace local, seasonal and sustainable flowers. You know, as advocates, that's what we really try to share with people and encourage people.
00:04:35
Speaker
I love that. Thank you. For those listening that are not familiar with the slow foods movement. Can you help explain that so people understand that as well?
00:04:45
Speaker
Yes, absolutely. So Slow Food, as an organization, it started, i think, 50 years ago out of Italy. um And really at the time, the Slow Food, ah i think it's called Slow Food International right now.
00:04:59
Speaker
They that was a response to, in a way, anti fast food. That was, ah you know, the story you could look it up online. It's really like we don't want McDonald's and our charming little Italian villages when we've got this wonderful grandma making beautiful, you know, handmade pasta and making.
00:05:16
Speaker
you know, harvesting herbs and vegetables from, you know, her backyard and feeding our community. And so that, of course, is a very simplified version, but slow food has taken over in the culinary world. In the U.S., I think a lot of us look at Alice alice Waters of Chez Panisse in Berkeley, the famous restaurant started, I think, 45 years ago. She opened that restaurant and that she really championed uh sourcing her food ingredients for her kitchen uh and her chefs uh from farmers in the you know northern california and then and then pioneering this approach to putting the farmer at the forefront like ah listing the ingredients and who you know who grew that ingredient on the menu and we really advocate for that we love it when florists do the same thing and say your flower came from this farmer and i let me tell you about this farmer and they're they're
00:06:09
Speaker
you know, in my community and they grow sustainably. And, you know, this is their unique approach to flower farming. So that's the parallel. And, you know, we don't eat our flowers usually, but we do care that they're grown sustainably for the planet and for the people who have to handle them.
00:06:26
Speaker
Thank you for that clarification. So this all started when you wrote the book, The
Deborah's Journalism Journey and the Power of Local Stories
00:06:31
Speaker
50 Mile Bouquet. Was there a moment that you just knew that this message needed to be shared with the world.
00:06:40
Speaker
Yes. Jennifer, my background is journalism. I was a longtime um home and garden writer for magazines and newspapers. And um I feel like as a journalist, you're constantly trained to have this sixth sense about journalism.
00:06:56
Speaker
it's almost like a physical visceral reaction I have when I come across a topic, um something that needs to have a story. I feel that the story needs to be told and I do have a physical reaction to it.
00:07:07
Speaker
And I'm like, that is something that I can really tell a story and and make, make an impact um for the reader and for the person I'm interviewing. And so that, that has happened to me a couple times.
00:07:19
Speaker
I'm usually ahead of the market. I'm, Good news, bad news. I wrote a garden ah garden shed ah book in 2008, a decade before the she shed thing happened. Like, I'm like, OK, I'm really i really have a sixth sense about this.
00:07:33
Speaker
And I think what happened was in around 2010, even earlier, i was writing stories about flower ah flower gardening and an architecture and a interior design and landscape design up and down the West Coast.
00:07:47
Speaker
My main publications were like Better Homes and Gardens and Los Angeles Times. And I just found that my editors really responded to stories about flower farmers and their readers really responded to stories about flower farmers.
00:08:01
Speaker
And I realized, um wow, there's there's a story here that's kind of like a David and Goliath story. that this little um this little industry is trying to come back after lots of setbacks and really bring local flowers into this massive global floral um you know industry. And it was just such a great privilege to tell those stories.
00:08:26
Speaker
Journalistically, ah So many, you know, newspaper and magazine articles ah under my belt, I wanted to work on this book. And I partnered with David Perry, a Seattle-based photographer, who is also kind of as obsessed about the stories as I was.
00:08:40
Speaker
And um we had a hard time selling that book, The 50 Mile Bouquet. And eventually a small publisher in um based in Pittsburgh, St. Lynn's Press, which specialized in organic themed topics, lifestyle and and gardens and cooking, they picked it up and that's how it came to be. But um there was some visceral reactions when I realized no one was telling the stories of these flower farmers and I wanted to be the person to do it.
00:09:13
Speaker
It's such a great thing that you started.
00:09:16
Speaker
What do you think it is about these stories that draws people in?
The Importance of Locally Grown Flowers
00:09:22
Speaker
but Well, that's a really good question. I mean, I'm, I kind of live in a bubble and you might feel like this too, like we're so close to it.
00:09:29
Speaker
You know, I, and this is sort of was the aha moment for me because I am an avid gardener. I've gardened my whole adult life. I've never used a single chemical on my garden. and You know, it never, it never occurred to me to do that.
00:09:42
Speaker
um And so i I just thought everybody knew where their flowers came from and everybody knew you could grow these flowers. And they weren't coming from the cellophane wrapped sleeve at the grocery store. They were coming from a garden. And I think what happened when I realized ah that 80% of the cut flowers sold in the U.S. were being imported, ah it just, it confused me. I was, you know, I was just mostly bothered by the fact that it didn't have to be that way.
00:10:10
Speaker
It was such a waste of resources. And um when I knew that these, most of the cut flowers I loved could be grown in the U S even if I didn't grow them, my neighbor grew them or the farmer at my farmer's market grew them.
00:10:23
Speaker
So I think that is when i realized um well, just that it was an enormous challenge challenge and I wanted to help, you know,
00:10:34
Speaker
move the needle a little bit and change how people perceive their local flowers um versus just something that appeared miraculously. And just as an aside, you know, anybody who has children and wants to garden with their children understands the the privilege it is to help a child grow ah tiny seed into a vegetable.
00:10:53
Speaker
that they can eat. And that's why I had a vegetable garden when my boys were young. I didn't particularly love food farming or food food gardening, but I wanted them to know that the things they could eat didn't come in a you know shrink-wrapped package at the grocery store, that they could pluck a carrot or a radish out of the ground that they planted themselves. And there's something, when you talk about why your people respond, I just think that's something so it's almost spiritual. It's so unique in our lives that we can watch the whole life cycle of a plant and and have a role in it to connect us with nature.
00:11:31
Speaker
Oh, you're speaking to my heart. And I have to say that we're so connected to it now that sometimes I have to pause and step back because I mean, for me, i didn't have that aha moment.
00:11:43
Speaker
I was a wedding photographer and it was, I forget if it was 2014 2015, was photographing a wedding. And I was a gardener and I grew all the flowers that I didn't grow for this wedding. But this bride said to me, she said, hey, Jen, this bouquet, I want you to photograph more than you might normally do because I grew all these flowers in my garden.
00:12:03
Speaker
And as I was taking those pictures, I'm like, I grew all of these myself. And it was that aha moment that like, well, where do these flowers come from? Like I had been photographing weddings for years and I never even considered, well,
00:12:17
Speaker
They just always come from a big imported place, of course, but no, they could come. And so it was when I talked to my florist and she said, what do you do with all these flowers you grow? That it led me down this rabbit hole that has now led me into flower farming.
00:12:30
Speaker
But I still find myself asking people, Where do you get your flowers? Oh, I go to Trader Joe's. I go to the grocery store. And i said, well, do you know where those flowers come from? And they don't even think about that connection. I mean, we're so trained to think about food, especially right now with Kiss the Ground and Common Ground.
00:12:47
Speaker
People are already thinking, okay, where does my food come from? How do I support that farmer? But it's that same concept with flowers. And I think that storytelling you're doing is so important. Yeah.
00:12:59
Speaker
Yeah, and it's interesting because even I do think that more people do ah know where their flowers come from or are asking, you know, in this 15 year arc of my, um you know, kind of my own rabbit hole that I dove down and um was influenced to change sort of the subject matter of my writing.
00:13:18
Speaker
I do feel like I find myself having to explain less often. um It still happens. um But, you know, I think that I do think there's more awareness now. Thank goodness. But we have a long way to go.
00:13:32
Speaker
We do have a long ways to go. So you just said 15 years you've been working on this mission. I imagine...
Challenges and Evolution of the Slow Flowers Movement
00:13:39
Speaker
that this journey has changed a lot. Do you feel like there's been shifts and turns that it's been, or it's been a straight line as you've been sharing this mission of Slow Flowers?
00:13:52
Speaker
um Well, I love that that question because first of all, the term as I described the Slow Flowers just wasn't wasn't like a business plan or anything. It was just this phrase that I started using to as shorthand to describe the subject matter that I was writing about.
00:14:06
Speaker
And what happened after the 50 Mile Bouquet book is I was working on it The subsequent book is called Slow Flowers and it was published in 2013. And I was by my my effort for that book was too Prove a point to an editor in New York City who I had previously done a very high profile book for, but she was not interested in publishing the 50 mile bouquet.
00:14:30
Speaker
And she said to me, this is so fringe, Deborah, you know, if you live in Santa Barbara, you can have flowers year round, but that is not relevant to most people around the country.
00:14:40
Speaker
And, you know, the the convenience store in my neighborhood in the Upper West Side of New York doesn't have local flowers, so clearly it's not common. And I was so frustrated, I just thought, I'll show you.
00:14:52
Speaker
and I, um you know, sometimes you have to have disbelievers to force you to figure out how you're communicating better. And I started a project ah to create a bouquet every week, a centerpiece or an arrangement.
00:15:04
Speaker
um from my own garden, year round. I live in Seattle, Washington. So zone, you know, 8B, something, I think at the time it was 8A. Make an arrangement, photograph it. And I thought it was going to be a blog project. It was it was going to be 52 weeks of local flowers.
00:15:22
Speaker
And my publisher, Paul Kelly, said 52 weeks of local flowers sounds like a 1980s self-help book um you've got to get a better title. And I said, well, I don't know, we're using this term, slow flowers. What do you think of that? And he's like, bingo, that is a book title. That is the title of a movement. And he's the really one really the one who pushed me to do it. Thank you, Paul.
00:15:42
Speaker
um But Jennifer, I truly thought at the time that the the hook that would inspire consumers, readers, people in the gardening community, i mean, again, I'm still in the gardening community. I wasn't really in the floral industry.
00:15:57
Speaker
I really thought that the the key benefit, the key selling point was organic. I thought that's what would would really blow up this industry. In fact, the subtitle of the 50-mile bouquet is the Organic Flower Growing Gathering and Design Guide because we talked about organic practices throughout the book.
00:16:16
Speaker
But in the end, organic is not organic. the top reason given for buying local flowers. It is really the top reason is is the is local connection and people realizing that they um they care about keeping jobs in their community, they care about supporting local floral agriculture, they care about um the transportation footprint,
00:16:44
Speaker
And all of this came out of research ah from ah Kirsten DeWest, who is um a and marketing industry expert in sustainable topics. She owned an ad agency in Vancouver, BC, and really...
00:16:59
Speaker
um she was my first guest on the Slow Flowers podcast back in 2013. And she talked about her research ah where on this hierarchy of consumer values, organic was, and this was just for all consumer products, but if if it was organic, um had organic ingredients or whatever, it was like number 10 or 11.
00:17:17
Speaker
Whereas local and seasonal and sustainable were all very top of mind. And that really changed my thinking that um it's so good to have that insight because organic is wonderful. We all love it, but there's so many barriers to, ah for a flower farmer like you to go get certified, you know, USDA certified. It's just, it's just complicated and expensive. It's not really designed for farm flower farming. It's designed for food farming.
00:17:44
Speaker
So I was kind of, it was a great insight and I was humbled to realize that I had a lot to learn. um But I, you know, luckily had people who gave me input on that.
00:17:56
Speaker
Thank you for sharing that. I love how much intention there is behind the slow flowers movement. I'm curious, how do you keep the message resonant with the world that's moving so fast?
00:18:10
Speaker
Oh, wow. It's a big one. You know, in some ways, we live in this macro world where we see this top level view of things, and it can be really disheartening.
00:18:22
Speaker
um It's really disheartening to see stuff on social media where, you know, there's a, you know, massive installation of dyed carnations that are purple or blue and they're put in floral foam and some celebrity has spent, you know, hundreds of thousands of dollars to create this installation for an event or ah proposal or, you know, something. And you're like, what is, where is the disconnect? That's really discouraging.
00:18:49
Speaker
Yeah. So I think when you have that macro view and you're just going, oh my gosh, what kind of impact can we make as individuals? And really that's, that's kind of what's going on in the world right now is trying to make room for more individual voices because that's how we get to understand each other. And, you know, in this very difficult political environment, I think conversations, human conversations and human connections are probably the only way we're we're going to get out of this mess we're in.
00:19:17
Speaker
Um, And, you know, in the flower world, I feel it's the same way. And that's why I really love the the opportunity, and you're doing this too, is to put one person and their story in the out into the world um for others to be inspired by or to learn from. Because everybody's, in a way, there's something relatable about the human experience. And and I'll talk about that when when we talk about the Flower Farmers book, because I really had some amazing lessons here.
00:19:46
Speaker
about people speaking their truth. And um that's the only way I think we're going to find this this sense of this sense of purpose and this forward thrust that we we are on the right path. We are unapologetically promoting domestic flowers.
00:20:06
Speaker
um We're not anti-anything. We're pro-local flowers. And that's that's all I can focus on. I love that so much. um I recently heard, i believe it was Mel Robbins was talking on her podcast and I'd have to go back to the source, but I'm pretty sure it came from her. It sounds like something she would say.
00:20:25
Speaker
And it said, the opposite of depression is purpose. It's not happiness, it's purpose. And I think that's what local flowers does is they have a purpose, they give you a purpose, and they have a purpose in their community.
00:20:40
Speaker
And I think what you just said was spot on and so beautiful. So thank you. which is Thanks for that reminder. Yes. and Well, that leads us perfectly into talking about your new book, The Flower Farmers.
Introducing Deborah's New Book on Flower Farming
00:20:52
Speaker
So if we can, let's talk about this book that you've co-authored with Robin Avni. Did I say her name correctly? Yes, you did. Perfect. What inspired this project?
00:21:03
Speaker
Well, this was a wonderful project that kind of fell in our laps. Robin and raman is my business partner in the bloom in the imprint called Bloom Imprint. And we are a longtime journalism colleagues.
00:21:16
Speaker
um Back when I was a business reporter at Puget Sound Business Journal in Seattle, Robin was the art director at the Seattle Times. And she's worked at Pulitzer Prize-winning newspapers or her whole career. But she's a photo editor. That's why you need to meet her, Jennifer. Oh.
00:21:29
Speaker
her Her special power, her her you know superpower is curating and editing um and art directing. She is a journalist. She writes you know as well. She has a master's in journalism. But her her storytelling is visual. My storytelling is is verbal. So we have a really great combination of putting things together. and We've worked together for years.
00:21:53
Speaker
andm Back in 2010, Robin started this
00:21:59
Speaker
again, ahead of its time, women's blogging group called Real Women, Real Life. And um with like 12 subject matter experts, and we were writing white papers and marketing to companies that um that have women consumers. And, you know, so I loved working with her.
00:22:16
Speaker
We had ah wonderful experience over the course of, you know, three to four years producing books by and about Slow Flowers members. And And ah right when we weren't even expecting it, Abrams publisher and our editor in chief, Shauna Mullen, was talking to us us about another one of our projects. And then she said, I'm not really interested in that, but I really want someone to do a book about flower farmers. Would you be interested?
00:22:43
Speaker
and And we were so intrigued with her idea. So she gets the credit for it. She wanted this beautiful coffee table book visually, like honestly, Jennifer, it's like flower farm porn. It's like visually beautiful images jumping off the page to bring you into the life of a flower farmer.
00:23:01
Speaker
And so ah Robin and I, I said, yes, I'll do it, but only if Robin can do it with me. So that's how it happened. We've spent about two years working on it and The approach is, well, we divided the book up geographically across North America, so regional kind of sections, and we tried to be as geographically geographically diverse as possible.
00:23:26
Speaker
We have 29 flower farmers in the book. Obviously, there's thousands of other flower farmers we should have included in the book, but this is just how it worked out because it's over 300 pages. so Wow.
00:23:37
Speaker
We, um, for each chapter, there's probably eight to 12 pages of beautiful images of the flower farmer, pro their portrait, farm portraits, flower portraits, and their story.
00:23:52
Speaker
And, um, So for each of the farms, um what is kind of the service component, the giveaway for the reader is we have a two-page spread that focuses on their signature flower.
00:24:05
Speaker
um And that is you know all the botanical information, but also their favorite varieties, a little bit of history of that flower, and then how they grow it um and how they harvest it and some seasonal things like how to water it and um any particular...
00:24:23
Speaker
you know, giveaways like tips that the the pro would do. And the reason I like that so much is we're not teaching people how to be flower farmers. You can't do that in in in a beautiful coffee table book, but you can...
00:24:36
Speaker
gives some information that the reader, who is probably a home gardener or a flower lover, had never thought about growing this before in their life. And they really want to you know, it's like a ah shortcut. Like, let me just get the top 10, you know, Dahlia varieties that Misty Vanderweel at All Dahlia Up in Palmer, Alaska, says are diehards and beautiful producers and gorgeous colors.
00:24:59
Speaker
And that will kind of give someone a shortcut to growing dahlias in their gardens. Oh, I love that. Now you mentioned there's 29 growers in this book.
00:25:11
Speaker
there' There's, there's gotta be thousands of local flower farmers in the United States alone now. Was there any guiding intention behind who you chose to highlight in this book?
00:25:23
Speaker
there were There was a lot of guiding intention and some of it was completely boiled down to great photography, to be perfectly honest. And this is why I always encourage people who want to market themselves to invest in good photography because ah we worked with over 60 photographers in this book and we had to use a lot of existing photography because of the short timeline.
00:25:46
Speaker
And to be honest, the photo budget wasn't huge. So we had to work with flower farmers who had um their own photography to share. ah We did commission ah ah photography as well. In fact, the the photo on the cover was a beautiful shot taken by our friend Mary Grace Long, who is the Seattle-based photographer We didn't know was going to be the cover, but we had asked her to go shoot Jell-O-Mold Farm, ah which is in Skagit Valley, and she got the most gorgeous photo of a flower farmer holding a little cluster of hellebores that turned out to be the cover shot, which was wonderful.
00:26:25
Speaker
um We also, you know, frankly, ah Jennifer, I said to Robin, I only want to feature Slow Flowers members in this book. If I'm going to do all this work... for two years and write about flower firmers, then I really want to underscore the fact that there are people committed to the Slow Fires Movement who we can give back ah to the community by telling their story.
00:26:47
Speaker
We also really focused on geographic diversity and also different types of diversity, both was you know your family heritage, but also where you are in the in the arc of farming. Are you first-generation farmer? Are you with a multi-generational family ah farm that has been around for over 30 years?
00:27:09
Speaker
um Are you borrowing land? Do you own your land? you know All the variables that you and I know people are up against because we wanted to try to find a point of reference and relatability for the reader.
00:27:23
Speaker
um And as I said, geographic was important because we wanted to pick places that maybe were difficult to grow flowers in, like Comer, Georgia, where Three Porch Farm is, or um Las Cruces, New Mexico, where Calhoun Flower Firm is or ah you know, up in Panton, Vermont, where Diddle and Zen is like where, you know, not just flower farming isn't just easy.
00:27:48
Speaker
You know, people have their own geographic challenges and climactic challenges. Yes. Well, there's so many flower growers in the Pacific Northwest. It'd be easy because it's such an easy growing region to just specialize in that. So I, or focus on that. So I love that you did have a lot of intention.
00:28:07
Speaker
and who you chose. And I've looked at your list of who's included, and it's a great representation the street. Well, and yeah, and to be honest, there are more Northwest flower farmers in this book than anywhere else. We actually had to divide divide the West into Northwest and West for that reason. But hey, that's where we're based, and that's where a lot of our relationships are.
00:28:27
Speaker
Absolutely. It makes sense. Did you notice as you were writing this book, were there any shared themes such as hopes or struggles or lessons that emerged across the different regions and farmers?
00:28:40
Speaker
Yes, yes, ah absolutely. All of the above, Jennifer. And I know that you've encountered this in your conversations with people. um It seems in a way, it seems very trite to say, you know, that flowers, flowers gave me purpose or flowers healed me. But that is in a way the the thread that connects all these stories. And I was really committed to letting people share that story of flowers helping someone survive cancer, get over the grief of a death of a child, recover from an addiction,
00:29:21
Speaker
um you know change their lives during you know a difficult career, you know i'm getting leaving you know a corporate career and trying to find flowers. Because at one point we had an editor who's like, oh, these are kind of, these are negative themes and, and we should not include them. And I was just so determined that these stories had to be, it's not like the whole story, but it's a reference in the chapter that I think, you know, humanizes yeah flower farming and
00:29:55
Speaker
it's just drives home the message that anyone can farm. And Robin has a phrase, which I love so much. We used it in our introduction, which is the dirt welcomes everyone.
00:30:07
Speaker
And that's what we were trying to show. I love that. Well, I think it's such a human nature or it's part of human nature.
00:30:20
Speaker
just these feelings and these experiences I was reading this morning, I'm reading a book right now and it was talking about, you can't experience joy without suffering and you can't experience suffering without joy and how they go hand in hand. And I think that's so, so why, so much part of why flowers feel like there's so much healing in them because they bring that joy,
00:30:42
Speaker
um And there's there's just so many mental health benefits. I mean, we could have a whole episode on that, but I love that those are some of the common themes that came out of it. Yeah, I mean, I really do think that that anyone who gardens would be nodding their head saying, yes, of course, that's what how the garden feeds me. um On the flower farmer side, it is a grind and it's a lot of work, as you know.
00:31:05
Speaker
And so yeah even just taking the chance to pause and articulate these thoughts and to to you know authors of a book who want to elevate that, I think people felt very seen and and kind of affirmed that they have a purpose that is beyond their own acre of land. And um I know that that they get it from their customers, but we can't say it often enough. It's it's really it's just really a privilege to know ah know all these flower farmers,
00:31:40
Speaker
Some of them are more known in the design industry than in flow farm flower farming, but we focused on their expertise and the crops that they grew. And I i think that's kind of nice to weave that into the book too.
00:31:53
Speaker
Absolutely. It sounds like this book is much more than just a guide. It also sounds like a celebration of people and place. What is your hope for this book? What do you want readers to walk away with, whether they're gardeners or experienced growers?
00:32:09
Speaker
Well, yes, you can be completely wowed and seduced by these photos of like the most vibrant, you know, peacock purple delphinium you've ever seen grown by Jamie Rogers in, you know, Helena, Montana, which did, you know, seems like a harsh place. Like that's, that's the, that's the initial response, but once you've read these stories and feel like, you know, these flower farmers, you start looking at flowers in a, I believe in a different way.
00:32:42
Speaker
And no matter where you're based, you're going to be looking at the flowers, flowers, at your local farmer's market or yeah had a farm stand or in a flower shop and start being curious about, well, how did they get here and who grew them? and Or maybe you meet the farmer at the at the local farmer's market. You want to hear their story.
00:33:01
Speaker
And what I'm seeing in the still flowers movement more and more, and I know you've seen this too because you're working on it yourself, is bringing people into the farm and helping them have a little piece of that.
00:33:14
Speaker
They're not going to be flower farmers, but they want to experience it. And that whole, you know, floral agriculture, floral tourism, all of that is bigger than ever. And i think there's a reason for that because we're providing a portal into um what humans need, which is connecting with nature.
00:33:35
Speaker
Yes. And remembering that we're part of it. We're part of that nature is so powerful. It gives me goosebumps just talking to you right now about it. It's that beauty. Everyone's so hungry for that little bit of beauty. that i Yeah, it's so true.
00:33:53
Speaker
and I just interviewed a Slow Flowers member who's a ah farmer florist who's starting to or she's shifted her whole business to do custom growing. for um for couples um who are getting married and she's now created this day where all her couples in a given season are invited to her farm and they get to plant a little bit ah a little row of something and she's like i'm like wow are you putting them to work she said no no i'm not putting the work i'm letting them feel part of their own wedding flowers by planting some seeds or plugs or or tubers
00:34:27
Speaker
So that that tactile experience of touching the soil might come back to them when you're pinning the boutonniere on the lapel or holding the bouquet, you know, six or 12 months later.
00:34:39
Speaker
And it just was, you know, it's a little bit of work on her part to do this, but the payoff is massive because who else is doing that in their community? That's something that that people will not forget and they will talk about it.
00:34:51
Speaker
and share that story with their wedding guests. And I think that will have this rippling effect, which will be beneficial for all of us. Oh, I love that. What a beautiful thing she's doing. and That's such a great story. I was just going to ask you if there was any particular stories from the book that have lingered with you.
00:35:10
Speaker
oh my goodness. There's so many.
Inspiring Stories of Legacy and Teaching in Flower Farming
00:35:12
Speaker
um
00:35:15
Speaker
Give me a second. Yeah, absolutely. Sorry, I'm on the spot. I shouldn't believe. No, know no, no. That particular story is not in the book. But, um
00:35:29
Speaker
you know, i think the one that I want to focus on the most is the cover photo, ah the hellebore and... Diane Sukavati and Dennis Westfall, who you know, Diane, um they founded Jell-O-Mold Farm in Skagit Valley. I mentioned them earlier.
00:35:47
Speaker
They also ah were co-founders of the Seattle Wholesale Growers Market. Diane was on the cover of the 50-mile bouquet. So I've been like her her documentary documentarian all these years since I first met her 15 years ago.
00:36:02
Speaker
But what I find so inspiring about Diane and Dennis is, you know, they're kind of in the last... active chapter of farming, um, in their, on their farm and they're looking to the future.
00:36:13
Speaker
Uh, they don't have children. um they, but they know they have a legacy and their legacy is teaching other flower farmers and creating opportunities for younger and newer farmers to come apprentice for them or, you know, be part of some event or workshop on their farm and just, um,
00:36:37
Speaker
Paying it forward, I guess, is the best way of putting it. And you know the the fact that they are farming and they're still active and engaged and excited about helping other people farm, they're not looking at any of this as competition.
00:36:54
Speaker
They're not worried that someone's going to take away their little piece of the pie. They're trying to make the pie bigger. And the role model there is not just them. There's so many other farmers that are doing something similar in the book, but I just bring them up. I call them futurists.
00:37:09
Speaker
And I feel like, you know, they are willing to change their business model to a to make it fit their lifestyle and allow them to do more community development and community support.
00:37:22
Speaker
So that was that's really inspiring. And I'm really glad that I included them. ah in the book because that's super personal. And I've been able to witness that. Whereas some of the farmers in the book, I've only met once or twice.
00:37:34
Speaker
I had to do lots of Zoom interviews. I didn't necessarily go get to go interview them in person for their chapter. um But um you know it still makes for great storytelling. So it's a privilege if I get to be on the farm.
00:37:48
Speaker
If I don't, then I have to do it virtually. I'm still completely committed to that story and that flower farm. I love that that's such a full circle moment that Diane was on your cover of your first book and here she is on this one now.
00:38:05
Speaker
And I've interviewed her. She'll be on the podcast as well at some date this spring or early summer. And it was a lovely conversation. And I think that what you said about not it's the community over competition when we remember that 80 percent of u.s flowers are imported we're not competing with one another there's plenty of room for us to expand and so i think that's such a great great story right there i i couldn't agree with you more that's a great statement too
00:38:38
Speaker
I'm curious, in interviewing all of these farmers for this book, did any of them cause you to shift perspectives or think about how you source flowers differently?
00:38:50
Speaker
Oh, that's a good question. um
00:38:54
Speaker
Or maybe it reaffirmed. Well, i think I think what I took away from this and and, you know, in figuring out these focal flowers or the featured flower chapters, ah you know, it was kind of comical because Robin and I had to kill a lot of darlings because everybody, not everybody, but a huge percentage of these farmers were like, oh,
00:39:16
Speaker
I really want roses. I really want peonies. I really want dahlias. Well, it turns out we can only do one. Right. And so we had to kind of say, well, what's your second choice? What's your third choice? And some of the creativity that came out of that was, okay, this may not be their major crop, but it's something that they have expertise in.
00:39:34
Speaker
And, um, it's up to the farmer to to seduce the customer, the florist or the flower lover, to seduce them with the story of that flower.
00:39:47
Speaker
ah Because maybe it's not familiar. It's not something we've seen in a flower shop before or seen at the grocery store. So we need to know that story. And the best example of that is Julio Fritas of the Flower Hat.
00:39:59
Speaker
He's also in Montana and he he's in Bozeman. He's a very successful farmer florist. big on social media you know his his presence is he's a he's extra in every way possible and he said immediately when we told him we wanted to meet him to be in the book he said i want to do sanguasorba oh and i'm like sanguasorba i used to grow that once when i was involved in the northwest perennial alliance in the back in the first decade of this century but it's like a it's not a cut flower, you know, and I was really confused by it. And the common name is Burnett or Great Burnett.
00:40:37
Speaker
It's this funny little, like, deep wine-colored maroon kind of bunny tail on a ah thin stem, not so particularly long stem, but...
00:40:50
Speaker
Julio swears by this as like the secret sauce of every bridal bouquet he's ever made. It's like saved his his hide when other you know deliveries didn't come through or a crop failure. He loves this perennial and he i swear he's going to single-handedly repopularize it or bring it to attention ah of other farmers who've never thought about growing it.
00:41:13
Speaker
So that, I love that. That really made me laugh. And I think the other one is um Leon and Carol Carrier of Plantmasters, longtime farmers. I mean, they're they've been farming for over 30 years. Their son has now joined them, Leon Jr. They're in the Baltimore, Maryland area. And they they make major bank every year on Ilex, on winterberry, the and redup variety and the orange variety. And that's not an overnight crop where you're like, oh, I'll try this and sell it next year.
00:41:43
Speaker
The reason they're so successful is Leon planted his first, you know, row in 1990, you know, and that's why he's making a great amount of revenue off of that now. And he can sell every stem.
00:42:00
Speaker
So I love those two examples. Like people are constantly learning and they're constantly teaching themselves. And that came out in these stories too. Like, It's great to be um you know grow the basics, right? Because we all need the basics. But what gets people excited and kind of geeking out is all these curiosities of like, oh, I have never tried that.
00:42:21
Speaker
um And I think the homeow home gardener wants to know that too. So um and like I might grow Ilex, but I'm probably go of going to grow. I think you have to have a male or a female. So maybe I'll have to grow too.
00:42:33
Speaker
But sanguasorba, that's easy for anyone to add to their garden. And if it can grow in Bozeman, Montana, it can grow where you are. So that was a fun, that was a fun takeaway. And kind of, it feeds that, that what can I grow next kind of hunger that most gardeners have.
00:42:51
Speaker
Yes. It's always hard. You want to keep adding more and more to your garden. And there's always room. And Jennifer, you know, my theory is if my, my fist and my wrist can fit down into a section of the garden to dig a hole, then i got room for something else.
00:43:07
Speaker
I love that. I'm going to be in trouble because I have 20 acres to fill then. but Right, right. I have I have a suburban backyard, so I'm going to just I'll just be I'll just be that person who encourages you to grow more.
00:43:19
Speaker
Yes, I'm trying to pace myself right now because I see all of this inspiration. I'm like, oh, I need to add this. No, I don't. I need to need to stay focused. We hired a farm consultant to help us get going on the farm.
00:43:30
Speaker
And she said, repeat after me. i need you to trust the process and stay the course right now. So I'm trying to make mental note of all of these wonderful additions to add to the farm down the road.
00:43:41
Speaker
Well, I think that's really a good point. I'm glad you brought that up because we did also, you know, have farmers telling us stories about their failures and about how they had to pivot, even though that word is overused, but how they um took, had to take a pause and let their land go fallow for a while just to rest and um give them, you know, take a season off. So, I mean, I think that those are not as pretty and not as flashy stories, but they, they're the truth.
00:44:08
Speaker
Yes. I don't think people always realize how hard it is. It's not the the dresses and twirling in the field that you see on Instagram that are the viral reels. it's It's the true labor of love that goes into flower farming.
Balancing Flower Farming with Life's Demands
00:44:23
Speaker
So, which is perfect because i wanted to next talk to you about the grit behind the beauty of flower farming. So i was going to ask you, know what are some of the harder truths about flower farming that people may not realize that you've learned through interviewing all of these farmers?
00:44:42
Speaker
You know, it is it is a hard truth and one that came out, especially interviewing families and couples, is that oftentimes the farm needs the outside income of a non-farm career or job. And, you know, that's...
00:45:03
Speaker
what's impressed me the most is that people find if they're really committed, if this isn't just a hobby farm on the, you know, on the side, like a little, you know, experiment, but if you're really committed, you do find a way.
00:45:16
Speaker
um But there are people who walk away from it. So I don't mean, I don't want to disparage that either, but I do think that the stories that but I'm gleaning it most are To really be in love with this and keep yourself going, you have to do what's right for you, your family, and your farm.
00:45:34
Speaker
And you can have the grit if if everything is in balance. But if everything's out of balance, that's when you burn out. And so what I found the most inspiring is people, and I see this increasingly, people giving themselves permission to farm the way they want to and to farm the way it works for their lifestyle.
00:45:53
Speaker
They might have children at home. They might have a home-based farm where they live on the farm, and so they determine how they want to let the public have access to that. um They may go heavy into, you know, farmer florist and and retail floral shop kind of side of things.
00:46:13
Speaker
Or they're 100% look, I just want to grow and I will find the channel to sell wholesale because that is how I have time for, you know, my weekends off. I don't have to go do weddings and events.
00:46:24
Speaker
So whatever it is, I feel like there's more room now for what is a flower farmer. ah The definition isn't isn't just this monolith. It's many different facets.
00:46:36
Speaker
And that's encouraging because I feel like I'm hearing that more and more. Like you you do what's right for you. It doesn't mean your model is good or bad. It's just what's right for you. And I i think that's the way you can deal with the...
00:46:50
Speaker
the exhaustion and the fatigue. And even at the end of the season, everyone's feeling it no matter what, no doubt. But it's, it's just, I think, um, there's no one size fits all anymore and that's encouraging.
00:47:03
Speaker
And I would encourage others to, Start asking yourself those questions just because you see something on Instagram or you take an online workshop that tells you how to do something one way.
00:47:14
Speaker
That is, again, back to one person's perspective and maybe not right for you. And um our the Flower Vermin is featured in this book are doing all kinds of things that are truly personal.
00:47:24
Speaker
personal A lot of them are artists. A lot of them are really motivated motivated by wellness and healing or by hospitality or by ah You know, just creating a living for a family and so they can have time to homeschool their children.
00:47:40
Speaker
Whatever it is, um it there's enough of these models that someone can find their particular, you know, interests or capabilities in some of these stories.
00:47:53
Speaker
I think that's one of the things that's so beautiful about local flowers is that there are so many different avenues that you can sell your flowers and make a living off of it.
00:48:05
Speaker
Last year, I interviewed Katie from Hidden Springs Flowers on the podcast. And she said to me something that really struck is she said, you don't make your life fit the farm. You make the farm fit your life.
00:48:18
Speaker
Amen. I agree with that completely. That's was such great statement, especially for me. Like as we're starting over from scratch, we have a bare piece of land that I was like, we get to literally choose and think with intention, what do we want this to look like so that it fits our life and aligns with what's important to us.
00:48:37
Speaker
And it's so fun because as I look out, I'm like, we have a local chat group we call the Gorge Flower Growers. And I think there's 25 people in it now. And that we don't look at at each other as competition. It's it's this community.
00:48:50
Speaker
And you start looking at what everyone does and everyone has these unique little gifts and avenues. And there's still room for more people, which is hard to sometimes believe when we're in such a small community.
00:49:01
Speaker
But it's true that there's so many ways that you can be a flower farmer and add beauty to your community and make it profitable as a living. I admire you for saying that because I do think having the self, the conversation with yourself about what it is you want is, takes time and maybe takes, you know, giving yourself a little, a little pause and ah society doesn't reward that society rewards, just plowing forward and, um, you know,
00:49:37
Speaker
get, I guess, putting the cart before the horse, you know, and it's not always the right thing to do. Um, Mandy and Steve O'Shea who own three porch farm have a, and they're very successful flower growers and they have a story that they share in the book about how they give themselves im kind of like a, a self imposed work retreat where they go sit, um, you know, for a day or two and reflect on all the highs and lows of the past season before they commit to what they're doing the next season.
00:50:09
Speaker
That seems pretty basic, but how many people take the time to do that? And it's just great that they explained how they do that and why they do that and how it makes them better farmers and makes them a better couple um who are committed to each other and to their family business. So I took a lot of inspiration from that.
00:50:27
Speaker
I love that. We did family vision boards this year because the farm is such a part of our entire family right now. And our goal is to someday live on the property. And so we all made vision boards that included the flowers and what does it look like to each of us?
00:50:41
Speaker
And it gave such clarity of where everyone's at also. so I love that clarity. Yep. I agree. I agree. And it can change, but for now, that's what it looks like. Yes. I love that you said things can change.
00:50:54
Speaker
I'd love to know what advice would you offer to flower farmers or any creative who's navigating a season of the in-between or questioning their path?
00:51:05
Speaker
That's a great question. I mean, I've been there myself. um I think we all want to have our unique brand and what and um and be able to articulate what that is. And sometimes it is a little bit uncertain. I have a friend who's a creative, who's an artist and a writer who said to me, you know, it seems like every six or seven years i do a major change and often it is not self-imposed. It's imposed by external forces, which is, you know, can be scary.
00:51:37
Speaker
Um, it could be in her case, it could have been, you know, health related or finance finances related. um A lot of people you know have this wonderful career path that somehow gets knocked off by the economy or whatever.
00:51:53
Speaker
So I think, I don't know, what I go back to is I'm i'm always able to write. Even when the work isn't there, um I'm always able to posts.
00:52:07
Speaker
on my blog or, you know, write for the Soul Flowers Journal, I'm always able to keep writing even if someone's not paying me to do that. Now, some people say, well, that's, that's foolish.
00:52:18
Speaker
um But I, I do think there's something that urge, that inner urge to create is something that all creatives understand, and even if you're not getting paid to do it. And I guess for flower farmers, it may be just distilling down what is essential and maybe it isn't growing a hundred crops.
00:52:37
Speaker
I think what we're seeing now in the industry are these, these genus specific experts coming out, you know, with books on sweet piece and books on pansies. And you know who I'm talking about, like people who are really committing and they're all in on one specific ah ah point of expertise. And I think that's, that's something that people could consider. It's a funny, you know, as a writer, I thought years ago when I was a garden writer,
00:53:01
Speaker
cut working for this daily newspapers in Seattle, I thought, oh, I don't have an expertise. I don't have a subject matter that, hum you know, makes me an expert. Like I had a friend who was her expertise was, you know, deer proof landscaping. OK, well, that was her thing. And everybody knew And that's how she got those speaking gigs that you and I were talking about.
00:53:21
Speaker
So I truly. One time I thought, I'll be an expert on blue flowering plants. And I ordered like the three books out there in the marketplace that were very scientific and very boring about blue flowering plants. And I was like, what?
00:53:34
Speaker
When I got them and I thought I was going to do all this research and become an expert and I couldn't get excited about it. And I just laughed at myself like, OK, you know what? Just just stop and think about what gets you excited and what you love.
00:53:47
Speaker
and just start doing more of that, even if you're not getting paid for it. And I think that's really how I became, um the payoff came when I became interested in writing about flower farming and sustainable floral design.
00:54:03
Speaker
I'd already proven that I was accomplished journalist and I could just, I had those skills so I could just eventually pick up this subject matter that I was excited about and go deep into it.
00:54:15
Speaker
And I guess the corollary in flower farming is you already have expert growing skills, right? You can probably grow anything. Um, it's nice to grow what pays the bills, but always grow something that feeds your soul too.
00:54:32
Speaker
You know, even if it's just one small patch of sweet piece, um, you know, i think you, otherwise you lose, lose sight of, you know, what's this all about. Absolutely.
00:54:44
Speaker
Yes. I've had so many guests on here that say, grow what brings you joy. oh So true. Because when you are passionate about what you're doing, it's so much easier than it doesn't feel like a job anymore. It feels like something that you get to do.
00:54:58
Speaker
Like one of the things i have a coach and one of the things we always talk about is that mindset of instead of I have to do something, but I get to do something. um And so... I try to, I try, that's so funny you say that. I try to say, i'm going to go be in the garden rather than i have to go work in the garden because i I was finding that sort of a negative mindset. So it is a privilege to, you know even if you're weeding, it's a privilege to to be touching plants and touching soil.
00:55:29
Speaker
um and And just to back up for a second, if you really wanna be a flower farmer, you also have to grow what pays the bills, but that's just comes with experience. And that comes with knowing who your customer is and what they want.
Finding Joy and Sustainability in Flower Farming
00:55:42
Speaker
And that goes back to brand, you know, and if you, if you have those relationships in your community, hopefully you'll be, you know, open to those lessons about, you know, what is, what is going to really, you know, have amazing yield or super long growing season or whatever it is that you can make bank off of while you're also growing, what gives you joy. Yeah.
00:56:06
Speaker
Absolutely. Or it's even better when you can combine the two together. Yes. That's the secret to success. i agree. So, oh my goodness, this is, I could talk to you forever. And I still so many more questions, but going pick and choose a few of my questions that I have written down to be respectful of your time and our listeners. And I'll try to give you shorter answers. No, this has been so amazing. We'll just have to continue even more another date.
00:56:30
Speaker
Um, If you could go back in time and talk to the earlier version of yourself that was just beginning your journey, what would you say to her?
00:56:41
Speaker
I knew you were going to ask me that question. and i was thinking back to the times when I've chosen to go the direction that somebody else wanted me to go, ah to take and not the, not the thing that, you know, decades later, I'm like, I should have done that. You know, podcasting is one of them. I, I started my podcast 12 years ago and it has been a hunt, a pure joy.
00:57:08
Speaker
um very successful and doesn't feel like work. Whereas the grind of writing, the journalistic grind that I spent decades in always feels like work. I mean, even though I love storytelling, I love interviewing people, I love writing stories, it's still work.
00:57:24
Speaker
It's different than podcasting. And so I always joke that I should have gone into radio out of college instead of print journalism. But I didn't have a mentor who showed me that way. way So I'm kind of laughing about that.
00:57:36
Speaker
um Now I get to do it. But, you know, that what might have and that might have had a completely different ah path for me if I had gone into um into radio. ah I think the other thing is, you know, just...
00:57:52
Speaker
at my decade in life, I'm 65. just feel like, um, it's not too late for me to change and to say my younger self didn't have this permission or my younger self didn't know this was an option, but now I can't, you know, i can, I can take myself on ah personal retreat and go travel by myself, even though when I was young that I wasn't encouraged to do that. So I think that that's maybe what I would say to my younger self is,
00:58:22
Speaker
follow your curiosity, even if there's nobody who's showing you that that's an option. I love that listening to your inner self, trusting that that's so beautiful.
00:58:34
Speaker
What is one truth that you have learned from flowers that you carry with you something beyond just the beauty of the flowers? It's flowers are resilient plants are resilient. I always say this like,
00:58:48
Speaker
We think that they have just you know failed or they've died and then inevitably there's not, I mean, I'm not saying this for every single plant, but in general, plants are resilient. And the example that I learned years ago and was we renovated a a bungalow that we bought in Seattle that was hundred year old bungalow and all the plants around the foundation were dug up by the contractor.
00:59:14
Speaker
And lo and behold, the following season, this massive stand of Japanese anemones came up in that same spot where the foundation was. And I was like, wow, these plants, they want to grow.
00:59:27
Speaker
And they just waited for this construction to be over so they could come back and be the most beautiful stand. So mature, you know, like it would have taken me years to grow something like that. And and so that I feel like I always think about those Japanese anatomy and think plants are resilient. They come back. That's the best skill we can teach our children to be resilient and bounce back from disappointment or failure.
00:59:51
Speaker
um Yeah, I'm not quite sure how you teach it, but you have to model it. And ah i guess you have to teach yourself. So sometimes i think that garden the garden does have those lessons.
01:00:06
Speaker
um You know, it's very easy for me to anthropomorphize every flower, you know, say he or she is telling me this, you know, but I do think that there is some truth to that. I couldn't agree more. i love what you just shared because we just finished clearing out I don't even know how many dumpsters anymore of trash off this property that's been buried there for years.
01:00:26
Speaker
And my husband spent a weekend clearing out all of this styrofoam and garbage out of this creek. And i mean, it was buried so high. We had an excavator that was pulling some of it out.
01:00:37
Speaker
And about a month ago when we came back and it's all cleaned up, there was this whole hillside of daffodils that had been planted and they're all old world varieties that I've been sharing on Instagram asking people. I'm like, I don't even know what these varieties are. I've never seen anything like this. And people have helped me to identify the different varieties that are growing there. But I'm like, for probably 20 plus years, they've been buried under trash, but they knew what to do as soon as they were given a little bit of care and the space to bloom.
01:01:06
Speaker
And I mean, if that's not resilience, I don't know what is. I love that story. Yeah. It's almost like that can be your your your logo or your metaphor for what you're trying to do on this whole this whole garden, this whole farm is bring it back to life and give it a life.
01:01:25
Speaker
That's exactly what we're trying to do is that the the land knows what to do. We just need to give it the space and the permission to do so. I love that story. I can't wait to visit. I'm so excited for you to visit. Well, I've got just a couple more questions and we'll wrap this up.
01:01:39
Speaker
Is there anything I haven't asked you today that you want to leave our listeners with? Well, oh, thanks so much for asking that. um I, you know, if you're curious about what we're doing with the Soul Fibers Movement, please just come visit us.
01:01:51
Speaker
um Jennifer will have the links, I'm sure. But we are a community of 700 individual entrepreneurs, ah floral entrepreneurs who are committed to getting the word out and reflecting that word, that value of seasonal, local, and sustainable in their own businesses.
01:02:12
Speaker
And, um, you're welcome to participate and get involved. So I'd love to welcome anybody to check us out and, um, reach out to. Thank you. I will include links to that in the show notes.
01:02:24
Speaker
I also would love for you to share with the listeners today, where can they find your new book, The Flower Farmers? Okay. The Flower Farmers is published by Abrams. It will publish on Tuesday, May 6th.
01:02:38
Speaker
So by the time you hear this, it will already be out. I'll independent booksellers. I'll give Jennifer a link that has Uh, our publisher Abrams has a link that has all the main book selling, uh, portals on one link. So you can, if you have a favorite, you can do that. Ask your independent bookseller, to order it, ask your library to order it.
01:02:58
Speaker
Um, it's, it's, I'm hoping it'll have a long shelf life. You know what they call, ah evergreen, uh, stories, uh, in a book that, uh, will hopefully, you know, have a long life after I do.
01:03:12
Speaker
Thank you. Well, I'm so excited to get my hands on a copy. I've gotten to see your PDF version and it's a beautiful book. So thank you so much for joining us today to share about your mission, the Slow Flowers Movement, and this book that you've poured your heart and soul into. It's been such a delight and I'd love to leave the door open because i feel like we could continue this conversation on another future episode.
01:03:35
Speaker
I would enjoy that, Jennifer. Thank you for being such a generous host. ah It's been a wonderful conversation. I really appreciate it It's been a delight. Thanks, Deborah. I'll chat with you again soon, I hope. Bye-bye.
01:03:47
Speaker
Bye-bye.
01:03:49
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.
01:04:00
Speaker
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. 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.
01:04:19
Speaker
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.