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Ep. 64: From Side Hustle to Full-Time Flower Farmer: Brooke Palmer Reflects One Year Later
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In Episode 64 of The Backyard Bouquet, flower farmer and educator Brooke Palmer of Jenny Creek Flowers returns to the podcast—one year after making the leap from part-time growing to full-time cut flower farming.
After balancing a teaching career and a growing flower farm for several years, Brooke decided in 2024 to hang up her classroom keys and pour her energy into her blooms. Now, she’s reflecting on what it’s really been like to turn her side hustle into a full-time flower farming business.
We talk about everything from launching successful workshops and peony you-picks to navigating unexpected crop failures and mindset struggles. Brooke shares the strategies she’s leaned on, the rhythms she’s found, and how she’s redefining success on her own terms.
If you're dreaming of going full-time with your farm or simply want an honest look at life beyond the leap, this episode is for you.
Key topics:
- The emotional and practical realities of going full-time
- Building a flower business around workshops and U-picks
- Managing time with intention (and being done by noon!)
- The power of mindset coaching and weekly reflection
- Letting go of comparison and choosing sustainability over scale
🌸 Connect with Brooke:
Website: jennycreekflowers.com
Instagram: @jennycreekflowers
Show Notes: https://thefloweringfarmhouse.com/2025/07/24/ep-64-brooke-palmerfrom-side-hustle-to-full-time-flower-farmer/
Sign up for our newsletter: https://bit.ly/thefloweringfarmhousenewsletter
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Transcript
Intro
Introduction to the Backyard Bouquet Podcast
00:00:58
Jennifer Gulizia
Welcome back to the Backyard Bouquet podcast. I know it's the middle of summer, and if you're anything like me, you're knee deep in the garden, harvesting blooms, pulling weeds, and juggling all the things. So whether you're out in the field, driving to the market today, or just taking a well-deserved breather, I'm so grateful that you're tuning in today.
Brooke Palmer's Transition from Teaching to Flower Farming
00:01:20
Jennifer Gulizia
This week, I'm excited to welcome back a guest who many of you loved hearing from, Brooke Palmer of Jenny Creek Flowers. In episode 17, Brooke shared her heartfelt journey of leaving her teaching job to pursue full-time flower farming.
00:01:38
Jennifer Gulizia
At the time, she was just stepping into that leap. And now, one year later, she's back to tell us what the transition has really looked like. We'll talk about her first full season farming full-time, what surprised her,
00:01:53
Jennifer Gulizia
what she's proud of and how her life and business have grown in the past year. But before we dive in, I just wanted to say, if you've been enjoying this podcast, it would mean the world if you would take a moment and leave a quick review or share your favorite episode with a flower loving friend.
00:02:10
Jennifer Gulizia
That's how we keep this blooming community growing and your support truly helps us bring more listeners to the show. All right, let's get into this conversation with Brooke.
Embracing Full-Time Flower Farming
00:02:20
Jennifer Gulizia
Brooke, thanks so much for joining us today.
00:02:23
Brooke
Thank you for having me back. I'm happy to be here talking again.
00:02:26
Jennifer Gulizia
Yeah, I just thought that it would be so fitting that we talked a year ago and we should come back because everyone was so excited to hear about you taking this leap from being a full-time teacher to a full-time flower farmer. So how has the transition been?
00:02:43
Brooke
It's been wonderful. It's been just such a fantastic year. it's really i feel like there's so much excitement in my business right now. And I just feel really filled with gratitude that I've been able to take this major transition.
00:02:59
Jennifer Gulizia
I'm so excited for you. You just look so happy for those that can listen to this episode and watch. If you're watching on YouTube, you can just see Brooke, you have so much joy and delight in your face. So I'm curious, I'm sure it hasn't all been easy since taking, making this transition.
00:03:16
Brooke
no
00:03:19
Jennifer Gulizia
What were those early days like when you first stepped into leaving the classroom and being full-time on the farm?
00:03:26
Brooke
So the early days were kind of a mixed bag. You know, i think that there's that expression, like wherever you go, there you are. Like I still was waking up and having an entire farm to run and it was summer season and it was really busy.
00:03:41
Brooke
So on one hand, I was like, okay, like, let's do all the things that need to happen. But then on the other hand, there was this giddiness that, you know, there were all of these hours in the day and I could kind of look down the calendar and not have that hard stop when I was going back into the classroom. And so I would say in the summer, I kind of vacillated between like, let's do this.
00:04:05
Brooke
And i can't even believe that I get to do this.
Identity Shift: Teacher to Farmer
00:04:09
Brooke
But realistically, once the fall hit, I definitely went through a bit of a grieving process. you know Everyone went back to school and i you know I had to kind of work through a bit of that, like having had an identity that was wrapped up in a career for decades. I mean, I started teacher ed college 30 years ago. So you know decades of this identity and the process of kind of letting that go
00:04:37
Brooke
you know, was kind of one hand and then the other hand was a lot of excitement about being able to actually start to do the things in my business that I've been so eager to do.
00:04:48
Jennifer Gulizia
30 years in a career is a long time.
00:04:51
Brooke
It's a long time.
00:04:52
Jennifer Gulizia
That's incredible.
00:04:53
Brooke
Yeah. yeah
00:04:55
Jennifer Gulizia
So, I mean, in some ways, hanging up a hat, it's not like you dabbled in it and you jumped into something else. You poured so much of your life into that teaching career, which I'm sure so much of that also prepared you.
00:05:10
Jennifer Gulizia
For being a flower farmer, because I see you're doing a lot of workshops and teaching events on the farm.
00:05:15
Brooke
Yeah, absolutely. So that was always the plan when I, like years back when I started my business plan, I sort of did my, you know, my five-year plan. And my hope was I phase out teaching in the public classroom and then I phase in
Combining Teaching with Flower Farming
00:05:31
Brooke
workshops on my farm. So that's been so exciting this year that, you know, it's this thing that's been out there. i knew all along I was heading for it, but then to actually really have the time and the ability to get it off the ground. And it's been just such a wonderful year adding in workshops to my flower farm.
00:05:52
Jennifer Gulizia
Well, I love that you're taking a little bit of a piece of your past and integrating it into the flowers.
00:05:57
Brooke
Yes.
00:05:59
Jennifer Gulizia
And I'm sure it makes you such an excellent teacher for your guests and customers that come to the farm.
00:06:05
Brooke
Thank you. I mean, I i hope so. i I feel like I couldn't really imagine my farm without teaching simply because I know that I'm wired to I'm like wired to share and I'm wired to like, want to show people the way or bring them along. so I think also knowing how, like, you know, as flower farmers, we know what it's like to have these buckets of flowers and pull them into the cooler and you're making all this stuff. and the process of being able to kind of pull back the curtain on that a bit for people and have them come and really see the abundance.
00:06:39
Brooke
and the beauty and get to immerse themselves in it. It's just, it absolutely is what fills my cup in my business for sure.
00:06:49
Jennifer Gulizia
I love that. Would you say that that's one of the most memorable things of this first year? Or if you had to look back on this last year, what were those big wins?
00:06:59
Brooke
Yeah, I would say launching my workshop schedule is a huge win. All my workshops, went really well. I did summer ones, I did late autumn wreath workshops, I added in a spring bulb garden workshop, and everything sold out and went really well. So that was that's definitely been a high point.
00:07:20
Brooke
I would say sort of like the pinnacle joyful piece was that my peony field became fully mature this year, and I opened up a peony you pick.
00:07:29
Jennifer Gulizia
Awesome.
00:07:32
Brooke
and there's nothing, I've never experienced anything like the, you know, approximately like seven to 10 days that people were here, being able to open the gate and open up the field to people with just this ridiculous amount of beauty.
00:07:32
Jennifer Gulizia
Oh.
00:07:50
Brooke
It was, it was incredible. It was hard to sleep during peony season. I was so excited. and everybody who came to pick was like matched my excitement. They were as excited and it was just this really lovely experience.
00:08:06
Jennifer Gulizia
You said so many amazing things right there that I want to try and touch on. First, for anyone that's tuning in that didn't listen to episode 17 when you first joined us a year ago, you have been farming prior to this last year, but this is your first time without a second job
Marketing and Community Engagement Strategies
00:08:26
Brooke
Mm-hmm.
00:08:27
Jennifer Gulizia
supporting the farm.
00:08:27
Jennifer Gulizia
So you have already been establishing infrastructure. So you planted your peonies three years ago. How many did you plant?
00:08:39
Jennifer Gulizia
Oh, wow. all three years ago.
00:08:42
Brooke
All three years ago, i just, I put in a big plot and have, you know, barely cared for them. And they were incredible this year.
00:08:51
Jennifer Gulizia
And remind me, you don't have a very big town, correct?
00:08:55
Brooke
I don't have a big town. My village town is a couple thousand people. And the next bigger town is Ithaca, which know, that population doubles there when Cornell University is in session, but it's still like, you know, it's under 100,000 people.
00:09:13
Jennifer Gulizia
So I'm curious, you are still a relatively new farmer. You had a brand new peony patch. How did you get people to this peony you pick?
00:09:24
Brooke
Well, you know, one of the things I studied all these years that I've been growing flowers commercially is I've really been working on my marketing skills. So, you know, having the peonies in the ground was like one thing, but figuring out like, how am I going to kind of leverage some enthusiasm and get the word out?
00:09:43
Brooke
That's something that I was working on behind the scenes. So I really leaned on my email list. That's always my first go-to place that that's like for me,
00:09:54
Brooke
You know, like I don't care ah ever about like going viral on social media. Like I look at my email list and I'm constantly every, you know, every couple days looking at it and just sort of watching it climb. And that's my, one of my most exciting metrics.
00:10:10
Brooke
And so I built some enthusiasm through my email list. then I took some photos and videos and put them out a little bit through social media and open,
00:10:19
Brooke
Tickets built a waitlist for the tickets and then open the tickets through that waitlist. And they just sold really, really fast because there's nothing there's nothing like a P&E andy you pick anywhere around here.
00:10:32
Brooke
So it's a unique offering. People go crazy for P&Es. And I had kind of my marketing plan in place for it.
00:10:41
Jennifer Gulizia
I love that. You didn't just plant them, but you had such a solid strategy because like you said, you had seven to nine days that they were in bloom. And if you didn't have a plan, you could have had thousands of peonies with nowhere to go.
00:10:53
Brooke
Yes. Yeah, exactly. And so what we, we definitely cut. So the kind of the way I worked it is, for about a week or so we were cutting stems. I knew how many stems I needed for CSA and for my other retail outlet.
00:11:07
Brooke
And then I put some aside for florists as well. and then I sort of used that to get a kind of a combination of whatever was in the field so that I left some of everything in the field as well just to, you know, create that diverse, beautiful display.
00:11:25
Brooke
But I knew back when I planted 425 peonies that I would not likely ever be able to sell that many stems and I was okay with that.
00:11:34
Jennifer Gulizia
Well, I'm sure it was such a beautiful site and that's such a great way to get the community to your farm.
00:11:40
Brooke
Yeah, it was lovely. And, you know, I kind of think of like every time I try something new, I think of it as like I'm doing this with my training wheels. So I had, you know, just a handful of you pick sessions. But now I really understand what, you know, the potential yield is of the field. And so then next year, I'll just be able to plan more and kind of lean into that you pick a little bit better.
00:12:04
Jennifer Gulizia
That's great. Will you be doing more you picks this year?
00:12:07
Brooke
will. I'm going to. I'm going to open my dahlia you pick. So one thing about my flower farm is like it is it's close to the public. You know, we live here. i never really want to have a setting where people just roll up and come and hang out. I'll never be like just a you pick farm, but I love this idea of kind of the specialty you pick where there's this like peak full bloom period where people come in. Right. So that's in June with the peonies.
00:12:34
Brooke
And then that is going to also be in September with the dahlias. So my all my flower workshops in August and September are really centered around dahlias. But also in September, I'm going to open up a handful of sessions where people can just come and wander through the rows. And, you know, we learn about like,
00:12:54
Brooke
cleaning your snips between varieties and where's the right harvest length and why would you want to harvest it at this stage versus that stage so there's like this little bit of education that goes on with it, but unlike a workshop it's.
00:13:09
Brooke
Then more hands off and people can just come and kind of take it all in.
00:13:13
Jennifer Gulizia
I bet your town and locals absolutely love that.
00:13:19
Brooke
I hope they do. I mean, the, this, the Dahlia you pick will be new this year. You know, I did have people here for workshops in the Dahlias. I'm anticipating the same kind of excitement. I, my wait list is growing. So that's something that I keep looking at too.
00:13:34
Brooke
That's just like helping me gauge, like, is there interest? And it definitely seems like there is. But I still have the experience where I'll meet somebody and they'll, they'll say like, I have no idea your flower farm even existed. so You know, it feels like there's still untapped potential in my community, even though it's definitely rural.
00:13:56
Jennifer Gulizia
That's great. it Sounds like there's still lots of room to grow. And did you do your tulips again this year?
00:14:01
Brooke
Yeah, I did my winter tulips. So, that was another, that was kind of, I had a big plan since I knew I wasn't going to be teaching to really increase those. um I meant to actually look it up, but I want to say that last year,
00:14:16
Brooke
My winter tulip CSA was 30 people. And then this year I increased it to 100 people.
00:14:22
Jennifer Gulizia
Wow.
00:14:24
Brooke
and then I also increased just like in general, the number of winter tulips I would have for my other retail outlet, and then just to have a little more flexibility with them.
00:14:34
Brooke
and so that was just really exciting in the fall to be able to do kind of my sales launch for that. It's a 10 week winter tulip CSA. and they sold out in about five days, maybe. So it was just like really exciting to, that was, that was definitely a pinch me moment where I was like, I've been working towards this, you know, learning how to, to force these tulips, learning how to do marketing, building my customer base. And now I'm not in school and I'm, you know, doing my email launch and it went really well. Um, it was very exciting.
00:15:09
Jennifer Gulizia
That's awesome. Congratulations.
00:15:11
Brooke
Thank you.
00:15:12
Jennifer Gulizia
So we're middle of summer right now. a lot of people are starting to think about tulips for next year. Will you be doing your tulips next winter as well?
00:15:20
Brooke
Yes, absolutely. Yep. And I think I'm kind of holding steady around my number. I feel like I'm kind of at a good number for my space. I think that demand wise, I could probably grow more and sell more.
00:15:32
Brooke
But one of the big things that I'm trying to keep in mind now that I'm just full time in this business is, and it's one of the concepts when I did the Florette workshop years ago, they have a lesson on what they call load leveling.
00:15:47
Brooke
And so it's like this idea that you've got all the months of the year and how do you create a balance so that you don't have so many things coming in at one time, or you've got like these three outlets that are competing and you feel crazy in April, but like dead in December.
00:16:04
Brooke
And so I'm really trying to look at all of my decisions from this kind of load leveling perspective where I don't want to be overwhelmed at any point
Balancing Workload and Time Management
00:16:15
Brooke
in the year. I'm looking, you know, I'm a really diverse farm. I'm trying to have diverse outlets, diverse crops.
00:16:22
Brooke
And so I could do more tulips in the winter, but I, I, when I think about the pace of my days, I think I'm kind of at a sweet spot and I'm trying to pay attention to that rather than just grow, grow, grow, because I think that it's really easy to do that.
00:16:39
Jennifer Gulizia
I love so much of what you just said, because we're in a society that's always like more and more and more.
00:16:44
Brooke
Mm-hmm.
00:16:45
Jennifer Gulizia
And you are so aware and clear about what you want for your life and your business that you are able to recognize that you're at this great spot.
00:16:58
Jennifer Gulizia
That's not asking too much of you, but yet you feel comfortable with what you're doing, that it doesn't impact your life because I I've been there where, I planted 10,000 tulips a few years ago and they were blooming right when I needed to get my dahlias in the ground.
00:17:14
Brooke
sir
00:17:15
Jennifer Gulizia
And then my dahlias were late getting in the ground because the tulips took priority. And then I did nothing well. And so I've cut back on my tulips because I didn't want to be in that position.
00:17:22
Brooke
and Absolutely. Yeah.
00:17:26
Jennifer Gulizia
I think it's so easy, especially if you're on social media, trying to promote your business every day. You see someone else and you're like, well, I should be doing that. But it sounds like you're so it sounds like you're super clear on your business and what you want.
00:17:34
Brooke
It's so easy.
00:17:39
Brooke
and I do feel really clear. And I think, you know, one of the things is that we have, so we, our property is on both sides of a debt. We live on a dead end road, which is really sweet.
00:17:51
Brooke
There's a 10 acre field across from my current flower field. And if I wanted to, i mean, I could be a 12 or 13 acre flower farm. I mean, like the neighbors using that land,
00:18:03
Brooke
but I don't want that. I, what I really want is I want to stay small. I want to have a nice rhythm. I want to have, you know, an employee or two. i don't want to have a huge team of people that I'm like keeping busy. And so I'm constantly just looking for like, what is that sweet spot where there's revenue? I'm offering something that my community loves, but at that, like, I can also set it down at a good time of the day and come back to it tomorrow. And You know, I know from like the years that I did side hustle farming, I worked seven days a week, 15 hours a day.
00:18:38
Brooke
and so coming into this full time at the top of my agenda has been like, how do I never get back to that lifestyle? Because that's, while necessary, it's really unhealthy to work that much. I had to do it, you know, and I knew in my heart that like it would be short term, but I never want to work that much again.
00:19:00
Jennifer Gulizia
It's not sustainable.
00:19:01
Brooke
but
00:19:01
Jennifer Gulizia
You get burnt out and tired, but I mean, you just look, you look so happy and alive right now.
00:19:04
Brooke
yeah
00:19:08
Jennifer Gulizia
As we're talking about this last year and reflecting, it seems like you are someone who's really good at that reflection. So I'd love to know, is there anything this last season has really taught you about yourself and what's important.
00:19:24
Brooke
Well, I think that the, that That piece of comparison has been a really good lesson for me. Like I find myself, if I'm following another flower farm on social media and I find myself getting agitated, it has nothing to do with them. Like they're doing something amazing, beautiful.
00:19:43
Brooke
I'm just like unfollowing things. Like I'm trying to really pay attention to anywhere where I feel like there's this comparison. It's in my own mind. I'm the one who's creating it.
00:19:54
Brooke
but where I somehow feel like it gets me in this scarcity mode. I'm just like, how do i get away from that? So, you know, just trying to be comfortable, like this is my business and this is the way that I'm, you know, growing it. And it doesn't matter what the farm down the road or across the country is doing and just kind of trying to have my horse blinders on.
00:20:15
Brooke
That's been a really big, that's been a big thing that I've had to lean into, especially with just with more hmm. you know i think how i manage my time even though i know i have good time management skills i had to really make sure i was doing that like i'm like using those skills so i'm not getting sucked into things that aret you know moving the dial forward
00:20:41
Jennifer Gulizia
You just talked about time management. I'm curious, when you were side hustling with the flower farm and you also had a school job, you probably had to be so laser focused on everything.
00:20:53
Brooke
Oh my gosh.
00:20:53
Jennifer Gulizia
Do you feel like it's harder with time management now that you don't have that second job that you, in essence, you don't have another job that's taking away part of your time? So you could work whenever you wanted to, theoretically.
00:21:08
Brooke
Yeah, I could. And I also could like goof off. And sometimes that's beautiful, a beautiful thing to do. But yeah, I think that the discipline was kind of eye opening because I, like you said, I did have i had to manage my time in a way. i mean, I think I shared before that I had this schedule, like from five 30 till seven in the morning, i had these like 15 minute increments and I just woke up and I just did it. I like looked at the schedule and I didn't overthink it.
00:21:37
Brooke
you know, spring tulip season, i would like drive home during lunch, eating a sandwich to harvest flowers to throw in my cooler to drive back and teach a lesson. Like it was crazy. And so, yeah, I actually found myself a little bit anxious about the time in the fall where it was like, okay, had to trust, like, I have the skills, I have the vision, and I'm just going to put it all together. And so, and what actually what I've come up with that i just love, and this feels like, it feels wonderful. And this is part of my drive to try to right size my farm all the time it's like,
00:22:14
Brooke
I don't really want to be in my field after 11 or 12, like any, any day of the week. I love that. Like morning field work, you get things harvested, planted, weeded, fertilized, whatever.
00:22:27
Brooke
and then the afternoons are either putting flowers together, know, for CSA or whatever, florist orders, or it's, it's all of my office admin backend work.
00:22:39
Brooke
It's been really fun to kind of play around with my schedule and try to find something that has a nice rhythm in the week for me.
00:22:47
Jennifer Gulizia
I love that. That's such a great point of trying to be done because you could always find more to do on the farm.
00:22:54
Brooke
Always. Mm-hmm.
00:22:57
Jennifer Gulizia
year, because I'm having to travel off site, I have to be really mindful of that and be so much more scheduled of my time. And I'm realizing how I wasn't as good with my time before because I could come inside, take a break, go back out.
00:23:11
Jennifer Gulizia
But now that I have my daughter at the farm hanging out with me and a new puppy, I can only be there for so long, so I have to be so laser focused that I love that you're able to still do that and prioritize. I mean, what a great goal to be done by 11 or 12 every day before it's super hot.
00:23:11
Brooke
Yeah.
00:23:27
Brooke
her
00:23:27
Jennifer Gulizia
And then you can be inside getting those flowers or office work done. think that's so smart.
00:23:33
Brooke
yeah
00:23:34
Jennifer Gulizia
What tips do you have for someone that's listening that's maybe going, gosh, I could use some of those time management skills.
00:23:40
Brooke
Oh, well, I would say, you know, I've learned a lot from my farm coach, Charlotte Smith. And I would say that, you know, it's getting down on paper, everything that needs to happen and building a schedule. Like that's kind of what has been my best tip for time management.
00:23:57
Brooke
And then stepping back and looking at it and saying, like, is that even humanly possible? And, you know, if not, what what do you cut out? And if so, can't. you go with it. Like you make a schedule and you go with it. know, and one of the things that, that I've really learned through having her as my coach is this idea of like our, our minds are wired for negativity. So I'm never going to really want to get up early and go like, I don't know, we just, whatever row got out of control, but like, I don't that just because I don't want to do it doesn't mean that that's true or I shouldn't do it. And so it's,
00:24:33
Brooke
It's just like making a schedule and then letting your mind kind of put your thoughts aside and just follow it, just do it. Like if it's a schedule, you've decided work, you just do it. And once you get into that rhythm, I think you feel the efficiency. You start to feel on top of things rather than like the farm is, you know, ah tidal wave. Cause I think everybody knows at certain times the farm feels like a tidal wave and that's not the best feeling.
00:25:01
Brooke
So yeah, and then I'm constantly looking at my calendar both to do the things that I said I was going to do, but I'm also like, is this flow working for me? Do I need to move something around?
00:25:13
Brooke
So I feel like time is like the most important, like how I use my time in a week. It's the most important thing that I can do to have a successful farm is is look at that, reflect on it, fine tune it.
00:25:30
Jennifer Gulizia
I love that. You mentioned that Charlotte Smith is your coach. She's actually going to be a guest on the podcast in a couple weeks.
00:25:37
Brooke
Oh, that's great.
00:25:38
Jennifer Gulizia
So yeah, um I've been enjoying her podcast that she leads and she's, she's not that far from me. When I talked to her the other day, she was like, I was just in hood river. So I love that you got a coach.
00:25:52
Jennifer Gulizia
I'm someone that I I've had a coach for the last several years as well. Do you think that having someone like Charlotte, and not in your back pocket, but there beside you helped you achieve your goals of going full-time as a farmer faster?
00:26:09
Brooke
A hundred percent. Like it's so exponentially because You know, I like I was a gardener to a flower farmer, so I could grow the flowers, but I had never sold anything to anybody.
00:26:20
Brooke
And, you know, I think like a lot of people, that feeling of selling can kind of have that like ick feeling if you don't have the right thoughts about it.
00:26:27
Jennifer Gulizia
Mm-hmm.
00:26:29
Brooke
And also if you don't have the right skills so that you can like actually enjoy that part when like kind of see it as like the service that you're offering people. So, yeah, absolutely. i think that I started growing.
00:26:41
Brooke
coaching with Charlotte at some point, like in my first year. So it's been years. And you know, her program is wonderful, because it's like, there are so many different aspects to it. And you can lean into whatever you want. But I've gone through some of her her modules, like time management.
00:26:59
Brooke
That was one of the first things I did when I had that full day is even though I had kind of been trained on her method, i went back in and was like, how do I do this now that I don't have a second job. And so you know, I keep sort of refining.
00:27:15
Brooke
But absolutely, you know, she's a mindset and a marketing coach. So those two things was like, are you are like, are your thoughts helpful? Like, how am I thinking helpful thoughts and challenging the thoughts that are coming up? And can I market the beautiful flowers that I'm selling?
00:27:33
Brooke
can't imagine that I would have left my teaching job if I didn't have her as my coach.
00:27:39
Jennifer Gulizia
Oh, that's great. I love that you said that because Dave Dowling recently was on the podcast and
00:27:46
Jennifer Gulizia
Dave said something to the effect that if you're just growing flowers and not selling them, you're a gardener. But if you are selling your flowers, you're a flower farmer because so many people grow flowers, but it's it's almost an art of learning how to sell them.
00:28:00
Jennifer Gulizia
Or just because you have a huge social media following doesn't necessarily mean you're reaching your local audience that needs to buy those flowers that you're growing.
00:28:08
Brooke
your
00:28:09
Jennifer Gulizia
So I think that's so smart that you invested in that and it's clearly paying
00:28:11
Brooke
and
00:28:13
Jennifer Gulizia
off, which is awesome.
00:28:15
Brooke
I think, I think it has. I think it, I think it really has paid off. And And um i you know, and I don't sell on social. Like, I don't think that, I don't think I, I mean, I do a little bit probably, but like, I couldn't imagine if I was like, Hey, I've got flowers and I wanted to put them out to my followers. it just the, with the algorithm, with everything, I just don't think I would be able to really move them that way.
00:28:41
Jennifer Gulizia
Yeah, the algorithm might show your
00:28:41
Brooke
So I would say like,
00:28:43
Jennifer Gulizia
Sorry.
00:28:44
Brooke
Investing in like your your marketing skills and getting your email list going and all of that is just so important for anybody who's like getting started is, you know, ready to make the side hustle full time is like those those would be fundamentals.
00:28:59
Jennifer Gulizia
Absolutely. I know I shared a picture a while ago on social media. It was like a wedding bouquet and someone reached out and they said, oh, we'd love you to do some flowers for us. But they were in Alabama. And that's the problem with social media is that you're not reaching your local audience if you're trying to sell your flowers.
00:29:11
Brooke
Mm hmm.
00:29:17
Jennifer Gulizia
Sticking with the coaching and this last year of growth, I'd love to know what is one thing that you learned about yourself that surprised you in this last year?
Learning from Setbacks and Resilience
00:29:28
Brooke
well, one thing that I learned that was hard that I'm great glad I experienced was I actually had a little bit of field tulip crop failure.
00:29:41
Brooke
it was really hard to understand like, like these they weren't eaten by voles they didn't have disease they came up I had all of the foliage and they were just they were either blind or was no bud I mean it was it was kind of crazy it was a little bit maddening and so I had to kind go through an experience of not having as many flowers as I anticipated having having to communicate that to customers, and essentially having to remind myself that to be successful doesn't mean I have to get everything right. So that was kind of like the big lesson was like,
00:30:24
Brooke
Crop failure is going to happen to anybody. you' There's going to be weather patterns or whatever. It's going to happen. And i had been so lucky in my first few years. I didn't have anything like that. And so it was humbling.
00:30:40
Brooke
it was really incredible to be able to like communicate with customers and have them come back and express a lot of support. And like nobody was upset. And it was amazing. it was really wonderful. But I really had to say like, well, how am I defining success if I'm just defining success through like everything being good, that's not realistic because that's not actually what the human experience is. So I've just had to give myself a lot of grace and start to look at what my definition of success really includes.
00:31:15
Jennifer Gulizia
I'm so sorry about your tulip loss, but it sounds like that's a huge lesson to learn now.
00:31:20
Brooke
It was huge.
00:31:22
Jennifer Gulizia
I mean, to be able to communicate difficult conversations with your customers now will make it seem so much easier in the future if something else happens.
00:31:30
Brooke
Yeah, it's like I did that. Okay, that happened. In some ways, I'm like, phew, like it kind of should just be like checking a box, like notch on the belt, like, okay, did that, you know, and it's like, the like, pressure of feeling like something
00:31:37
Jennifer Gulizia
Yes.
00:31:45
Brooke
hopefully nothing goes wrong. That's just off because now I'm like, okay, yeah, something else is totally going to go wrong. So yeah, there's a lot of lot of life learning in that couple of weeks.
00:31:51
Jennifer Gulizia
Yes.
00:31:57
Jennifer Gulizia
I can only imagine. i'm very curious though. What do you mean by a blind tulip?
00:32:02
Brooke
Well, they never had a bud. They they they were beautiful, leafy tulips. Like, you know, come April, beginning of May, they just look perfect. Even when they I dug them up, the bulbs were healthy, and they were rooted. I mean, they just looked perfect. And it was like, they just never created a flower. And so I had so many like that. I mean, had like hundreds and hundreds like that.
00:32:32
Brooke
And I grow a lot of tulips. And I've never seen that happen before. You know, I think that that can be about water. But like, I'm crazy about how much I water my field tulips. Like I, I felt like I was checking all the boxes. I was checking in with some of my tulip mentors and like, I don't really know what ultimately happened. definitely not disease, not a lack of water, not a lack of, you know, not rooting properly. I mean, just all of the big things felt like they were there
00:33:02
Jennifer Gulizia
So you never found out what happened.
00:33:04
Brooke
I never found out and I did have plans. I took a lot of videos. actually like one of my, one of my tulip mentors, we had said we would talk and I took a lot of videos of them. you know, videos me harvesting.
00:33:17
Brooke
I cut bulbs in half. I took pictures and videos. So I have like all of this material and kind of at some point this summer, my goal was to connect with her and share those and then be able to kind of do a deeper dive into like, what even happened?
00:33:33
Jennifer Gulizia
Tulips can either be such a great crop or you could be surprised with problems. i think this was 2022, lost hundreds of them and they were growing beautifully. And then they all collapsed one day. And I actually had my Department of Agriculture come out.
00:33:50
Jennifer Gulizia
And when we dug them up, we cut the bulbs in half. And we did this on the phone, FaceTiming with the supplier. And there was some kind of maggot that had gotten inside the bulbs.
00:34:00
Brooke
Oh my gosh.
00:34:00
Jennifer Gulizia
And it was identified as a European bug. And the bug had literally eaten them from the inside out. um And it affected, I i want to say, it was like 800 or 1,000. It was a lot of tulips.
00:34:16
Jennifer Gulizia
For the amount that I was growing, it was over a tenth of my tulips that I had that season. And you just never know, like... You never know what nature is going to throw at you. so
00:34:25
Brooke
you don't. And that's what people say about tulips too. They're like, tulips can just like kick your butt. And I kind of didn't understand after years of like growing so many and like going really well. And I'm like, okay, yeah, I fully get that now.
00:34:39
Jennifer Gulizia
i think that's why we always over plant everything as farmers, because you never know.
00:34:43
Brooke
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And that's part why I really like a diverse farm, you know, like it'd be amazing to just grow one or two crops on some levels, that would be amazing.
00:34:54
Brooke
But the diversity is really where there's always that assurance that, you know, there's something else to lean on. So like, as those tulips were coming in and the numbers I needed, my ranunculus was there, you know, and so that was awesome. And I had snapdragons in the tunnel. And so I could really supplement with other flowers.
00:35:14
Jennifer Gulizia
Amazing. I love that you had those other flowers. So you maybe had a little hiccup, but you were able to pivot and that's what you did have.
00:35:20
Brooke
Mm-hmm.
00:35:22
Jennifer Gulizia
So that's great.
00:35:22
Brooke
Yep. Yeah.
00:35:24
Jennifer Gulizia
I was gonna ask you about challenges or curve balls that helped you grow. And it sounds like the tulips were definitely that.
00:35:30
Brooke
Oh, yeah.
00:35:32
Brooke
They sure were.
00:35:34
Jennifer Gulizia
and So were there any other curve balls or challenges that you faced being full-time as a farmer?
00:35:43
Brooke
Well, I think that I, so I left behind ah behind ah really nice salary. And so realistically, the moment that I switched to full time, I did not have a full replacement for that salary, right? Like I've been my revenues been growing.
00:36:03
Brooke
And so would say like, I had, I had more anxiety about that than I anticipated. Like, you know, i think once we kind of got into like,
00:36:14
Brooke
probably the winter or, you know, just at some point in this last year, it was like, everything was fine. But then I started to feel a little bit nervous. Like, what if it doesn't work? What if it doesn't work? And so I, I really had to go in this process around, um, I had said before, like, what does success really mean?
Facing Financial Anxieties in Farming
00:36:33
Brooke
looking at my revenue goals, and then making sure that I was actually not just setting goals, but having some way to come back and look at them so that I was like, capturing like, am I just freaking out for no reason? Or am i you know, is this data driven the reason I'm feeling this way? And so I feel like there's just been a lot of inner work around revenue, you know, you want you want your revenue to always go up.
00:36:58
Brooke
But it's not you know, flower farming is hard and it's expensive. And, you know, so it's like how, how to let yourself grow. And I knew that I was taking a big leap this year. I had to be comfortable with the fact that, you know, the growth isn't like, in my mind, what I wish, like on paper, it isn't what I wish it was in my mind.
00:37:21
Jennifer Gulizia
You're putting down so many roots right now though, that.
00:37:24
Brooke
Yes, I that's what I think.
00:37:26
Jennifer Gulizia
and
00:37:26
Brooke
And I and again, like, I feel really happy. It's just like, yeah, it'd be amazing if I could like, just overnight bring like ah ah my teaching salary into my business. But like, I can't necessarily do that.
00:37:38
Brooke
So but yeah, I'm working on all of that.
00:37:39
Jennifer Gulizia
Yes.
00:37:42
Jennifer Gulizia
Well, you're doing all the right things and you've got the mindset coach. Cause I think so much of it is the mindset too. And I think that as you, we can either tell ourselves the story of like, I'm not doing enough.
00:37:55
Jennifer Gulizia
I'm not getting this right. Or I've got this.
00:37:56
Brooke
Yes. Yes.
00:37:58
Jennifer Gulizia
I'm doing all the right steps. It's going to come. And like, you're doing everything.
00:38:01
Brooke
and And it's like, I think that's exactly it. And i I think that's what I wasn't saying, but was trying to say is like, there's, there's growth, you know, there's like returning customers, there's revenue growth, like, like, et cetera, like all the right things are there.
00:38:18
Brooke
But like, my mind was still looking at it with like a lack, but what if it's not enough, it's not enough. And so it's just like, learning with my mindset practice, like quieting those thoughts.
00:38:28
Brooke
What are the thoughts i actually really want to be thinking about it? And like, how do I get in this kind of growth centered place? One of the things that that led me to do was actually to create this really nice weekly reflection that I do.
00:38:43
Brooke
and that actually kind of helped me calm down to like look back at every week and be able to look not just at sales, but like what's growing well,
00:38:53
Brooke
Maybe what's a snafu or a mistake that like I could learn from. And so I kind of made this process for myself. And I think when I finally started to do it, it was like, I got a handle on the thoughts that were making me feel really anxious started to like be able to step back and see my business a little bit more objectively again.
00:39:15
Jennifer Gulizia
Can you share a little bit about what that reflection looks like each week?
00:39:19
Brooke
Yeah.
00:39:19
Jennifer Gulizia
I love that.
00:39:19
Brooke
So I made a Google form and I put it in a calendar like event. It happens every Friday afternoon and it just gives me that reminder. And when I see it on my calendar, the link is right there. So it's like super easy for me to take.
00:39:34
Brooke
So then because it's the form, it's the same questions. But basically I say things like, what's blooming this week? What's about to bloom? What do I wish was blooming? And that's a big one. So that I'm like Ashley Kropp planning based on like,
00:39:48
Brooke
I really wish I had this thing versus like someone has it on Instagram and it's really pretty. and then I reflect on like, what are some like sales outlets, like kind of unique things. Like if I did a flower bar pop up or if it was like graduation weekend, right? Like what are kind of those outliers?
00:40:07
Brooke
what's an opera sales opportunity that I didn't leverage? Like, you know, I don't know, maybe like prom, you know, like if I care, but like I could know like, oh, it was prom this week. And if i want to, I could coordinate with school.
00:40:20
Brooke
then I'm like, what's a success of the week and what is kind of an opportunity for growth? And then at the very bottom, I ask myself like, how has my mindset practice been so that I can like sort of close out with that? Because there's been a lot of weeks where I've checked like mid realizing it's not bad, but it's not great.
00:40:40
Brooke
And then that just kind of reminds me that that's a tool I have. And if I wish that any of those answers were different, then I know that I can lean on my mindset practice to start to like change that for the next week.
00:40:55
Brooke
So it ultimately feels like I'm capturing things in a growth way. and I usually feel pretty inspired and it's quick. Like it takes me five minutes to do.
00:41:05
Jennifer Gulizia
I love that you're using a Google form because then you already have the questions and you can fill it out and it saves the information like a response.
00:41:11
Brooke
It's exactly. It's there.
00:41:14
Jennifer Gulizia
That is genius.
00:41:15
Brooke
And then it's in a spreadsheet. Yeah. And so I actually was like looking at some of my crop planning and I went back to look and see what do I wish was blooming. And one thing I didn't grow this spring is, Dianthus. And because I grew an obnoxious amount last year. And so like foolishly, I was like, I'm not growing any. And There were so many times that I've been missing that flower. And so now I'm like, that is an obvious one that I want to bring back into my crop plan. Right. So like, there's so many reasons why just having that spreadsheet that it populates is really, really helpful.
00:41:49
Jennifer Gulizia
Well, I'm sure you do planning in the winter. And I bet that when you are looking at laying out your next year's plan, it's like you have everything right there, like this perfect journal or diary that didn't take you a ton of effort each week.
00:42:03
Jennifer Gulizia
I think that's, I'm going to have to copy your idea. That's genius. I love that.
00:42:07
Brooke
It's good. You should. it just like, and it just like, and then just tells me and sometimes like Friday afternoon, I'm just laying on the couch and I just like type in the couple of things and it's great. Yeah.
00:42:18
Jennifer Gulizia
Thank you for sharing that. I'm sure that there's other people that are having that same aha moment of like, if I just write it down now, because it's so easy. Like I'll often have, I think I have like 2000 notes on my phone of like little notes memos that I write myself and I never go back to them though.
00:42:32
Brooke
Oh, me too. Yes, that's, yes, that's it. Like I'll search through the notes. I'm like, I know there's a note about this. Yeah. So I feel like this is functions in a much healthier way than the million notes in my phone.
00:42:47
Jennifer Gulizia
And you're not having to pay for a service either. It's just, it's free and it's right there.
00:42:51
Brooke
I just there. Yeah. Yeah.
00:42:52
Jennifer Gulizia
i mean, even if.
00:42:52
Brooke
And I think at some point I even added in a question. So that's, what's really nice about it too. It's like, you know, I could revise it if I want to.
00:43:01
Jennifer Gulizia
That's genius. And even gardeners, if you're not growing for profit, you could still do this of what's in your garden and what are you missing for your bouquets or what's not blooming.
00:43:10
Brooke
Exactly.
00:43:11
Jennifer Gulizia
So.
00:43:12
Brooke
Yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah.
00:43:14
Jennifer Gulizia
and
00:43:14
Brooke
And one thing I say on there is what, what are the, like, what are the major farm tasks I did this week? So that's helping me like start to look at kind of like time blocking next year.
00:43:19
Jennifer Gulizia
Oh.
00:43:25
Brooke
Like the P&Es took labor in ways that I didn't anticipate. And so now like I can look at that be like, oh, this is what we need to be planning for next June.
00:43:35
Brooke
Yeah.
00:43:36
Jennifer Gulizia
Well, and you talked about hiring employees, you're almost creating your standard operating procedures also in this, because you'll be able to pull from it and be like, okay, this was the week of the year that we do all of this.
00:43:47
Brooke
Yeah. And it's really simple. It's just like a couple words in a form.
00:43:53
Jennifer Gulizia
That's genius. I think that must be the teacher in you, just being so organized.
00:43:58
Brooke
wait It's a hundred percent the teacher in me. Like I can't help myself. Like if there's a Google form or a spreadsheet I can make, I'm making it.
00:44:08
Jennifer Gulizia
That's awesome. Do you ever miss teaching?
00:44:11
Brooke
I do miss teaching. In the fall, I did a bulb fundraiser so they could like raise money for prom or for senior trip and stuff. And I could not...
00:44:23
Brooke
I couldn't leave school without crying on the way home. So like, absolutely.
00:44:26
Jennifer Gulizia
Aww.
00:44:28
Brooke
Like I absolutely missed it. i there the students who are going to be seniors this year, I taught them for two grades. Like I moved my position. So you don't usually get that. So I feel really connected to them. And every time I see them out about, I definitely miss them.
00:44:46
Brooke
I don't miss people being in class. Like, not not having chosen to be in class. Like there's something so different from having a group of women who come, like I have a Dahlia growing workshop series this year where there's four classes. It's this cohort. They're coming to all four classes.
00:45:06
Brooke
They want to be here. They're really excited to be here. They're passionate about it. I can connect really well with teenagers, but at the end of the day, they don't really want to be in my classroom. And so i don't miss that side of it where,
00:45:22
Brooke
they're sort of held to be there versus electing to be there?
00:45:26
Jennifer Gulizia
Sure, that's a good way to put it. It seems like your background as an educator has really shaped how you run your business and also engage with your customers. Would you say that's true?
00:45:38
Brooke
Yeah, I think so. And I think, well, I'm, you know, I'm doing this garden education class right now. And so as I'm making this course for them, I'm making these handouts and like, I have my sort of lesson plan that helps me kind of think about what's like the bigger concept and then the granular and what are all the materials I need and what are the takeaways and the follow-ups. And so it's like been really fun to take that side of teaching and look at like, how do i use that to essentially help women have more success and joy in their gardens?
00:46:19
Brooke
Like it's such an exciting way to use the skill set that I, you know, developed over all of those years.
00:46:19
Jennifer Gulizia
Thank you.
00:46:27
Brooke
Yeah, I really love it. I love the garden education. I didn't expect, like I love doing the flower workshops as well, but I didn't expect to love teaching how to grow flowers as much as I do. And would say that's an area that I really want to start to lean into. Like, how can I take my teaching and lean into that in my business?
00:46:48
Jennifer Gulizia
That's really exciting. I love that.
00:46:51
Jennifer Gulizia
Has there been anything that you've had to let go of that no longer fits your business model as a flower farmer?
Aligning Business with Lifestyle Goals
00:46:58
Brooke
Yeah, I have really... stepped away from the farmer's market. I think I knew initially that that was an outlet where I just, I needed to get like word of mouth, build, you know, customer base that way.
00:47:13
Brooke
i really loved getting to know the agricultural community and kind of the artisans that way. But when I look at my lifestyle and trying to build a business that suits my lifestyle, I don't want to be at market all day on Saturday.
00:47:28
Brooke
got i've got four summers until my kid goes to college. Right. So the weekends are precious. And, so I actually, it was like in my farmer's market, um, market,
00:47:40
Brooke
which by the way, just the Ithaca farmers market got voted like best farmers market in the country. There was like this big contest and it just got this like lovely award.
00:47:49
Jennifer Gulizia
No way.
00:47:50
Brooke
It's a fantastic market. But I just, I asked to be demoted from a full member to just a drop in person. So I will probably pop in a couple times a year, especially in the winter when I have tulips.
00:48:05
Brooke
but I let it go because it doesn't really fit the business that I'm trying to grow moving forward.
00:48:12
Jennifer Gulizia
I love that you're able to see the bigger picture and be able to give up something like that because sometimes I think we hold on to pieces because we're scared to let go.
00:48:21
Brooke
Yeah.
00:48:21
Jennifer Gulizia
But by letting go of that, you're freeing up your time do other things like you're teaching that you want to do more education of.
00:48:30
Brooke
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. i mean, that's it. It's like you, you close a door and you open a door. And I think that, you know, the most empowering thing about having a business is that I, at the end of the day, I'm deciding which handles I'm turning. Right. And so, is scary, but you know, I feel like with this, it's like, I did a trust fall. Yeah.
00:48:52
Jennifer Gulizia
Yes, a big one.
00:48:52
Brooke
I like did a trust fall and the flowers have caught me thus far. And, you know, so I think you get more courageous every time you listen to your heart and make a business decision.
00:49:04
Brooke
That's right. Then it just makes it easier to keep doing that, you know, and I know the market wasn't for me. And also there's a few flower farms that like really want the market. And I, so that's where it's like, awesome. Great. Like why would I want to be peddling flowers there half-heartedly if somebody else is there and,
00:49:22
Brooke
they really want that revenue. So.
00:49:25
Jennifer Gulizia
that's That's a great mindset. I love how you're looking at that. Also, from the others in your area of how it impacts them as well. I'd love to know what's on the horizon for Jenny Creek flowers. Are there any new dreams or projects or changes coming for this following year?
00:49:43
Brooke
Well, not Not a ton. You know, this year the workshops was the big one. And I have now built out a year round workshop schedule where I have some offering ah ah during every season.
00:49:58
Brooke
then, like I said before, I think my big goal right now is really just that right sizing. So it's like, how many wreaths work? I'm like, the wreath workshops will be a repeat this year, but now it's like, well, how many do I want? You know, because December is my quiet month before the January tulips come in. So it's like, I'm kind of looking at this next year thinking it's about refinement. It's about ah ah efficiency. It's about simplifying, you know, making sure that I'm growing what I need, not what I like want to grow. And so kind of just settling in and simplifying feels like the the next year.
00:50:40
Jennifer Gulizia
I love that. It kind of reminds me of the analogy when people talk about how plants, they first, they sleep, then they creep, and then they leap.
00:50:48
Brooke
Uh-huh.
00:50:49
Jennifer Gulizia
And you're kind of in that creeping phase of just making sure those roots are really taking place. And I know in a couple of years, you're going to be really leaping.
00:50:55
Brooke
Mm-hmm.
00:50:57
Jennifer Gulizia
And maybe that right size as you grow, your employees will be those 12 acres, or maybe you'll find this sweet spot with where you're at right now.
00:51:05
Brooke
Yeah. Yeah.
00:51:06
Jennifer Gulizia
I love that you have this
00:51:06
Brooke
I hope, I hope it's the latter. i I hope it stays in my, my, my farm size where it is. I still have, I have a very large deer fence. That's like a couple acres, fenced in, but I actually have two grassy plots within it.
00:51:21
Brooke
So I have room to grow in my, you know, footprint, But my mind keeps changing about the ideas. And so I sort of decided I was driving myself a little crazy. And i was like, I'm just gonna set it all down.
00:51:36
Brooke
i don't need a woody plot right now. I don't need whatever else. And I'm gonna just like, work on simplifying and like, you know, my dog loves to catch the ball in those fields right now. And they make it feel really wide open and beautiful during workshops so i'm trying to resist the urge to just stuff more things in there, because I have the space for it.
00:51:58
Jennifer Gulizia
I think that's a good reminder too, is just because you have the space doesn't mean you have to fill it. that's
00:52:05
Brooke
yeah I certainly can't get out of the field by noon, if am growing more things in my field that much I know.
00:52:06
Jennifer Gulizia
That's really powerful too.
00:52:14
Jennifer Gulizia
Yes. Well, I love that you are just so super clear on what you want and what's important to you, because if you weren't, you'd probably be going, oh, well, i could stuff. that field with a few more plants or those woodies, but you really have your priorities straight and you're focused on them and you constantly review them, which I think is such a testament to where you're at now and why you're seeing the success you are as a full-time flower farmer now.
00:52:24
Brooke
Thank
00:52:41
Jennifer Gulizia
So I think that's
Taking Risks and Living Fully
00:52:42
Jennifer Gulizia
amazing. I'd love to know my last question for you today is what would you tell someone who's standing where you were last year on the edge of a big decision?
00:52:43
Brooke
thank you
00:52:54
Brooke
what would I tell somebody? I would say that you only get one life. I mean, at the end of the day, like I could decide to go back to teach, but there's only one opportunity where I would was building the momentum with my business where I could like lean into it. You know, I would never know unless I let myself know.
00:53:17
Brooke
So I would say you get one life. Obviously there's a lot of financial, considerations when you're going side hustle to full time. But you know, we're pretty like farming is problem solving. So we all have the ability to solve our problems and make decisions. And I think if you get a strategy, like follow it and go for it.
00:53:42
Jennifer Gulizia
That's beautiful advice. Thank you, Brooke. Okay, that was my last podcast question. But for our listeners that are either tuning in for the first time today, or haven't followed you yet, where can they find you?
Where to Find Brooke Palmer
00:53:55
Brooke
They can check out my website at Jenny Creek flowers.com. That's where you can sign up if you want to be on my email list. mean, I like to be on other flower farming email list because you get a sense of people's like, how do they send their emails and what does their marketing look like?
00:54:11
Brooke
And then you can find me on social at it's at Jenny Creek flowers on Instagram or Facebook. I'm a little more active on Instagram.
00:54:20
Jennifer Gulizia
Are
00:54:22
Jennifer Gulizia
We have talked about so much today and I really appreciate that you took the time to come back on the podcast and share what this last year has been like so openly and honestly. I appreciate the vote like the vulnerability of sharing not just the good, but the bad also with those tulips.
00:54:39
Jennifer Gulizia
I mean, i think on social media, we so often just see the highlight reels, that getting to hear the real stories and the real struggles show us how resilient
00:54:45
Brooke
Mm-hmm.
00:54:51
Jennifer Gulizia
farmers and gardeners truly are. And I think if we didn't experience those hard times, we really wouldn't be able to enjoy the good times and realize how good things are when they do come full circle and you get to experience that abundance.
00:55:08
Jennifer Gulizia
So I'm so excited to see what the future holds for Jenny Creek Flowers. And I know i will be following along and cheering you on from afar. And the door is always opened.
00:55:21
Jennifer Gulizia
Maybe we'll be hearing from you again. But for now, I appreciate that you took the time today to come and join us.
00:55:27
Brooke
Thank you so much for having me back, Jennifer.
00:55:29
Jennifer Gulizia
Absolutely. have a wonderful rest of your summer and we'll talk to you again soon.
00:55:34
Brooke
Thank you, you too.
00:55:35
Jennifer Gulizia
Thanks.