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Ep. 35: Erin Benzakein of Floret: How Seeds Hold The Past, Present, & Future
4.2k Plays3 months ago
Have you ever marveled at how a tiny seed encapsulates not just life but also the past, present, and future? Dive deep into this concept with Erin Benzakein, the founder of Floret, one of the most influential flower farms and seed companies globally, on this episode of The Backyard Bouquet Podcast.
Erin's love for flowers sprouts from cherished childhood memories and blossomed into a profound passion that would redefine her life’s path. Starting with a modest garden while raising her young children, Erin's journey is a testament to how a simple backyard project can evolve into a pioneering enterprise in sustainable agriculture and floral education.
Throughout our conversation, Erin opens up about the parallel growth of her business and her children, sharing how each stage of their lives influenced her strategies and decisions. She discusses the delicate balance of motherhood and entrepreneurship, revealing her personal philosophy on taking things slowly and embracing patience.
Erin also delves into the dynamics of building a supportive team, highlighting how recognizing her own limitations allowed her to focus more on her strengths—cultivating flowers and fueling her creativity.
Join us for a truly enlightening dialogue with Erin Benzakein, filled with enduring lessons on perseverance, leadership, and the joys of flower farming. Tune in to get inspired by Erin's flowering journey and her passionate commitment to the beauty of blooms. Plus, be sure to sign up for her free Seed-Saving-Mini-Course!
Show Notes: https://thefloweringfarmhouse.com/2024/08/27/ep-35-floret/
Learn More About Floret:
- Floret https://www.floretflowers.com
- Email Sign up https://www.floretflowers.com/newsletter/
- Seed Saving Course https://workshop.floretflowers.com/2024-seed-saving-mini-course-opt-in
- Instagram https://www.instagram.com/floretflower/
- YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@floretflowerfarm
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/floretflowers/
- Annual Floret Workshop: https://www.floretflowers.com/workshops/online-workshop/
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Transcript
Introduction to Backyard Bouquet
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome to the Backyard Bouquet podcast, where stories bloom from local flower fields and home gardens. I'm your host, Jennifer Galitzia of the Flowering Farmhouse. I'm a backyard gardener turned flower farmer located in Hood River, Oregon. Join us for heartfelt journeys shared by flower farmers and backyard gardeners. Each episode is like a vibrant garden, cultivating wisdom and joy through flowers. From growing your own backyard garden to supporting your local flower farmer,
00:00:32
Speaker
The backyard bouquet is your fertile ground for heartwarming tales and expert cut flower growing advice. All right flower friends, grab your gardening gloves, garden snips, or your favorite vase because it's time to let your backyard bloom.
Are You Ready for Digital Courses?
00:00:55
Speaker
Hey there, flower friends. Before we dive into today's episode of the Backyard Bouquet, I want to share something exciting with you. Have you ever thought about creating your own digital course? I'm talking about taking something you already know and love whether it's gardening, flower arranging, or any other passion, and turning it into a course you can sell again and again. Sounds pretty amazing, right? Well, I've got just the thing to help you find out if you're ready to dive into the world of digital courses. My mentor, Amy Porterfield, has created a quick two minute quiz that'll tell you exactly that. It's called three types of people are replacing their income with a digital course. Are you one of them?
00:01:41
Speaker
Amy has been helping people just like you and me create successful digital courses for over 15 years. She's identified three categories of people who can easily transform their knowledge into a profitable course. The best part, you don't need to be an expert. I took the quiz myself and was amazed at how spot on it was. It even gives you a few steps to get started if you find out you've got that course creating potential. And let me tell you,
00:02:09
Speaker
turning my love for flowers into something that can help others and bring in extra income has been a game changer. So if you're curious about whether you've got what it takes to create a digital course, head over to the show notes and click on the link to take the quiz. It's quick, it's free, and who knows, it might just be the first step towards something big. Now let's get back to today's episode.
Erin Benzecain: From Flower Farm to Fame
00:02:34
Speaker
Welcome to a truly special episode of the Backyard Bouquet podcast. Today we have the immense honor of welcoming Erin Benzecain, the founder of Florette, and one of the most influential voices in the world of cut flower farming and floral design. Alongside her husband Chris, Erin has spent over 20 years nurturing Florette from humble beginnings to a renowned flower farm and seed company based in the fertile Skagit Valley of Washington state. What started as a modest garden has blossomed into one of the most well-known flower farms in the world, providing inspiration and information to flower lovers aiming to grow the gardens of their dreams. It was the Florette online workshop and Aaron's books that ignited my own journey into flower farming, profoundly enriching my life and fostering a deep passion for flower farming.
00:03:27
Speaker
Today, Erin continues to inspire with her dedication to sustainable practices, innovative education, and relentless pursuit of cultivating beauty through flowers. This is particularly exciting as we coincide today's conversation with the launch of florets free seed saving mini course. The magic of a single seed is something that never ceases to amaze.
00:03:50
Speaker
It holds its own past, present, and future, much like each of us. Today, we'll explore Erin's early inspirations, dive into what's currently blooming at Fluorette, and look ahead to Erin's dreams and plans for the future of her farm and seed company. Erin, welcome. Thank you so much for joining us today. It's truly an honor to have you here today. I'm so happy to be here. Thank you for having me.
00:04:15
Speaker
Oh, thank you. It's so fun because I mean so much of my journey has been inspired by what you have shared so generously with the world and so many of the guests on the podcast refer back to you too and how you have really spurred so many of us. So I can't wait to dive into today's conversation with you. Yeah, I'm excited.
00:04:37
Speaker
Awesome, so we're gonna start with your past. Just like a seed, we're gonna follow the journey of going back in time. A quote that was shared with me this last year was, life never makes sense unless you're looking backwards. So we're gonna start with the past, talk about how you've gotten to where you are today, talk a little bit about the present, and then also talk about the future of floret. So with that, Erin, every seed holds a story waiting to unfold.
00:05:04
Speaker
Would you mind sharing with us the roots of your passion for flowers and what first planted the seeds for floret? ah It's such a great quote. I'm going to write that down after this. So I started without a plan, without a real vision for what I was wanting to create or where this would all go. I mean, it really started with um a simple love of flowers connected to childhood memories and wanting to do something where I could figure out how to have a business or make a little bit of money on the side while also being home with my children but who were very small at the time. And so it was it was so it was such a modest beginning, like just a few rows of sweet peas in our backyard.
00:05:48
Speaker
And I remember I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do. I was raising chickens, trying to do a rainbow egg business. I was making candles. I was growing vegetables. I mean, I was pretty much doing anything that you can imagine that was like creative and sort of nature based, just trying to find out like, what do I want to be when I grow up? And it wasn't until I made my first flower delivery that I Is that like the light bulb finally went on for me when i saw the reaction that the person um i took a jar of sweet peas to this woman and delivered him it was my first sale it was five dollars and i was trying to just drop these flowers often like run i just want to get out of there i was totally freaked out.
00:06:31
Speaker
And when she opened the door, she smelled the sweet peas and just started crying and told me all these stories of her childhood. And they also had significance for me because my childhood. And it was like when I was driving away from that delivery.
00:06:47
Speaker
I finally felt like I had found what I was supposed to do. Like this matters. It's something simple and something I can do with my hands. It's something that connects me to nature, but it also has this tremendous impact on other people. And that I think is really what got me was ah for me, it's all about impact. That's what matters to me.
00:07:09
Speaker
I love that story. Each one of us have such a deep connection. It's amazing. No matter who I talk to, yeah there is that story of, oh, I'm connected to this. Or for me, it's going back to my aunt and uncle's garden in Washington and their rows of dahlias that were terraced on their hillside. Everyone has a special memory with flowers. And I think you have done such a beautiful job of helping us all make that connection back to nature. That connection is so special and it it goes so deep, just like the roots of the flower. like I feel so deeply connected and rooted to the ground and to nature and everything when I'm outside working.
00:07:50
Speaker
How did your business continue to grow? Like looking back on your journey, what were some of the growth spurts that helped you transition from growing vegetables and candles and trying to do all of these creative outlets to becoming a cut flower farmer and then a cut flower educator. And now you're a hybridizer and a seed company owner. I mean, that's a loaded question, but what were some of those growth spurts that helped you along the way?
00:08:18
Speaker
Oh, it it has been such a like it's been such a winding road. And I think what obviously flowers are the through line that connect my entire journey. But when I started, I had no idea where this was going to go. I just let myself follow what I was interested in. and When I'm interested in something, I'm really interested. like I want to know everything there is to know. I want to grow everything I could possibly grow. like When I am was first growing vegetables, I did my first trial, which was tomatoes, and I grew 50 different varieties. I hadn't grown tomatoes before, and then I start out by 50 different varieties. like That's just sort of my nature. and I think by letting myself really go all in on anything that I'm interested in,
00:09:06
Speaker
is where I've uncovered the next chapter in my journey. It's not like I am standing, you know, 20 years ago standing on the edge and I could see the whole path. It was actually just like the next. It's like chapter by chapter. I feel like the story is being written, but it really is every time i let myself i would say this sounds kind of weird but I let myself outgrow something and want something more and then completely go all in and dive deep into a curiosity is when that next part of the journey reveals itself.
00:09:46
Speaker
So when I was ah a market grower, we grew cut flowers on a large, well, not a large scale at large, high volume, but on our two acre plot for about a decade and sold the whole foods. And over that time I made between 35 and 40,000 mixed bouquets by myself with my kids in the garage. So at a certain point I'd hit the limit of like,
00:10:08
Speaker
you know, I'm ready for the next. i im I'm ready to outgrow this. I feel like I've outgrown this. I feel like I want what what's next. I want to do more. Not that that wasn't an amazing experience. And it was such a great thing for our family and our business was growing. But after spending that much time in the garage, walking in circles, making those bouquets, I had a lot of time to dream about the next thing. So I think I have let myself dream I've let myself outgrow things. I've let myself want more. I don't try to hold that back, and I think it has served me well. I think it also has really um exhausted everyone around me, because we're always on to this next big thing. But um I'm just so curious, and I let myself be as curious as I am.
00:10:56
Speaker
I really love that.
Dream Big and Overcome Doubts
00:10:58
Speaker
My daughter's word of the year is curious. Oh, such a good word. um And she's nine. She actually um made a little cameo appearance i on episode one, season three. She said, ladybugs um on your show.
00:11:12
Speaker
love but She loves going back and watching that episode. um But I love what you said about allowing yourself to dream big. I think sometimes we really let ourselves just get caught up where we are and we don't think that we're capable of more. and You are such a perfect example of that as you master something and then you say, what else can I do? and For me, part of it is like,
00:11:39
Speaker
I let myself go. I feel like I can almost live an entire lifetime and in a five year period of time because I live it so fully. I'm so engaged with it. I'm so all in. And then when I'm done, the last step for me is always the sharing and then I feel done and I want to move on to the next thing. But I think dreaming big, it can be difficult if you're around other people that don't have big dreams for themselves. It's not that you can't surround yourself with people that are very happy to just maintain life, but it can be a little discouraging when you share those big dreams and it's met with like, Oh, that's not really what you want. Or do you really think that's possible? Or are you kidding me? Like I've gotten so much of that over the years. So I often,
00:12:26
Speaker
don't share my big dreams right out of the gate. I let that kind of brew. I let them ah germinate and get little roots before I share them with others because I found that I think if I was going to not follow my dream for any reason, it might just be because I got so many people's concerns and worries and opinions right out of the gate and it it left me feeling either silly or just really discouraged.
00:12:54
Speaker
That is such great advice, and I'm going to relate it back to a flower. um I was reminded recently that a flower doesn't look for the approval of others. It just blooms. yeah And that's what you have done. You have truly had these big dreams, and you didn't because you didn't share them right away until you had the right circle to share them with, you were able to truly um I've got goosebumps here just listening to you tell this story of like, you just were able to truly bloom into that next phase, which I think is incredible and so inspiring for so many of us. And I think that's why so many of us have watched what you're doing because you're not afraid to push that boundary. And you mentioned having the right people. I assume Chris has been around for the whole journey. You've surrounded yourself with people that obviously see your vision and your dream.
00:13:44
Speaker
Well, i actually, so Chris and my mom have been the closest to me along this whole journey, I mean, the whole time. So when I started writing in the very beginning, I started a blog, I wanted to learn how to write. And we would joke around like, oh, my blog, right? like him was going to be like it was Nobody was reading it except my mom and Chris. And so I would tell them my ideas and I would practice and I would post my stuff. Chris would help me figure out the camera.
00:14:10
Speaker
And I got a little bit better. And then I got a job writing um monthly articles for Growing for Market. So my mom would help me. I would write them. And I would read them out loud to my mom. And if if she could stay interested for 1,500 words, I was like, sweet. I i got it. i So i I kept my circle very tight and close in the beginning. But I haven't really expanded a whole lot beyond that. So it's still my mom. And it's still Chris, where I'm bouncing ideas.
00:14:37
Speaker
then after i left let something really root in, then I share it with Jill, who I've worked with for, I don't even know, 15 years or something. Jill and I have known each other for such a long time. So she is an amazing sounding board and we do a lot of our work together. And then once the idea is rooted a little bit more, I might take it out and share it with a few more people. But I am so careful to share what matters to me and I'm so slow to reveal something because I just have had so much experience where people don't mean anything by it but they'll just make a joke or they'll shut something down or they'll tell you all their fears or worries and
00:15:20
Speaker
without even meaning to, it's like a cold wind on a tiny seedling that needs to be protected. And for me, my dreams mean so much to me that I take it too personally. So I'm just still very careful with who I share when.
00:15:36
Speaker
and Then I slowly expand and I slowly expand. but it's i mean ah The people that I work with are the same people I've worked with for a really long time and I just keep it tight. and we just like We always call it going dark. we We go into a project, we stop answering emails, we stop dealing with the outside world, and we just like make the thing. like You just get into it. um I don't bring everyone along. I don't share my big vision. I don't champion this big thing at work. I'm more like, we're just hyper focused on a project and we just go for it and then come out. And usually that's the point I share with everybody. Like, look, here's what we made. This is what we're doing next. So it's kind of a weird, um, it's a weird way of doing it, but it so far has worked for me.
00:16:20
Speaker
I think it's obviously a great way to do it, especially to protect those ideas because it's not like you're doing the status quo. You are pushing the boundaries of each of these dreams. So there are going to be naysayers. Yeah, and then it's not even intentional. nate It's not like someone is trying to shoot you down. They just blur out.
00:16:41
Speaker
things that are kind of negative or, or kind of like, Oh, that's going to be difficult or that's going to just like all those tiny little seeds. I don't want those to be planted in my mind. I don't, I don't need any more self doubt. I don't need any more concern. I don't need any more worry or anxiety or to have all of that in abundance. If anything, I need to be brave. I need to stay focused. I need to believe. And so I keep my circle tight with people that Just keep kind of marrying back to me like trust your intuition. Just trust your intuition. Let's just take the next step and we just keep working on things until it gets to a place where like the idea actually has roots. And then at that point, it's like, okay, now we can share it with more people.
00:17:26
Speaker
But um yeah, so far so far it's worked well in making things. But yeah, everything that I've done, there wasn't really a map or a path or anyone to ask. And so it's all questions and no answers when we begin, which is a very scary place to be. It's also very exciting. I love it when I don't know anything. And I have an have curiosity, and I have drive, and I don't have any answers. like That's my favorite place to be.
00:17:54
Speaker
It's a fun spot. It's yeah it's where at the world deviating from flowers. It's the world's your oyster. Like you have endless opportunities when you dream like that. yeah So I love that.
Passion for Growing: Seeds and Dahlias
00:18:05
Speaker
um You've been such an inspiration on everything that I've done and the way I try and follow my business. And I know you do the same for others. And it's such a great example, of especially with the noise of social media. Yeah. It could be so easy to oh Well, not only compare yourself to others, but also be afraid to try anything new because of this this whole way that people behave online can be so cruel and so catty and so, I don't know you know, like the Facebook groups and everybody's tearing everybody down. and It's just like, oh it's not a it's not an environment that that makes you feel brave or courageous or curious. You really want to be like, man, I just want to pick the path down the middle so nobody
00:18:51
Speaker
comes at me so that no one challenges me. like It could be very scary to be an individual and to stand out and to try something new and maybe be wrong. Yeah, it's it's a it's not the easiest environment to you know kind of blaze your own trail.
00:19:09
Speaker
No, I can't even imagine. I mean, you have blazed so many trails from ah the local flower movement to dahlias. I mean, you put dahlias on the map. I mean, look at the explosion of dahlias over the last decade and now as many as- Isn't that so fun? I love it. I love that it actually worked. In the beginning, I felt like, I know this is going to be a thing, but no but everybody said it wasn't. And so I just kept it ignoring them and just trying to make them something. And, you know, it caught. It finally caught.
00:19:39
Speaker
it Yeah, it definitely has caught. I mean, look at how many hundreds of thousands of people are in the Facebook groups online with dahlias. And it's awesome. It's amazing, especially I think COVID really spurred that. and I think there were a lot of blessings in that.
00:19:56
Speaker
really difficult time. And I think that one of the biggest ones is how many people reconnected to nature or connected for the first time. And then, of course, dahlias are such a great entry point. They're just such a fun flower and plant to work with. They just like, once once you get hooked, you're your toast. You're just going to be, you're going to spend so much money on tubers. You're going to get so carried away. I mean, I can't help it. it's They're just addicting in this weird way that unless you've grown them, you just don't understand. No, it's it's so addicting. I always relate it back to like a Lay's potato chip where they said you can't just have one. You can't just have one, absolutely. Yeah. And then you've got us all hooked on growing from seed, you and Christine. I mean, I remember I bought my- I find it. Yes. It's like Christmas morning. Like when I first got my first packet the first year, was it when you released your book or did you have the seeds before the book? I can't remember which came first. I can't remember which came first, yeah.
00:20:53
Speaker
Whichever came first is what I had first. um And i I remember growing your seeds and it was like Christmas morning watching them open up. And then I had to learn how to grow my own from seed. And now it's hundreds of grown from seed and it's like every morning I race out with my cup of coffee. Let's bloom today. and yeah that's I feel the same way all these years later. I mean, one year in the very beginning when we were working on discovering, I was working on writing that, I grew 13,000 seedlings out in the field. I had no idea what that even meant, so I planted this whole field and then when it came time to walk the rows every day and look for selections, I was like, this takes me five hours. like This is not sustainable. But it it's just as thrilling now.
00:21:36
Speaker
as it was then because you don't know what you're going to get. You can you can kind of guide them a little bit, but really for the most part, It's just a surprise every time. which is such a If you are her have any kind of type A tendency or you like control or you're a big planner, the fact that you can't control it is weirdly exciting. It's like the only place I like no control. I'm like, who knows? We're just going to see what we're going to get. It's yeah it's really fun. Yes. What first inspired you to start growing dahlias from seed? Because you really spurred that movement.
00:22:13
Speaker
Well, I didn't. I remember, I mean, as a flower farmer, I was so disconnected from seed as a whole. Like, I had no idea you just buy your seeds in packets.
00:22:25
Speaker
I never thought about really where they came from, which is wild to me that there was that disconnection. But dahlias especially, I had no idea how a new variety was made. I just got tubers, I propagated them. that was I was really just focused on collecting good varieties that made good cut flowers and multiplying my stock. And I went to the dahlia society meetings and heard the breeders talking.
00:22:48
Speaker
And um one of the older gentlemen that was there had all these seeds that he seed heads he hadn't cleaned. We went for a tour to his garden and he had all these trays of seed heads laying out. And he's like, I don't have time to clean these. If you clean them, I'll show you how to do it. If you clean them, you can have half of them and I'll keep the other half.
00:23:08
Speaker
like Uh, yeah, absolutely. So Chris cleaned them all. Chris figured out how to do it. But we got to keep half of them and grew them out. And it was so amazing because they were, he said who the parents were. So I knew what variety it was. And then I got to see the seedlings from it. And just like that, that connection in my brain, like it started to all make sense. So then of course the next year I saved my own seed, grew those out. And then, I mean, from there it was just,
00:23:34
Speaker
you know it was It started out with like a few hundred seeds and then it went to 13,000 and now I've backed it down to, I grow about 3,500 to 4,000 seedlings a year. That's like that about what I can do from the end of the day before dinner. That's like the perfect amount of seedlings to check on before you gotta go inside.
00:23:54
Speaker
that would take me all day because I'd be so mesmerized that my ADHD brain would be looking like, oh, I like this, oh, I like that. Yeah. I've got ah a process that I do that helps cut the time down, but they're just so special. But yeah, I didn't i had no idea. which is It's so funny when you look back, you see you see all of these pieces connecting. But at the time, I was so disconnected from how things really worked, which is wild because it's the natural world. but I didn't know. Yeah, I think that's why so many people love it because they had no idea. We've all just been growing dahlias. We've divided the tubers. Taking cuttings and rooting those was like this big breakthrough for all of us. And then seeds was just like, your brain just exploded. I mean, wherere it's just like, where do you, how do you even, I don't know, just something about it was I could not understand it until I did it. And then when I did it, I was hooked.
00:24:48
Speaker
Well, and with so many endless possibilities of what you could get. Yes. And you just can't like, oh, I'm just going to plant a couple hundred more and just a couple. I mean, you know, I don't want to miss out. Yeah. I'm just as bad as everybody else. I love hearing that you're just like us with that. Yeah. Would you say, looking back, that growing out all of these dahlias from seed has helped lead you to where you are now with your zinnias and your breeding and your seeds?
00:25:18
Speaker
I think all of the experiences, I mean, even when I go so far into something where I feel like I'm getting a little carried away, like why did I do that? Like why did I take on such a big thing? Why did I grow 13,000 seedlings? I didn't need to do that, but I was wanting to learn.
00:25:35
Speaker
I get so much learning in such a short concentrated amount of time. And that learning isn't just about the subject that I'm focused on what I'll find in the, you know, later on looking back, I'll see that like, Oh, what I learned from that I could actually apply to this next thing. So they're dahlias and zinnias, they weirdly do not have much in common at all when it comes to breeding. But the,
00:26:02
Speaker
the act of understanding how they're pollinated, collecting seed, cleaning it, growing it out, making selections, that part you have in common. And that's, um I think what I learned on a large scale with Dahlia is then when it came to zinnias, I'm like, oh, these numbers are small. This is this is a lot easier in one way.
00:26:22
Speaker
It's got to be challenging, though, in other ways, because you have to have a lot more control over the zinnias, right, than with the dahlias. The dahlias, most people let the bees do the work, and you can be selective of planting, but... Yeah, with the dahlias, even if you want to control it, there's still so much that you you know it just you... You have to leave it up to nature, and I do let the bees do the work. We isolate.
00:26:44
Speaker
planting groups, like we'll plant a field of all the anemone flowered varieties very far away from say the colorets. So we'll collect off of a field and most of the seeds you're going to get from those fields come back true to form, not necessarily to the variety, not even to the variety, but with zinnias, it is definitely less of a crapshoot. I mean, you you can guide it. ah I mean, it still takes a long time from from discovery all the way to a very stable variety, I would say it takes five years for me to get something to stabilize seven for to kind of perfect it. It's a long haul. um But with Zinnia, we're working on a big project right now where we're crossing every stable variety of Zinnia with every other stable variety of Zinnia. So it's like red times, orange times, yellow times. like every We're crossing red with every other color.
00:27:41
Speaker
So we're making a thousand hand crosses the season to try to figure out which traits are dominant which are recessive. um These are things you couldn't do with dahlias because it's just there's it's too complex but with zinnias I'm hopeful that we can kind of narrow down some of the information and make it I don't know like easier to catalog.
00:28:03
Speaker
That's amazing. Yeah. Do you have someone that has like a scientific or a genealogy background working on your team or are you just learning this as you go? Well, both Eric and Sam, so Eric heads up the seed harvest and cleaning and really the seed side of things. And then Sam comes to us with a background in science, but he did a lot of research um when with AIDS. And so he worked in a lot of labs and is very used to that kind of like methodical record keeping details and data. So they both have a passion for it and a background in like
00:28:39
Speaker
cataloging information. And then I come up with my crazy ideas. They helped me like, okay, well, we could do that, but I don't know if that would work. And so we kind of collaborate on how we're going to do it. And then they're the ones out there with the tweezers. I do not have the patience. They're the they're the heroes of this story. they're I mean, we've got like 200 crosses so far. They've got 800 to go. It's going to take them the entire month of August.
00:29:03
Speaker
Wow, I know. But the data that's going to come from this could change the well, not the world, but it could change the city of landscape forever. I mean, I'm really curious to see what we learn.
Team Evolution and Personal Growth
00:29:14
Speaker
Well, you have come up with so many incredible varieties already. I mean, for the cut flower industry.
00:29:19
Speaker
I've gone from not really caring for zinnias to being like, I need to make more space for these zinnias because they're so pretty and they work with weddings. They work with the floral design. I know they're pretty easy to grow. They like the heat. I used to not like zinnias at all. They were my least favorite cut flower to grow because the colors were so you know They were just so straightforward, just like a pure red, a pure orange. it just They were so boring. but i'm you should What is out in the world right now when it comes to Zinnia is what we put out into the world is just the tiniest drop in the bucket.
00:29:54
Speaker
of the grand total of what we're working on. And there is so much incredible stuff coming that it's still a few years out, but we have we're close to 200 different Zinnia selections that we're working on right now. Wow. I know. it sucks and We're all a little bit like... well like This is a little bit much. um I feel like we maybe crossed the line here. and None of us have any formal training in this, which maybe is a blessing because we didn't know that we couldn't do this. and So we've just done it, but now we're we're kind of hitting that limit of like, man, this project's getting big. and But who do we ask? So we just keep going and keep working on it. But well everything that we learn and figure out, we will be sharing with everybody else because I think
00:30:41
Speaker
We've done so much work and it's going to benefit so many people. We're just like trying to figure out how to take all of the information and put it together in a way that actually makes sense and is useful for others who are curious about breeding or seed saving.
00:30:56
Speaker
That is so exciting. um How much space are you using for this Zinnia project? Well, the Zinnia hand crossing project is tiny. It's probably 50 feet by 70 feet. ah So we're doing all of those crosses in that little tiny space. So it's maybe eight rows. Oh, my goodness. It's not it was not what you think it is. But when it comes to the breeding work itself, we have 74 individual hoop houses and then another, I don't know, we probably are up to about 85 hoops that we're growing in. So it's like well probably an acre and a half of covered space that is in different varieties that are are in process. That's incredible. Yeah, it's a little it's a little bit crazy.
00:31:47
Speaker
that would be overwhelming. That is, you must have a very organized team to keep track of that many tunnels or hoop houses, I should say. Yeah, I mean, everybody, we all cling to the spreadsheets and the numbering system and the organization like a lifeboat because we know if we are not super organized, this thing could just blur. It would be like ink ah in water and it just would like,
00:32:10
Speaker
yeah We have to hold the line, otherwise there's just too many variables. So everybody's very committed to being organized, but I don't think any of us are totally organized by nature. it it It takes work. I'm definitely not the most organized myself. Yeah, I have a lot of help with that part of it. You're fortunate. So you, as you have grown your business, have built a team.
00:32:32
Speaker
huh Can you talk about how your team has evolved over time? I mean, you went from a small little plot of space to this massive flower farm and seed operation. How did you grow out your team over time?
00:32:48
Speaker
Well, that the biggest thing that I've found, at least for myself, is really looking for the areas where I am dropping the ball is where to get help. So in the early days of growing flowers, like cut flowers,
00:33:04
Speaker
I'm the fastest harvester of anybody I know. I've knowve never worked with anybody who can pick faster than me. So don't totally need help with that. I could pick about the same amount as three people. But I am terrible at email. Getting back to people, keeping a calendar, following back up, bride consultations, all of that stuff, I'm terrible. I just have so much resistance to it. so The first person that we ever hired was Jill who we work with where I still work with now and we've written two books together we've created the farming course and Jill and I have done we've done so much together.
00:33:39
Speaker
But she does, she's so good at all the things that I'm really bad at. So I would be on the phone with her with my little headset on harvesting flowers, and she'd be reading me emails, and we'd be figuring out what we were gonna write back to that person. So it started that small, just maybe five hours a week, Jill and I
Balancing Business and Family
00:33:55
Speaker
doing email. Then I noticed I was really dropping the ball when it came to making sure I was getting my seedling started on time and watering. Oh, and then weeding, of course. Weeding always dropped the ball. but So rather than getting help on other big projects or making bouquets in the garage or packaging flowers, I had no problem getting that done. But I was terrible at making sure I hit all my dates. So I just started looking for
00:34:23
Speaker
the areas that I was lacking and getting support in those areas. And then with that extra time, I just felt so much more free to then take on a little bit more. But even though it seems like this all happened overnight, it didn't. We've been at this almost 20 years. And I mean, really it was Chris, the kids and I for the first five, then Jill. Then we had a little bit of farm help.
00:34:45
Speaker
um two gals that would come for um four or five hours a day just for the growing season and then when we got the bigger farm is when we added a little bit more help and so just over time where we are not able to keep up or where we're stressed out or where we're dropping the ball, that's where we get help. And now all these years later, we have an amazing team of people, but their strengths don't overlap with mine. Like we're all good at something different, um which is really cool. And then it's this, it's like a collage where everybody brings what they have to offer. It's it's better it's been pretty amazing.
00:35:24
Speaker
I love that, that you were able to recognize what you're good at and then recognize the areas where you had opportunities to get help so that you could free yourself to focus on what you could do really efficiently. What's interesting is I so often hear business advice is my least favorite advice. Can't you just hire somebody to do that for you? You could just hire somebody to do that or you kind of like you you hand off the running of the say the day-to-day so that you're freed up to be creative.
00:35:52
Speaker
I actually feel like i do that I can run the day-to-day better than others. I guess ah what my point is, don't give up the stuff you're actually good at, even if that's the advice from somebody else. If you're the best at it, keep the thing that you're the best at, even if it's time-consuming, um and get help where you really bad. Like get help where you keep dropping the ball. Because feeling bad about yourself and having your plate always overflowing and not coming through on things just makes you feel so awful. I feel like getting help in those areas of weakness right out of the gate, it just, it
00:36:30
Speaker
it boosts your confidence, then you don't feel like you're always running behind and you're always a flake, or I don't know if anybody else feels like that, but I often would be like, I'm just like dropping all these balls. But what I needed help with was very different than what most advisors would say I needed help with. So I kept the stuff I either like or I'm really good at, and then I got help where on the bait this weirdly the stuff I need help with is like basic.
00:36:55
Speaker
like managing a calendar, managing an inbox. Like, it's a lot of that interfacing with the outside world. I get so overwhelmed, I get paralyzed. But if I have 100 hoop houses and I have to organize many hundreds of different flower varieties, I'm like, no problem. I love that. I actually don't want help on that part. I just really need help with email. Yes. Yeah. That so resonates with me. And I love that you said that you were able to talk to Jill while you were harvesting. Yeah.
00:37:23
Speaker
because I'm at the point where I'm not even going to tell you how many unread emails I have in my inbox right now. Well, what she, she always tells the story. So she talked, it took her almost a month to get me to let her in the inbox. Cause we were just friends at the time and we were doing wedding flowers in the garage and we just, we wanted to hang out with each other and she's like, you know, I really could help you. Just let me.
00:37:44
Speaker
Let me look at the inbox because I was always complaining about it. I would wake up in the morning sick. So she got into the inbox and all of the emails from growers or farmers were read and answered. All of the emails for customers and brides were unread. So you could see, like for me to answer grower questions, love that stuff, could do it all day. I still answer all the comments on Instagram. I love it. like i No problem. But getting back to the brides, I just would totally drop them all. I had so much resistance. so Oh my gosh, I feel like that's the first place to liberate yourself is get some help with email. Seriously, the next is laundry. Get some help doing your laundry. Like those little things that make you just feel so lame and you're always behind. Like no more sour shirts ever. No more wrinkled clothes. Like those little things or say your bookkeeping.
00:38:37
Speaker
Oh my gosh, help getting some help with bookkeeping so you're not doing your own QuickBooks and feeling just really bad about yourself. Like it's it's these small areas that can make a big difference that actually kind of lift that stress off of you in ways that you wouldn't imagine. It's not the big like higher a Oh, a big assistant manager thing. Just start in those small ways where you're just, yeah, if your inbox is the thing where you're just feeling crushed by it, oh my gosh, there is somebody out there that would just love to help that, you know, get organized and manage for you.
00:39:12
Speaker
That is amazing advice. I love that. And then you're so free to, well, not maybe so free, but you're freer to do what you love that's going to move the business forward. Yeah, totally. Because I think it's so different being a flower farmer than so many other businesses where a lot of times the leader needs to be free to do the idea ideation or the visionary work But I know for me, like my ideas come when I'm in the field touching my flowers. That's the thing. i i Always the advice was like as the CEO or whatever, and you're like, it's just me and my family. I'm the CEO. I just have a small business. but
00:39:50
Speaker
I don't need to be free to go sit in some office and be creative and think of the next big thing. I do my best work when I'm out with the flowers, totally harvesting, even making bouquets for hours on end. It's like you have nothing else to do but think. Yeah, so much time to think. Like I don't need someone to do the labor for me. Where I need help is in the more of the administrative stuff is where I always need help. That to me, it kills my creativity, but I want it done so well. And so that's where I've gotten help always.
00:40:19
Speaker
That's such great advice. I love that. I want to talk about your kids if that's okay. I've had a couple of people, several flower farmers that I shared that I was getting to chat with you today. And we all are parents of young children. And so we're curious, do you feel like your business has evolved with your children or how has being a mom impacted your role as a flower farmer?
00:40:43
Speaker
Well, I started, so the florets started, the kids were, I think Jasper was three and Alora would have been five. So they were pretty small, but I didn't, i I was playing with flowers and I was exploring flowers, but I couldn't actually really start doing it as any kind of business till they were a little bit older, because I was a stay-at-home mom. And I just, they took everything that I had. So as the kids grew, they became a little more independent They were a little bit more, you know, that spent longer being entertained out in the garden, that kind of thing. The business grew with them. So as they grew up, the business got bigger. But I think that is a really big part of why it has grown or did grow so slowly is because
00:41:32
Speaker
We have two small kids and I was the main caregiver. So we really did grow our business without any. My mom would take the kids on the weekend and Chris and I would just weed and do all the things that like the big dirty jobs. You have to back the truck up or get the tractor or whatever where you know you didn't want them in the way. But they grew up in the flowers in the garage with me making bouquets.
00:41:54
Speaker
But i I only could grow the business or expand it as they were more independent. So now my um our oldest graduated from college. like My kids are older than you think. so i mean it's it's theirre yeah they've they Their whole childhood was spent with inside of this flower farm and business. but um Yeah, we can only take the next step when they were at a place that they could, they were more independent. So I think a lot of um parents with small children
00:42:27
Speaker
think it just takes so much. It takes so much from you and in the very best way and you do will not regret what you pour into your kids. I don't regret any of the time that I kind of slowed down on my dreams a little bit and just poured it into them. And then as they became more independent, then I could step, but you know, take another step in the direction of my dream and another step. But I don't regret growing slowly and waiting. Um, I can't imagine doing it with like a very tiny children. I just think,
00:42:58
Speaker
It's already so much. Being a flower grower is so much work. It's so physically exhausting. And then you add, and being a parent is also the same. And so you overlap those like mamas be so easy on yourself. It is so much. And if your house is an absolute disaster and there are dishes everywhere and laundry piled up and Legos intermixed with all of it, like that was my first 10 years of flower farming. It was just absolute chaos. We somehow managed to get through, but It's just a lot, but go easy on yourself. And the kids, I think it implants in them. I mean, think of our first flower memories. Imagine your childhood growing up in the flowers. like What would that do for you? I just think it's so magical. Totally. Yeah. um I love what you said about that you will never regret pouring that time yeah into your kids. I mean, you were literally growing roots
00:43:52
Speaker
inside your family and on the farm at the same time, which is no easy feat. for i I was not peaceful about it at the time. i At the time, I was so impatient. i I loved my kids and I loved getting to be with them and and I wanted
Working with Chris: Blending Life and Work
00:44:09
Speaker
to be home. and At the same time, I felt this restlessness in me. like i i What is next for me on a personal level? And I kind of constantly had to be kind of pruning back my dreams and be like, well, I can't do all five of those things this year. I can do two because Jasper's still little and the lawyer like the kids need me. So yeah, um the business grew as they grew. And
00:44:35
Speaker
Looking back now, I'm really glad that we went as slow as we did, but at the time, it was really I felt like I should be going faster. I compared myself to other people. Not only did we have small children, we had no money. like Not only no money, we were massively in debt trying to pay it off with two small kids and no help. so It was a very slow beginning. but um So I guess if you're in any kind of similar situation, just go easy on yourself. That dream will be realized. It's just one tiny step after another tiny step and it will amount to something. Just give it a little more time than you feel like you have.
00:45:10
Speaker
I love that advice. We were talking just last night, we have eight more summers at home with our daughter. And I was like, this is going so fast. Yeah. Yeah. So, and that's such a great reminder to know that like you have your kids that your child just graduated college and you're pursuing all these dreams. So that's the thing I think why I've hit not hit the gas, but kind of like in the last Five or six years have done so much more than maybe in the previous. It's just because my kids are older. you know they're They're out of the house or they're they're getting to that point. like They're at a stage that I now have more time and space that I can devote to these things. But when they were small, there's no way. I would have been too compromised. And so I just took it slow. I love that. i love And you'll never regret that decision. yeah Yeah. So now they're out on their own and setting their own roots, I imagine. Yeah. Yep.
00:46:03
Speaker
Are they back on the farm or? Jasper's still on the farm. Allura's off in California having wonderful adventures and growing their ah their first garden. So that's really cool. That's really awesome. yeah So it's fun. We get pictures of eggplants and deadheaded roses and are you know giving advice on gardening, which is like, wow. Okay, good. I'm glad i'm glad it worked.
00:46:26
Speaker
oh That's awesome. I always wonder like what kind of impact will my daughter want to have her own garden or is she going to be like, I want nothing to do with flowers in the future. yeah so um let's also I'd love to talk a little bit more about family dynamics. You and Chris have built Fluorite together. and With Chris bringing his talent as a photographer in the mix, it has allowed some other opportunities for you guys as well.
00:46:51
Speaker
um I've met many other farmers who also farm with their spouse or partner. How do you manage to maintain a healthy balance between your professional collaborations and your family life? Well, I think with any small business, especially a farm, there's no turning it off. It's not like a job. You don't go to work and then you come home from work. I mean, you live you live it. I mean, at least we have. it It blurs into everything. so we're partners in our personal life, but then in our business life and on the farm. and It's just like it's one big blur. what The reason we wanted to do this way, way, way back when we started is we wanted to spend time together. we want like Our big dream was that someday Chris would be able to come home from work from car work because he was a mechanic.
00:47:42
Speaker
that he'd be able to come home and actually work on the farm full time. But it wasn't because he was so passionate about farming, it was because he wanted to be with the kids and he wanted to be with me. So our dream was to be together. So yeah, it has tons of challenges that I think a lot of other families don't have if you both go to work and then you come home. Because if you're having an off day, you're having an off day with the person you love and you're just in the worst mood and you're so lame to be around and you have to work it out. but um But it was always our dream to be to spend our days together. We didn't want to spend them apart. So it's been a huge blessing in that way.
Florette Documentary and New Ventures
00:48:19
Speaker
and then all of the skills that he has that he's brought to the business, he did not have coming in. He has no training in photography or videography or farming. I mean, these were all things he's self-taught in all of those things, which is pretty incredible. Like if you really have the desire to do this. There are a lot of different ways. Like for him, he would always joke like he didn't know the names of the flowers. He was just supporting my dream and he wanted to be home together, working together. And so he would help support the growing, but then he loves technical things. So he really caught onto the camera very quickly. And then when it came to video cameras, when, when the crew was here filming, growing floret, Chris is like looking over their shoulder, like,
00:49:06
Speaker
How does that work and then caught on very quickly. So he took his skills and passion and found a way to apply them to our business in a way that was unexpected but has been a total game changer for what we were able to do. But it's it's not like he had a background in it, which is really cool. Like you can teach yourself anything if you really want it bad enough.
00:49:27
Speaker
That is amazing yeah because he's so talented with what he does. i know we haveing the images and It's incredible. like get from Especially because we have such a good record from the very beginning all the way to now, you can see his growth. It's so cool to have that whole, um you could just stand and like and see how he's evolved. It's really cool. That's part of that looking back yeah and see how far you have all come, which is just so neat.
00:49:53
Speaker
I've asked you a lot of questions and I want to be respectful of your time. You're good. You're good. Okay. Let's touch on the floret documentary for a second. You have filmed two seasons. Is there going to be a future season three? There's not going to be a season three. um After doing the two, we had so much fun doing it. It was such an awesome experience, but I really want to
00:50:20
Speaker
see I don't exactly know what's next in that area, but we really wanted to like go deeper and tell the stories that we want to tell in the way that we want to tell them, and not just about our farm, but about other farms and other growers. and so We're in the middle of figuring out exactly what we want to do with that, um but we are working on some really cool things. so I'll get to share it at some point here in the future. but yeah um There will be more, but it will be a little bit different.
00:50:49
Speaker
okay So there'll be more floret on camera. It just will be pivoting a little bit. Exactly. Yeah. So it hopefully will be a lot more. Yeah. Awesome. Yeah. But it's, I mean, the experience of getting to be part of making a show like we had, I had no dreams of when we don't even have a TV. I mean, we have it like you can watch movies, but we never had channel TV. So it's not like we we're big TV watchers and had this, um,
00:51:18
Speaker
dream of having a show. It was just this incredible opportunity that came to us. But what the real reason we wanted to do it is because we wanted to learn how do you do it? How is this done? How do you How do you tell stories? How do you show the beauty of nature? how do you like ah We were just so curious, k Chris and I, both about it.
Empowering Through Seed Saving
00:51:39
Speaker
And the um the production company that that made the show, Blue Chalk Media, based in Portland, then they would come up here and film with us.
00:51:48
Speaker
Everyone that was there was so generous with their time would let Chris hold the camera. Let me look behind the monitor. We get to read all this stuff like we got to be so involved. They could just welcomed us in and it was such an incredible learning and experience that was during season one. So with season two.
00:52:08
Speaker
We had learned so much that we were like, OK, if we're going to do a season two, we want to be part of it. And so we really like kind of pushed ourselves in even more. And ive I feel like of all the things that we've ever done, I'm sure for Chris as well. That was our very favorite creative project that we've ever worked on.
00:52:27
Speaker
It was amazing. I mean, everyone loves watching it. I know I can speak for others here. And now you're on YouTube as well telling stories. We are. Yeah. So that's like a new, we're just like figuring out what exactly do we want to do with this. I know we want to do a lot with it. It's just like finding our way. And i'm so I'm letting myself have the time to be really obsessed and really like thinking about it and figuring it out and learning. And then we'll have a lot more to share in the near future.
00:52:56
Speaker
So it sounds like you're kind of scattering some seeds and seeing what sticks and what takes root. Exactly. That's really exciting. yeah um ah su So let's talk about a little bit about your vision. As you continue to cultivate new paths in the floral industry, what are you most excited about with the future? I think the thing I'm the most excited about right now ah really revolves not just around the breeding but around seed saving.
00:53:25
Speaker
i think
00:53:28
Speaker
The act of being able to save your own seeds is that one of the most empowering things I've ever gotten to do. And it's this lost art. And it was an oral tradition passed down from generation to generation.
00:53:43
Speaker
but there's no one to pass down that information anymore. It's just not being shared like it used to. So um one of the big things that we're working on in addition to the breeding and actually documenting how we're doing the breeding, how we're learning that is is with seed saving as well. So we're two years in on creating, I don't know if it's a book,
00:54:07
Speaker
or if it's a multiple volume manual or exactly what it wants to be yet, but it'll be some type of printed resource book, something you can hold in your hands about seed saving. And the photos are so beautiful. Chris did such a good job. We're about 90% through the photos. We have a few more to get in the next month, but um that's a big project that we've been working on that will be out into the world at some point in the future. Just once Jill and I and Eric have a chance to sit down and actually write it. We have so many notes. We have so much that we've collected, but um yeah, we just need like a couple months to lock ourselves in a dark room with a lot of coffee and just write it. Maybe when the season ends. Yeah, hopefully this winter. That's our that's our plan. So what got you excited about saving seeds?
00:54:59
Speaker
Well, what i but so as a flower farmer, if you have any flowers left in your field, you know it means that you didn't sell them. And so our motto, it was always this joke, but our motto for the first 10 years was no flower left behind. Like our field was green. There were no flowers. Like if you look back at old pictures, we might save a little chunk for the photos that where we'd let a few dahlias bloom, but everything else was cut and sold. So I never got to see, and then every we were so, um intentional and practicing such high-intensive growing that you never let like your larkspur go to seed and drop on the ground. We'd rip it out and we'd turn and burn and plant another crop. so For 10 years, I had no idea how seeds really happened. I just bought them. I just bought them in a packet. I ordered them, which was so much fun. right Pick out the varieties you want, order your seeds, and I sewed them, but I never got the full life cycle of it.
00:55:56
Speaker
And I came to seed saving actually because I wanted to learn how to breed. I found i found a variety in the field. i wanted to I didn't even know how to save the seed. How does this even work? So for me, seed saving came about as like I needed to know how to do it in order to further the breeding project. But then once you start saving your own seeds, it again is like dahlias or something or flower growing where you're just like absolutely hooked. And then you're looking at Every plant that you grow in your garden and you're like, oh, what if I just leave three stems on the plant? What is seed pod look like? Could I collect seed off of that? Like it's this, you just get very easily caught up in it. So um over the last couple of years, we have, I mean, we've grown many, many, many seed crops on the farm. About a ah quarter of what we offered through our seed company, we grew here on the farm.
00:56:47
Speaker
but we have grown and documented over 60 different varieties of flowers in detail. ah Just because I'm so passionate about well the process of it, but but to try to distill that information so someone else could go, I want to save my larksper seed. If you didn't have anybody to tell you, how would you know how to do it? right yeah so It's been really fun. so Now, our fields are in full bloom because they've they've transitioned from just cut flowers to more seed production and so now a whole bed of larkspur in full glory is actually a good thing. That doesn't mean that I didn't sell it. It means that it's, you know, we're growing it for seed, which is a, if that's been a really fun change over the last couple of years is to get to see the plants through their entire life cycle, not just in bud and just cracking open.
00:57:40
Speaker
That's really amazing. And so then, in your true fashion, where you dive deep into something, you've decided to share this knowledge with the world. Yeah. So we um last summer, when we knew we wanted to put the Flora originals out into the world, our first offering, and we knew it was going to be Dahlia's, Solosia, and Zinnia.
00:58:01
Speaker
and how little information actually exists on how to save your own seed. And so we're like, we we were so busy in the middle of everything. And of course I get this idea, like we need to do a mini course. I want to be able to release that next summer so that people could save seed off of the varieties they get from us if they want to, or any salosas, any Israelias they have in their garden. People are going to have so much fun doing this. So we blocked out this big chunk of time and we wrote and filmed
00:58:32
Speaker
a mini course so there's I think there's seven videos in it and it does a deep dive into those three different crops and shows you how to do it with stuff you have at home you don't have to buy anything it's just if you have these plants growing in your garden we show you how to cut them how to dry them how to clean them um the the whole process and then how to store them but it's going to be I can't wait I feel like there's a whole Not only so many budding seed savers, but flower breeders that are going to come out of taking this course because they're going to be like, oh, and okay, I can do that. That's how that works.
Sharing Knowledge Without Fear
00:59:07
Speaker
I'm just really excited to be able to share the information with others. You are so generous with sharing so freely. Do you ever feel threatened by the competition? Because you just said you see all of these new breeders coming out of this.
00:59:20
Speaker
Oh, no, not at all. I never feel, I mean, I love, like, let's go. I want to have a breeder meetup. Like, I don't, it's not competition. I want to compare notes. I want to talk about it. Other people that are as dorky as I am who want to, like, nerd out on flower breeding. No, I'm not, I, I... I think the more the merrier really honestly i I love to share whatever I can as much as I can and I love to see new people. Coming into an area that doesn't have very many people doing it I mean flower breeding there are so few independent plant breeders in the world I mean there's like.
00:59:58
Speaker
wow professionally, there's probably six Zinnia breeders in the whole world that are actually doing this for a real career that work for the big companies. And so think about that. That's it. We need more Zinnia breeders. We need more Dahlia breeders and and people that don't just work inside of a big company, but I think it could be a viable career option And that's a lot why we're like why we're trying to figure it out ourselves and then share what we know because I think a whole new generation of plant breeders will come out of this. But it's going to take us all sharing what we know, not keeping it to ourselves.
01:00:38
Speaker
um Yeah, so I guess we'll go first. I mean, not just first, because Christine with Santa Cruz has shared, um Tiffany with Blama has shared a lot of her stuff, Cory at Dawn Creek. They're definitely breeders that have cozy town. I mean, yeah they've shared a ton of information, and so I just want to keep helping pour what we know into the big pool, and then everyone can draw out of it, and then hopefully they contribute what they know, and we could just keep building and growing and evolving together. I'm yeah i don't i'm not worried about... i don't I guess I don't think like that. I think the more the merrier. I'm very excited. We'll have like a big club of nerds.
01:01:18
Speaker
They're all like figuring out how to do this together because there's not like anywhere to look for information. We have to rely on each other. Yes. yeah It's so much in its infant infancy. yes it feels like as but Even the local flower market, like I sometimes hear people say, Jen, did you know there's like five more flower farmers this year? and I'm like, great. Yes. It doesn't bother me because I think you have showed us that by sharing so freely, we're expanding the local flower market.
01:01:45
Speaker
that's ah if you look I remember when I was writing a business plan and I was working with the local small business administration and we were figuring out how I was going to propose like my idea.
01:01:57
Speaker
And we were talking about competition and we he was asking, well, how much of the flowers, what percentage of these are actually grown locally? And we were working out, you know it's like 80% of all cut flowers in the United States that are sold or you know imported from South America mainly. And he's like, so your competition is not the 20% that's here in the States. Your competition is all of the imported blooms. like People are thinking about this all wrong. So if you think about that, okay, five more flower farmers,
01:02:27
Speaker
in your area, starting grain flowers. Still, only 20% of all cut flowers that are grown in the United States are actually grown here, that are sold here, are grown here. like There's so much room to expand this market, ah to become more domestically produced, more small scale growers. i just i think that e It may feel nerve-wracking as new people are coming into it, but there's just so much room. You guys, there's so much room for new business and new growers. like I don't think there can ever be enough of us really. if If we really want to change things, we need more growers and not everybody sticks with it. I mean, there are a lot of a lot of people will get into it, but how many people keep going? I mean, you have to remember that as well. like This isn't for everybody.
01:03:18
Speaker
And if you can be open and not so afraid and generous and share, you'll find that other people will be generous and share with you. At least that's what's been, in my case, I've had so many amazing blessings and people have been so generous with me, but I just want to keep paying that forward and keep that going. It just, it helps us. If one of us win, we all win. So just, you have to remember that there is more than enough for everyone.
01:03:46
Speaker
I love that. You have sown so many seeds of wisdom today. Thank you so much for sharing all of your knowledge. For those that are listening right now that want to give a go at seed saving, how can they join your mini course? It's super easy. You just go either to our website or really anywhere on social media and the profile, you just enter your email That's all you have to do to get signed up and then you'll get all of the videos and the printable worksheets and all of that will just get emailed to you. So it's free to take but you do have to sign up in order to get on the list to be part of it.
01:04:20
Speaker
That's amazing, though. It's free. Is there a limit of how many people can sign up? Nope, as many people. I want everyone who could possibly take it who has any interest in this at all, even if you're not interested, but your kids are curious about, would it be, you know, pollinates a flower? What happens? Like, there's just so much to learn. I think anybody who wants to take it, I would love to have them join us.
01:04:42
Speaker
oh Thank you for that generosity. I'm sure there will be a lot of signups after today or I hope so. Yes. Before we say goodbye today, is there anything that I haven't asked you that you would like to leave our listeners with today? ah We've talked about so many things. I don't think so. mean If there's anything else you want to ask, go for it. but Any advice? What about, let's see here, for someone who is newer in their flower journey, what would you tell them?
01:05:11
Speaker
Okay, I know this is like not the advice you wanna hear, but you are going to kill so many flowers and so many plants. Just you have to make peace with this right from the beginning. I still kill thousands, probably hundreds or thousands of plants every single growing season still after all these years. There are so many things that are outside of your control from weather to insects, and then things within your control, like you forgot to water them.
01:05:38
Speaker
It happens to all of us, but that doesn't mean that you don't have a green thumb. It's not a sign from the universe that you're not supposed to be doing this. It doesn't mean that you're a bad gardener. It just is part of the process. It's part of the journey. So just make peace with that, that you're you're just going to kill a lot of stuff and then you're going to have a ton of successes. But I think if you could just not be hard on yourself and keep leaning into the areas that bring you joy and what you're passionate about and let yourself just totally go for it and just go as big into it as you want to. it's gonna you're goingnna It's going to be amazing and you're also going to kill a lot of plants and that's also totally fine.
01:06:21
Speaker
I remember when you gave that advice in the Florette Online Workshop, and it has stuck with me. And I feel like every time I kill a bunch of plants, it's my biggest teacher, and I come back stronger the following year. I know. It's like you hate to think about that. You're like, oh, your biggest six, you know, the greatest learning is in your mistakes, but man, it really is.
01:06:43
Speaker
and And you do, I mean, I still, like I walk out and I'm like, I can't believe that I didn't water that tray and everything's wilted in debt. like It happens to the best of us and it doesn't mean anything about you, just some more seeds. Yes. it It'll be fine.
01:06:59
Speaker
More seeds. I love it. That was wonderful advice. I'm going to guess that most of our listeners are already following you, but on the off chance that someone is just discovering you for the first time today, how can they go learn more about you? Where can they find you?
01:07:15
Speaker
You can just Google Fluorette and you will find us. And we have a very helpful website that is filled with a lot of growing tutorials and
Conclusion and Community Engagement
01:07:26
Speaker
instructions. and We also this year, this last year released um ah the Fluorette Library, which has over 1,500 varieties of flowers that I have trialed and documented over the years. And it's all Christmas photographs. Jill and I wrote all of the information. you it's It's designed to be printable to use for planning your gardens that's a really great resource and then on our site you can sign up for mini courses so we have seed saving that's happening now and then after that we'll have a free dahlia mini course about digging dividing and storing them.
01:08:00
Speaker
So we always have information we're sharing. And then, of course, Facebook and Instagram. Instagram's like my daily diary from the farm, which is just like what's happening in any given moment. And then, of course, sign up for a newsletter because that's kind of how you keep in the loop on everything awesome that's happening, that you don't miss anything.
01:08:18
Speaker
because your seeds and things sell out very quickly. They do. Yes. Well, excellent. I will include show links to all of the different ways people can find you as well as a link to your mini course for seed saving. It has been such an honor to get to chat with you. I'd love to leave the door open if you have or have any future announcements or want to come back and chat on the Backyard Bouquet podcast. We'd love to have you again. I'd love to come back. Thank you. Thank you, Erin. Have a wonderful day.
01:08:51
Speaker
Hey flower friends, just popping in again with something exciting. Do you know you could turn your love for gardening or cut flowers into a digital course? My mentor, Amy Porterfield has a quick quiz that'll show you if you're one of the three types of people who can do just that. And it only takes two minutes. The quiz link is in the show notes. Go check it out. And you just might be surprised by the results.
01:09:17
Speaker
Thank you Flower Friends for joining us on another episode of the Backyard Bouquet. I hope you've enjoyed the inspiring stories and valuable gardening insights we've shared today. Whether you're cultivating your own backyard blooms or supporting your local flower farmer, you're contributing to the local flower movement, and we're so happy to have you growing with us.
01:09:38
Speaker
If you'd like to stay connected and continue this blossoming journey with local flowers, don't forget to subscribe to the Backyard Bouquet podcast. I'd be so grateful if you would take a moment to leave us a review of this episode. And finally, please share this episode with your garden friends. Until next time, keep growing, keep blooming, and remember that every bouquet starts right here in the backyard.