Blooming Profits: Conversations with Flower Farmers

Operating a Small Scale Flower U Pick with Wild Bird Farm

I sit down with fellow grower and Youtuber, Tara from Wild Bird Farm to talk about her small scale U Pick and how she's been moving stems over her 4 year flower farming journey. I think you'll find this discussion particularly inspiring as Tara grows in a relatively small space but yet is able to pump out so many blooms!
 
You can find Tara at @WildBirdFarm both over at Instagram & YouTube!
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Link to my free newsletter! Get timely and relevant business tips and insights every other Wednesday. https://bit.ly/3yitpiI
Want to support me in making more videos like this? Join my Patreon! For less than a fancy cup of coffee a month ($5), you’ll also unlock access to gated articles for even more valuable content. www.patreon.com/bareflowerfarm
Preorder spring 2025 tulips! Here are our offerings: https://www.bareflowerfarm.com/shop/tulip-bulbs 
Looking for a reliable, rugged, and remarkable focal that you can succession plant throughout the season? Lilies are the perfect crop. I'm selling lily, roselily, & callas in 25 and 50x on www.bareflowerfarm.com/shop/lily-bulbs 

Spring lessons & How Jordon built her farmstand Facebook following in months (Youtube Live)

@jordonsflowerfarm and I have been texting all season long about successes & mistakes, and we want to share it all with you in a live and allow you to ask questions! More importantly though, Jordon has been hard at work building her "retail" following this winter & spring. Here is what makes Jordon's spring season so impressive:
1) Jordon relocated her farm to a completely different town in Oklahoma, about 1 hour away from her last farm. It's a completely different local market and Jordon had to put in farm infrastructure and plants AGAIN.
2) "Buttercup" the farmstand was put on site in late 2023 but Jordon really started rebuilding her local following this year. Jordon's Facebook page is now close to 4k followers and all of them are REAL potential customers (versus other flower farmers)
3) In less than 6 months, Buttercup has exceeded sales expectations and outperformed the farmers market as a sales outlet.
We are going to dedicate about 50% of our time talking high level about spring lessons learned including how Jordon accelerated Buttercup's success and then spend the other 50% talking about lessons learned with spring flowers. Come with coffee ☕️ and a notebook 📗. This one will be full of data & insights 🤓!
 
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Link to my free newsletter! Get timely and relevant business tips and insights every other Wednesday. https://bit.ly/3yitpiI
Want to support me in making more videos like this? Join my Patreon! For less than a fancy cup of coffee a month ($5), you’ll also unlock access to gated articles for even more valuable content. www.patreon.com/bareflowerfarm
Looking for a reliable, rugged, and remarkable focal that you can succession plant throughout the season? Lilies are the perfect crop. I'm selling lily, roselily, & callas in 25 and 50x on www.bareflowerfarm.com/shop/lily-bulbs

Woodies, Perennials & Short Lived Perennials (Youtube Live)

Both Jordon and Jessie recently invested in woodies & perennials. We share about the perennials we invested in and why. Jordon was even able to harvest some off of her first year baptisia starts!
 
Link to my free newsletter! Get timely and relevant business tips and insights every other Wednesday. https://bit.ly/3yitpiI
Want to support me in making more videos like this? Join my Patreon! For less than a fancy cup of coffee a month ($5), you’ll also unlock access to gated articles for even more valuable content. www.patreon.com/bareflowerfarm
Looking for a reliable, rugged, and remarkable focal that you can succession plant throughout the season? Lilies are the perfect crop. I'm selling lily, roselily, & callas in 25 and 50x on www.bareflowerfarm.com/shop/lily-bulbs

Understanding fish fertilizer | Interview with Neptune's Harvest

It is one of the most recognized fertilizer brands amongst small organic flower farmers and gardeners, yet many of us have never heard of the origin story of Neptune's Harvest. We talk about what it takes to make this fertilizer, the difference between a cold process, hydrolyzed fertilizer vs a fish emulsion, and when/how to apply fish fertilizer. I hope you'll enjoy this interview as much as I did!
Want to buy Neptune's Harvest fertilizer? The company offers free shipping within the contiguous US. You can find the range of their products here https://bit.ly/3Wy2oSy
You can also buy the 2-3-1 fertilizer that Ann spoke about (and the one I use) via amazon here via my affiliate link: https://amzn.to/3UBjvjX
 
Link to my free newsletter! Get timely and relevant business tips and insights every other Wednesday. https://bit.ly/3yitpiI
Want to support me in making more videos like this? Join my Patreon! For less than a fancy cup of coffee a month ($5), you’ll also unlock access to gated articles for even more valuable content. www.patreon.com/bareflowerfarm
Looking for a reliable, rugged, and remarkable focal that you can succession plant throughout the season? Lilies are the perfect crop. I'm selling lily, roselily, & callas in 25 and 50x on www.bareflowerfarm.com/shop/lily-bulbs

Making strategic & smart flower farming decisions with Lennie Larkin (Flower Farming for Profit) - Part 2

This is part 2 of my interview with Lennie where we talk high level how we can set ourselves up for profitable flower farming. Here are some of the topics we cover:
Marketing for year 0 flower farm
Advice for the flower farmer who is maxing out at years 2-4
What profit margin you can realistically expect when you have hired help
Recommended % of time to spend on marketing
#1 piece of advice for new flower farmers
Link to Youtube Interview with visuals here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYWg2F9f_7I&t=300s
Follow Lennie at
Flower Farming for Profit: https://www.flowerfarmingforprofit.com/ - there are a ton of free resources for profitable flower farming
Instagram for Flower Farming for Profit: @flowerfarming.forprofit
B-Side Flowers Instagram: @b.side.farm.flowers
Other interviews with Lennie's that you'll enjoy:
Floral Brouhaha | Flower Farming for Profit with Lennie Larkin: https://www.botanicalbrouhaha.com/flo...
Growing for Market Growing a profitable flower farm with Lennie Larkin:    • Growing a profitable flower farm with...  
Dirt on Flowers | 5 Keys to Profit with Lennie Larkin: https://podcasts.apple.com/in/podcast...
Want to support me in making more videos like this? Join my Patreon! For less than a fancy cup of coffee a month ($5), you’ll also unlock access to gated articles for even more valuable content.
Looking for a reliable, rugged, and remarkable focal that you can succession plant throughout the season? Lilies are the perfect crop. I'm selling lily, roselily, & callas in 25 and 50x on www.bareflowerfarm.com/shop/lily-bulbs

Tips for a successful farmstand with Lennie Larkin (Flower Farming for Profit) - Part 1

This is a longer interview split into two parts and this is Part 1!
I interviewed Lennie of B-Side Farm & Flower Farming for Profit to talk about how we can set flower farms up for long term success and we got down the rabbit hole of farm stands! We let the conversation go DEEP and I know this conversation will help you- whether you're looking to sell through a farmstand or a different outlet.
 
We cover the following topics:
Leasing a farmstand if you cannot have one on your property
Little things you can do to optimize your farmstand for success
Pricing/mark ups
Lennie also has a free resource on farmstand tips for anyone interested! https://bit.ly/3UfWdQe
Follow Lennie at
Flower Farming for Profit: https://www.flowerfarmingforprofit.com/ - there are a ton of free resources for profitable flower farming
Instagram for Flower Farming for Profit: @flowerfarming.forprofit
B-Side Flowers Instagram: @b.side.farm.flowers
You can find the video version of this interview with visuals at https://youtu.be/yO4CrQCCq4E 

Pop-Up Sales: Flower Farmer Makes $4.5k+ in 3 months

Robyn is a microgrower in MA. She took The Tulip Workshop to maximize her indoor growing space where she was able to grow over 5000 stems this winter. Without a website or a traditional sales outlet, she was able to move a majority of these stems through pop ups!
We talk in detail about how she approaches pop ups, realistic expectations and how a "hustle" mentality has led to a successful second season. I loved this conversation because Robyn has stayed true to herself - she leans into her strengths and does what works for HER. I hope you enjoy this interview as much as I enjoyed interviewing Robyn.
Link to Youtube interview here with visuals!
Sponsored details:
Looking to lily bulbs for a programmable and reliable focal? Shipping now! 
Want to support me in creating more content like this? Consider joining my Patreon where for $5 a month, you can gain access to more gated content that accompanies 

Daffodils & Tulips: Successes, Failures & Plans for 2025 (Youtube Live)

SOOOO much to talk about here with @jordonsflowerfarm. Lots of successes but also lots of failures and we won't shy away from discussing where we went wrong and how that impacts next year's plans.
Topics being covered:
Field grown tulips in a hot zone (Oklahoma)
General failure/attrition between field & hydroponically forced tulips
Sales strategy for moving an excess of tulips for Jordan
Selection of varieties for 2025 based on harvesting, storage & marketability
When you should be getting in your bulb order for 2025 & suppliers we buy from
Impact of shipping on bulb costs
To watch the videos, check out the Youtube Live version of this episode! 
 
Sponsored details:
Looking to lily bulbs for a programmable and reliable focal? Shipping now! https://www.bareflowerfarm.com/shop/lily-bulbs

How to stand out in a crowded flower market & bouquet design with Youtuber @FloristsonFarms

I sat down with Marie aka  @floristsonfarms  for a chat. We talk a bit about Marie's background, having grown up in the floral industry and how she ended up as a farmer florist. More importantly, she shares how her design skills help set her apart from a highly competitive floral market where floral prices can reach rock bottom.
For more content, check out the bareflowerfarm Youtube page 
Sponsored details:
Looking to lily bulbs for a programmable and reliable focal? Shipping now! https://www.bareflowerfarm.com/shop/lily-bulbs

Gambles we're taking on the farm now with growing & sales (Youtube Live)

This is going to be a really interesting conversation. I'm personally excited to catch up with Jordon because she is doing SO much especially in year 2, some of it quite high stakes when it comes to $ & time investment.
High level, we will be talking about:
1) Pushing the envelope when it comes to what we're seeding and experimenting growing wise
2) Crops we are "betting on" in 2024
3) New farmers market sales strategy (Jordon)
4) What scaling looks like in terms of high $ investments in personnel & services
 
Links Mentioned: Shop for wholesale lily bulbs in 25x & 50x quantities: https://www.bareflowerfarm.com/shop/lily-bulbs
For more content, check out the bareflowerfarm Youtube page