The Slow Flowers Podcast is the award-winning show known as the “Voice of the Slow Flowers Movement.” Launched in 2013 as the original flower podcast, we’ve devoted more than 10 years to covering the business of flower farming, floral design, and the Slow Flowers sustainability ethos. Listen to a new episode each Wednesday, available for free download here at slowflowerspodcast.com or on iTunes, Spotify, and other podcast platforms.
Jessica at The Planting Bar at Flowers and Weeds (c) Jordan Bauer
If you’re listening on Wednesday, May 13th, the date this Episode 453 was released, picture me in St. Louis, where I was scheduled to be the luncheon speaker at the annual “Flower Power at Tower Grove Park” event. One of seven National Historic Landmark Parks, Tower Grove is a 289-acre Victorian park that serves as the backyard of St. Louis’ most diverse and densely populated urban neighborhoods and draws 2.5 million annual visitors.
The annual luncheon is a rite of spring. I’m pretty impressed that Tower Grove asked me to share the Slow Flowers story with its patrons and members, considering that last year’s luncheon speakers were NYC’s Putnam & Putnam rock stars. I was especially excited about the organizers’ plan to invite four St. Louis area Slow Flowers members to provide the luncheon centerpieces, including Mimo Davis and Miranda Duschack of Urban Buds, Kate Estwing of City House Country Mouse, Rebecca Bodicky of Alice Blue Collective and today’s guest, Jessica Douglass of Flowers & Weeds.
The good news is that Tower Grove has rescheduled the Flower Power event for September 30th and I very much look forward to my future visit to St. Louis and this botanical celebration.
The vintage sign at Flowers & Weeds is mounted on the original pole that once stood in front the building when it was a St. Louis ice cream shop (c) Virginia Harold
In the meantime, I wanted to bring you this conversation with Jessica. I interviewed her in 2016 when I traveled to St. Louis for the first time to lecture at St. Louis Art Museum’s Art in Bloom – which was an unforgettable experience. You can listen to that interview, which I paired with a lovely conversation with Vicki Lander of Flower Hill Farm, a Slow Flowers member and talented cut flower grower in the area – one who supplied me with her flowers for that Art in Bloom demonstration and who continually supplies florists like Jessica.
Jessica Douglass (c) Virginia Harold“Guess this is QUARANSPRING” — local photographer Nate Burrell documented Flowers and Weeds’ curbside plant pickup in his St. Louis COVID Days series
For now, I’ll jump right in and introduce Jessica Douglass. I’ve been reporting almost exclusively on “Stories of Resilience” as our floral community adapts and adjusts creatively to the COVID-19 pandemic. And you’ll hear that theme continue in my interview with Jessica.
The Garden Center at Flowers and Weeds (c) Virginia HaroldA screen shot of the online store at flowersandweeds.com
Find and follow Flowers and Weeds at these social places:
Flowers (left) and Plants (right) at Flowers and Weeds, the cool flower & plant shop in downtown St. Louis, founded by today’s guest Jessica Douglass
Thanks so much for listening in on my virtual visit to St. Louis and Flowers and Weeds. The local connections being made are so important and are deepening ties between where flowers are grown and the ways floral consumers can enjoy them while supporting floral agriculture.
These indeed are Stories of Resilience. I mentioned that there are three other florists or farmer-florists whose designs are part of the now-rescheduled Tower Grove “Flower Power” event. I’m hopeful that I can record an update with each of them in the coming months, as well.
Our Slow Flowers Member Virtual Meet-Ups continue to provide value and support as a member benefit. Last Friday on May 8th, we welcomed Rita Jo Shoultz of Alaska Perfect Peony and the Certified American Grown Council as our Zoom “virtual”meet-up guest.
Please join me at the next Slow Flowers Virtual Meet-Up, this Friday, May 15th — 9 am Pacific/Noon Eastern. Can’t wait to see you there!
Yoni Levenbach (left) and Bethany Little (right)
Our special guests include Yoni Levenbach of Flowers Without Borders, and Bethany Little of Charles Little & Co. They both work in the wholesale arena, although with very different models. I am excited for you to hear from Yoni about what he calls being a “Flower Hunter,” who works from his base in Los Angeles to custom source from farms across the U.S. for a diverse customer base. And I’m thrilled that Bethany will have news to share from Eugene Oregon, where she and her husband Charles Little are veteran cut flower farmers who have seen it all. Everything old might be new again for Bethany and Charles, but they are elevating and expanding their flower business in exciting new ways, which will inspire you.
Florists’ Reviewmagazine. I’m delighted to serve as Contributing Editor for Slow Flowers Journal, found in the pages of Florists’ Review. Read our stories at slowflowersjournal.com.
The Gardener’s Workshop, which offers a full curriculum of online education for flower farmers and farmer-florists. Online education is more important this year than ever, and you’ll want to check out the course offerings at thegardenersworkshop.com
Mayesh Wholesale Florist. Family-owned since 1978, Mayesh is the premier wedding and event supplier in the U.S. and we’re thrilled to partner with Mayesh to promote local and domestic flowers, which they source from farms large and small around the U.S. Learn more at mayesh.com.
Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers. Formed in 1988, ASCFG was created to educate, unite, and support commercial cut flower growers. It mission is to help growers produce high-quality floral material, and to foster and promote the local availability of that product. Learn more at ascfg.org.
(c) Missy Palacol Photography
The Slow Flowers Podcast has been downloaded more than 604,000 times by listeners like you. Thank you for listening, commenting and sharing – it means so much.
As our movement gains more supporters and more passionate participants who believe in the importance of the American cut flower industry, the momentum is contagious. I know you feel it, too. I value your support and invite you to show your thanks and with a donation to support my ongoing advocacy, education and outreach activities. You can find the donate button in the column to the right.
The content and opinions expressed here are either mine alone or those of my guests alone, independent of any podcast sponsor or other person, company or organization.
The Slow Flowers Podcast is engineered and edited by Andrew Brenlan. Learn more about his work at soundbodymovement.com.
Music Credits:
Turning On The Lights; Heartland Flyer; Gaena; Glass Beads by Blue Dot Sessions http://www.sessions.blue
Josh and Lindsey McCullough, Red Twig FarmsFloral design by Tara Folker of Splints & Daisies (left); Tara (right)
Mother’s Day is the mother of all floral holidays. According to industry data, it’s larger even than Valentine’s Day. Well, this year, is unlike any floral holiday we’ve seen before. Valentine’s Day happened before the onslaught of Coronavirus in most places. Easter came early this year, so early that it was just the beginning of understanding how COVID-19 was going to impact the floral marketplace and many of us were immobilized, in shock or didn’t have much to harvest in early April.
Yet, we’ve been racing toward a specific date on the calendar — Sunday, May 10th. How are you preparing for Mother’s Day? There has been a lot of discussion about what I’m calling “safe, slow flowers,” and through conversations with our members, I’m learning how much creativity is behind our desire to fill our customers’ vases with local, seasonal, and sustainable Mother’s Day flowers.
Today, we have two guests who are sharing their Stories of Resilience for our ongoing series, designed to inspire and encourage you.
Now, more than ever, the message of sustainability and seasonal and locally-available flowers is top of mind — among consumers, flower farmers and florists.
I want the Slow Flowers Podcast to be a companion to those of you in isolation, away from your physical community of peers, neighbors, customers and friends. And I believe that sharing personal stories is one powerful way to sustain ourselves and our floral enterprises.
Red Twig Farms’ “Spread the Hope” campaign delivered more than 1,000 spring bouquets in the community
Our first guest is flower farmer Lindsey McCullough of Red Twig Farms in New Albany, Ohio, outside Columbus. She’ll be joined by Heather Kohler, Red Twig’s Farm Store Manager.
Splints & Daisies designed its Mother’s Day floral campaign to benefit a fellow small business
Our second guest is floral designer Tara Folker of Splints & Daisies outside Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
I wanted to chat with them all to learn how
they’re supplying flowers in a new way, reinventing what may have worked well
during past seasons, and forging ahead during less-than-ideal conditions. Their
strategies are creative, community-minded, and designed to connect customers
who care about and want seasonal blooms with their flowers.
The Farm Store at Red Twig Farms during a typical Peony Fest
Here’s a bit more about Red Twig Farms:
Owned and operated by Josh & Lindsey McCullough, Red Twig Farms is a small, family-owned and operated cut flower and branch farm located in Central Ohio. Their year usually begins with pussy willow branches in February/March, followed later in the spring, when you can find the couple and their crew harvesting Peony flowers morning to night. By fall they’re harvesting dogwood and willow branches in a variety of color and textures for holiday containers and decor.
Flowers and Farmers from Red Twig Farms fill the farm’s Instagram feed
Red Twig Farms was born in 2010, after the family bought 9 acres across the street from their existing nursery. The land hadn’t been farmed for two decades and Lindsey and Josh saw an opportunity to use their horticulture background in a new venture. Red Twig Farms took time to get up and running, in part because peonies take 3 to 5 years to mature before you can completely harvest them . . . the farm now produces multiple varieties of peonies, dogwood & willow branches. In 2019, they planted tulips — and you’ll hear more about how things are changing with a bumper crop coming on at about the same time Ohio asked its residents to stay at home and shelter in place due to the coronavirus pandemic. In response, Red Twig Farms launched its Spread the Hope bouquet program to support frontline healthcare workers and the Donate a Bouquet to a Stranger to share an encouragement through flowers in their community.
Tara designed a lovely floral “cape” with spring bulb flowers, created for the 2017 American Flowers Week botanical couture collection (c) With Love & Embers
Here’s a bit more about Splints & Daisies Floral Design:
Tara Folker has been a long time flower lover and plant geek. With the love of all things “green and growing” instilled in her as a young child, Tara has had her hands in the dirt and been playing with flowers her whole life. Inspired by her family’s art background, florals became Tara’s way to express herself artistically.
Tara strives to use only local blooms. During the growing season, she uses flowers from local farms, foraged finds, and botanicals grown in her own cutting garden. Recently she embarked on the journey of growing heirloom mums, with plans to expanding each year. In her spare time, Tara enjoys nature even more by hiking and kayaking to her heart’s content. She and her husband Jason are chipping away at sections of the Appalachian Trail! They live in Lancaster County with a sweet kitty named Petunia, and a Doodly Lab named Hazel Juniper.
How great to learn two Mother’s Day floral
strategies from Slow Flowers members in Ohio and Pennsylvania. The local
connections being made are so important and are deepening ties between where
flowers are grown and the ways floral consumers can enjoy them while supporting
floral agriculture. These indeed are Stories of Resilience.
Follow Red Twig Farms and Splints & Daisies at these social places:
Click to watch last week’s (May 1st) Virtual Meet-Up
Our
Slow Flowers Member Virtual Meet-Ups continue to provide value and engagement
as a member benefit. Last Friday on May 1st, we also discussed Mother’s Day
strategies with three guests on our Zoom “virtual”meet-up.
Thank you to floral designer Kelly Shore of Petals by the Shore and flower farmers Sarah Daken and Tom Precht of Grateful Gardeners. Both businesses are based in Maryland and these floral entrepreneurs joined the Meet-Up to share about new strategies to adapt and sustain their businesses. After we wrapped up last Friday’s virtual meet-up, I received a heartfelt note from a member who has regularly attended these sessions.
Here’s the note: Today’s meeting was lovely as always. I almost had to miss the meet up because of business and in this climate, on my end, today was like a Mother’s Day. I noticed that I was bothered to be missing the meet up because it has become part of my Friday ritual and routine mainly because of how good I feel after each meeting. So thank you for what you continue to do for flower people.
This member tapped into the true “secret sauce” in the value of being a Slow Flowers member. Of course, if you can’t join us in real time, you can watch the replay video of our May 1st meet-up (see link above).
Please join me at the next Slow Flowers Virtual Meet-Up, this Friday, May 8th at our original time — 9 am Pacific/Noon Eastern. Can’t wait to see you there! Our special guest will be Rita Jo Shoultz of Alaska Perfect Peonies in Fritz Creek, Alaska, outside Homer. Alaska Perfect Peonies is a long-time Slow Flowers member. Rita Jo is also the chair of Certified American Grown council and she’s joining us to talk about some of the policymaking and regulatory issues facing domestic floral agriculture.
This podcast is brought to you by Slowflowers.com, the free, nationwide online directory to florists, shops, and studios who design with American-grown flowers and to the farms that grow those blooms. It’s the conscious choice for buying and sending flowers.
And thank you to Florists’ Review magazine. I’m delighted to serve as Contributing Editor for Slow Flowers Journal, found in the pages of Florists’ Review. Read our stories at slowflowersjournal.com.
Syndicate Sales, an American manufacturer of vases and accessories for the professional florist. Look for the American Flag Icon to find Syndicate’s USA-made products and join the Syndicate Stars loyalty program at syndicatesales.com.
Rooted Farmers. Rooted Farmers works exclusively with local growers to put the highest-quality specialty cut flowers in floral customers’ hands. When you partner with Rooted Farmers, you are investing in your community, and you can expect a commitment to excellence in return. Learn more at RootedFarmers.com.
Johnny’s Selected Seeds, an employee-owned company that provides our industry the best flower, herb and vegetable seeds — supplied to farms large and small and even backyard cutting gardens like mine. Find the full catalog of flower seeds and bulbs at johnnyseeds.com.
The Slow Flowers Podcast has been downloaded more than 602,000 times by listeners like you. Thank you for listening, commenting and sharing – it means so much.
As our movement gains more supporters and more passionate participants who believe in the importance of the American cut flower industry, the momentum is contagious. I know you feel it, too. I value your support and invite you to show your thanks and with a donation to support my ongoing advocacy, education and outreach activities. You can find the donate button in the column to the right.
The content and opinions expressed here are either mine alone or those of my guests alone, independent of any podcast sponsor or other person, company or organization.
The Slow Flowers Podcast is engineered and edited by Andrew Brenlan. Learn more about his work at soundbodymovement.com.
Music Credits:
Turning On The Lights; Heartland Flyer; Gaena; Glass Beads by Blue Dot Sessions http://www.sessions.blue
Two inspiring voices in the floral marketplace: Yvonne Ashton (left), marketing director, Mayesh Wholesale Florist (c) Nicole Clarey; Molly Oliver Culver (right) of Molly Oliver Flowers
Today, we have two guests sharing their stories from different parts of the floral equation — and both hugely relevant to our Stories of Resilience series. I believe that now, more than ever, the message of sustainability and seasonal and locally-available flowers is top of mind — among consumers, flower farmers and florists.
I want the Slow Flowers Podcast to be a companion to those of you in isolation, away from your physical community of peers, neighbors, customers and friends. I don’t have many answers, but we can share stories with one another. And I believe this is a powerful way to sustain ourselves.
I’ve been eager to learn ways that wholesale florists are managing and I’ve also wanted to hear how wedding and event florists are reshaping their businesses. My recently recorded conversations with today’s guests will illuminate those questions for all of us.
First up, we’ll hear from Yvonne Ashton, director of marketing at Mayesh Wholesale Florist. And that will be followed by a conversation with Molly Culver, a Brooklyn-based wedding and event florist and owner of Molly Oliver Flowers.
Yvonne Ashton, photographed at a Mayesh floral design workshop (c) Nicole Clarey
Here’s a bit more about Yvonne Ashton: At 18 years old, Yvonne Ashton had no idea what she wanted to be when she grew up. However, she did know that she loved business and decided to go to school to get a degree in Operations Management & Business Statistics. She felt a bit like Goldilocks after graduating and tried several different careers but none of them felt “just right”.
Yvonne hosts “Mornings with Mayesh,” including the recent Live Chat with Alison Ellis
Over 11 years ago, Yvonne Ashton began her career in marketing with Mayesh Wholesale Florist, and boy did that seem to be the right fit. Integrating her nerdy degree, entrepreneurial experience, passion for flowers and design, and a need to continuously learn, she found her place in the world of marketing. Whether serving on the marketing committee for the Wholesale Florist & Florist Supplier Association (also known as WFFSA) or hosting her live show, Mornings with Mayesh, Yvonne is always eager to share her love for marketing and commitment to the floral industry.
Yvonne is the wife of Mayesh’s Miami branch manager, the mother to two amazing girls, owner of a Shar Pei, and a true soccer mom through and through. If she isn’t in her home office, then you will most likely find her on the soccer fields cheering and creating video content for her daughter’s Instagram.
And here’s a bit more about Molly Culver: Supporting local farmers, small farm economies, regional food and water sheds, and social justice initiatives have been Molly’s defining passions. She trained as an organic farmer in her early 20s and worked as a vegetable/flower farmer and educator for 10 years, both in NYC and in California.
Molly Culver (c) Victoria Morris (left); Floral design by Molly Oliver Flowers (c) Khaki Bedford Photography (right)
Floral design work is a natural extension of Molly’s urge to create, her reverence for the natural world, and love of hands-on team work that employs the whole body and all the senses. She launched Molly Oliver Flowers in 2012 to support regional flower growers, and to build a floral design business that approached events with a zero waste mindset.
Throughout Molly’s most beloved life experiences, the connective tissue has always been people, soil, and plants. At the core, she cares deeply about equity, inclusion, sustainability and loving kindness and she aims for these values to serve as a foundation for her business.
When not designing flowers, you can find Molly teaching soil science at Brooklyn Botanic Garden, cooking with friends, doing something outside, or squeezing her two adorable cats.
Her work as a farmer, farmer-florist, and Slow Flowers advocate has been featured in Bust Magazine, the New York Times, Well Wed, Modern Farmer Magazine, Brides Magazine, the Slow Flowers Podcast, Radio Cherry Bombe, Florists’ Review and more.
SEASONAL FLOWER PROJECT a weekly flower delivery service on Fridays!
About the Seasonal Flower Project: WHY MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTIONS? “No events in NYC means orders are well below the typical volume for farms. To make a 2-3 hour trip to NYC worth it, we need to invest as a collective. If we have 40+ households sign up, we will be hitting the minimum volume of sales needed to make this trip worth the investment in labor, gas money, lost sleep, and time away from the farm when labor has been slashed to meet social distancing guidelines.
“So, we are asking you to invest for a month, or two, or three. On our end, biting our fingernails off worrying if we will hit that 40-order minimum is a little too much stress during a stressful time! Community Supported Agriculture (or CSA) is a way to ensure support to the farmer; Molly Oliver Flowers is adopting the model also as a way to ensure this small business’s survival through this challenging time.”
April 24, 2020 Slow Flowers Members’ Virtual Meet-Up
Our Slow Flowers Member Virtual Meet-Ups continue to have great attendance and participation and feel incredibly rewarding. Last Friday on April 24th, our topic turned to Wellness and Self-Care — and it was a beautiful hour together with our two guest speakers and dozens of members who joined the Zoom call. Thank you to life and career coach Julie Tobi and writer and artist Lorene Edwards Forkner for sharing and encouraging those of us who attended. If you couldn’t make it to the Meet-Up, you’ll want to watch the playback video, seen above.
Please join the next Slow Flowers Virtual Meet-Up on Friday, May 1st at 10 am Pacific/1 pm Eastern [Please note the new time this week]. Can’t wait to see you there! We have three special guests who will walk us through strategies and creative ideas for your Mother’s Day floral plans.
We’ll welcome Kelly Shore of Petals by the Shore, a longtime Slow Flowers member and past Slow Flowers Summit speaker. Kelly is based in Bethesda, Maryland, where she has primarily focused her studio business on weddings and events, as well as education through The Floral Source, her retreat-style workshops. She will talk about rapidly transforming her business into a contact-free floral delivery service.
Grateful Gardeners: Tom Precht and Sarah Daken, photographed on my October 13th visit to Boyds, Maryland
Kelly relies heavily on local Maryland-grown flowers, so we’ve asked two of her favorite farmers, Sarah Daken and Tom Precht of Grateful Gardeners, to also join the Meet-Up. They will share about collaborating with florists and developing their own farm-direct business model — which looks quite a bit different than they envisioned it would be in 2020.
Like Kelly, Sarah and Tom are past guests of the Slow Flowers Podcast and active members of Slow Flowers. Please join us from this Zoom Link.
This podcast is brought to you by Slowflowers.com, the free, nationwide online directory to florists, shops, and studios who design with American-grown flowers and to the farms that grow those blooms. It’s the conscious choice for buying and sending flowers.
And thank you to Florists’ Review magazine. I’m delighted to serve as Contributing Editor for Slow Flowers Journal, found in the pages of Florists’ Review. Read our stories at slowflowersjournal.com.
More thanks goes to: Longfield Gardens, which provides home gardeners with high quality flower bulbs and perennials. Their online store offers plants for every region and every season, from tulips and daffodils to dahlias, caladiums and amaryllis. Check out the full catalog at Longfield Gardens at longfield-gardens.com.
Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers. Formed in 1988, ASCFG was created to educate, unite, and support commercial cut flower growers. It mission is to help growers produce high-quality floral material, and to foster and promote the local availability of that product. Learn more at ascfg.org.
FarmersWeb. FarmersWeb software makes it simple for flower farms to streamline working with their buyers. By lessening the administrative load and increasing efficiency, FarmersWeb helps your farm save time, reduce errors, and work with more buyers overall. Learn more at www.farmersweb.com.
This is the weekly podcast about American Flowers and the people who grow and design with them. It’s all about making a conscious choice and I invite you to join the conversation and the creative community as we discuss the vital topics of saving our domestic flower farms and supporting a floral industry that relies on a safe, seasonal and local supply of flowers and foliage.
The Slow Flowers Podcast has been downloaded more than 600,000 times by listeners like you. Thank you for listening, commenting and sharing – it means so much.
As our movement gains more supporters and more passionate participants who believe in the importance of the American cut flower industry, the momentum is contagious. I know you feel it, too. I value your support and invite you to show your thanks and with a donation to support my ongoing advocacy, education and outreach activities. You can find the donate button in the column to the right.
The content and opinions expressed here are either mine alone or those of my guests alone, independent of any podcast sponsor or other person, company or organization.
The Slow
Flowers Podcast is engineered and edited by Andrew Brenlan. Learn more
about his work at soundbodymovement.com.
Emily Watson of Wood Violet in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Our featured guest this week is florist-farmer Emily Watson, who first appeared on the Slow Flowers Podcast in 2015. I’m delighted that she has agreed to return and share an update on her business, Wood Violet, based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. You’ll want to go back and listen to that earlier episode — click here.
Wedding design by Wood Violet – personal flowers and ceremony flowers.
Five years ago when Emily joined me for an episode, the timing was auspicious. She was in the throes of pivoting from her small cut flower farm operation called Stems Cut Flowers to a wedding design studio named after Wisconsin’s state flower – the Wood Violet.
After five years focusing entirely on designing for couples and ceremonies, the land is calling Emily back. And she’s agreed to discuss her entrepreneurial thought process as her business is again responding to market opportunities.
Here’s a bit more about Emily, excerpted from
her web site:
Emily is a farmer florist and small business owner who calls Milwaukee home. With an education in biological conservation and a background in both floral design and landscaping, she started Stems Cut Flowers in 2008.
With a little land borrowed from her grandparents’ farm in East Troy, Wisconsin, Emily envisioned that Stems Cut Flowers would sell to florists and at farmer’s markets, and maybe for an occasional wedding. Well the idea of occasional weddings turned into a nearly every weekend occurrence and it soon became evident that Emily was running two separate businesses. That’s when in 2015, she officially established two separate businesses and launched her floral design studio. Being that the wood violet is Wisconsin’s state flower it seemed an appropriate name for a business that is focused on using locally grown blooms. Stems Cut Flowers continued to grow and mostly supply flowers to the Wood Violet studio.
Beautiful floral design by Wood Violet, with Wisconsin-grown blooms
Find and follow Emily Watson at these social places:
Our bonus series here on the Slow Flowers Podcast continues with our next installment of Stories of Resilience. I believe that now, more than ever, the message of sustainability and seasonal and locally-available flowers is top of mind — among consumers, flower farmers and florists.
I want the Slow Flowers Podcast to be a companion to those of you in isolation, away from your physical community of peers, neighbors, customers and friends. I don’t have many answers, but I do want to keep the lines of communication open and accessible.
This week’s guest: Janis Harris of Harris Flower Farm in St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada
I have been so intrigued by Janis’s posts on social media promoting local flowers to her community. For the past month, Harris Flower Farm has been marketing no-contact flowers thanks entirely to Janis’s creative efforts. It started on March 21st when she posted this message on Instagram: Fresh Locally Grown Spring Cheer-Up Bouquets; 3 Local Flower Farming Families are Coming Together to Bring You Some Cheer.
Janis, the “flower lady”
Janis directed buyers to visit the online shop
on the Harris Flower Farm website to make their purchase of a $10 seasonal
bouquet. Well, that project has blown up and taken over Janis’s life. More
farms joined in so her marketing efforts are bringing additional revenue to
fellow growers. Eager customers continue to order for the weekly bouquet
deliveries, paying online and leaving a vase or bucket filled with water on
their front porch.
Janis finds herself operating a floral
business unlike anything she’s ever done before, delivering more than 100
bouquets in a single day and offering two days of delivery each week. Since the
season is early and area farmers’ markets may or may not be able to open during
Canada’s stay-at-home mandate, this project has clearly resonated with
customers and flower lovers in her community.
A lovely wedding bouquet, grown and designed by Janis Harris
On March 24th, Janis posted this update on the Farm’s IG feed: This past week has been crazy humbling. But also figuring out our new norm of delivering flowers has been a learning curve. So I need to pause the deliveries for a bit so I can wrap my head around how we can proceed with delivering flowers. I also have to STILL BE A FLOWER FARMER. It is critical time for planting and seeding. We are sticking to our original seeding schedules. So there will be lots of flowers this summer. It’s still uncertain where and how we will sell them but I have to keep planting so there is a supply when we are on the other side of this.
To our 2020 couples: please keep us in the loop. We will work with whatever changes arise. Remember it’s your relationship that is important not the date, you still have each other.💕 I will continue to show you what is happening on the farm. Flower farming doesn’t stop. 🌻 stay healthy and positive.
Thanks
so much for joining me today as we heard from both a flower farmer and a
florist in our Slow Flowers community!
This
past week, I was able to get out to my garden to start a bunch of flower seeds
– some directly-sowed and some in flats in the greenhouse. Our nighttime
temperatures here in Seattle are in the mid-40s right now, so I’m pretty
confident that we’re past our last-frost date, but you never know! We have
members who were hit with snow this past week, so nothing’s certain.
Our Slow Flowers Member Virtual Meet-Ups continue to have great attendance and participation and feel incredibly rewarding. After four consecutive weeks, I’m even feeling more confident about the Zoom technology. I owe a HUGE thanks to Karen Thornton of Avenue 22 Events, Niesha Blancas of Fetching Social Media and Lisa Waud of pot & boxfor their incredible talents to help make the Meet-Ups a smoothly run success. They’re part of the Slow Flowers Team that makes it all so joyful for me and keeps me sane.
Replay of April 17, 2020 — Slow Flowers Members’ Virtual Meet-Up
Last Friday on April 17th, Teresa Sabankaya of Bonny Doon Garden Company joined us as a special guest – she shared about how she’s designing and selling flowers during the Coronavirus era. We also had a surprise special guest — you’ll have to watch the Zoom replay video of the Virtual Meeting to see who joined us. Click on the video link above to watch!
Please join the next Slow Flowers Virtual Meet-Up on Friday, April 24th at 9 am Pacific/Noon Eastern. Can’t wait to see you there! Our very special guest will be Julie Tobi, who is a life coach for creatives. I met Julie at Holly Chapple’s Flowerstock last fall and I was so impressed with how Julie views that elusive work-life balance and helps creative professionals lean into the fulfilling careers and lives they actually want to have.
Artist, writer and editor Lorene Edwards Forkner will also join us on April 24th — and she’ll share about her watercolor studies as a mindfulness practice. Follow this link to join the Zoom Meet-Up on Friday.
As I’ve mentioned earlier, plans for the fourth annual Slow Flowers Summit, scheduled for June 28-30 are still in place, but May 15th will be the date when we will make a definitive decision whether to move forward with the original conference dates or reschedule for later in the year. I want to make sure you have 45 days’ notice to adjust your plans if we have to postpone. And just in case, mark October 26-27 as the backup dates for gathering together at our beautiful venue, Filoli Historic House and Gardenin Woodside, California. As I said last week: I’m as eager as you are to experience a fabulous conference that’s presented in a safe environment. I hope this plan assures you and assists you in managing your own schedule moving forward into 2020.
Clockwise from top, left: Susan Mcleary, Kellee Matsushita-Tseng, Molly Culver, Lorene Edwards Forkner, Debra Prinzing, Jennifer Jewell, Pilar Zuniga and Emily Saeger
You can contact us anytime with questions and I’ve added links to my email and that of our event manager Karen Thornton in today’s show notes. You can also follow the Filoli VISIT Page and Slow Flowers Summit Page for additional updates. One more thing — this past week’s Summit newsletter features wonderful updates from all of our speakers, who shared what they’re doing and how they’re managing the COVID-19 shut-down. I’d love for you to read it, too, and you can find the link here.
Thank you to our Sponsors
This podcast is brought to you by Slowflowers.com, the free, nationwide online directory to florists, shops, and studios who design with American-grown flowers and to the farms that grow those blooms. It’s the conscious choice for buying and sending flowers.
And thank you to Florists’ Review magazine. I’m delighted to serve as Contributing Editor for Slow Flowers Journal, found in the pages of Florists’ Review. Read our stories at slowflowersjournal.com.
Johnny’s Selected Seeds, an employee-owned company that provides our industry the best flower, herb and vegetable seeds — supplied to farms large and small and even backyard cutting gardens like mine. Find the full catalog of flower seeds and bulbs at johnnysseeds.com.
Mayesh Wholesale Florist. Family-owned since 1978, Mayesh is the premier wedding and event supplier in the U.S. and we’re thrilled to partner with Mayesh to promote local and domestic flowers, which they source from farms large and small around the U.S. Learn more at mayesh.com.
The Gardener’s Workshop, which offers a full curriculum of online education for flower farmers and farmer-florists. Online education is more important this year than ever, and you’ll want to check out the course offerings at thegardenersworkshop.com.
The Slow Flowers Podcast has been downloaded more than 599,000 times by listeners like you. Thank you for listening, commenting and sharing – it means so much.
As our movement gains more supporters and more passionate participants who believe in the importance of the American cut flower industry, the momentum is contagious. I know you feel it, too. I value your support and invite you to show your thanks and with a donation to support my ongoing advocacy, education and outreach activities. You can find the donate button in the column to the right.
I am in love with my greenhouse, designed and built sustainably by Oregon-based NW Green Panels (c) Missy Palacol Photography
The content and opinions expressed here are either mine alone or those of my guests alone, independent of any podcast sponsor or other person, company or organization.
The Slow Flowers Podcast is engineered and edited by Andrew Brenlan. Learn more about his work at soundbodymovement.com.
Hydrangea harvest with Walt Krukowski of Mountain Flower Farm (c) Taken by Sarah
This is the 350th episode of the Slow Flowers Podcast brought to you by Slowflowers.com, the free, nationwide online directory to florists, shops, and studios who design with American-grown flowers and to the farms that grow those blooms.
In feeling overwhelmed and uncertain about how the coronavirus pandemic will alter our beloved floral marketplace, perhaps forever, it soon became clear to me that sharing individual stories from our members is one way I could help our community. I don’t have many answers and each voice you hear on the Slow Flowers Podcast may not either, but collectively, as we continue to speak honestly about our challenges and successes, we hope to encourage and support one another.
Walt Krukowski of Mountain Flower Farm, leading a tour of his growing fields in late September 2019 (c) Taken by Sarah
Our featured guest this week is flower farmer-entrepreneur Walt Krukowski of Mountain Flower Farm in Warren, Vermont. Walt joined me via Skype to talk about his amazing farm and I’m honored to add his voice to our Stories of Reslience series.
I met Walt last September when I joined a floral sourcing workshop hosted by Kelly Shore of Petals by the Shore and Mary Kate Kinnane of The Local Bouquet. A group of 10 of us gathered for two days of education, including a full day with Walt as he walked us through the beautiful rows of late-summer ornamental crops grown for flowers and foliages. Hydrangeas, viburnum and forsythia for miles, it seemed. A stunning setting and an organic farm where bespoke flowers are grown with care. Sarah Collier of Taken by Sarah photographed the workshop and design sessions and she’s shared some lovely photographs of Walt, his farm and his flowers.
A selection of hydrangeas grown by Walt Krukowski (c) Taken by Sarah
Here’s a bit more about Mountain Flower Farm: Nestled in The Green Mountains of Vermont’s Mad River Valley, the family farm is focused on quality, sustainability, and community. For over 20 years Mountain Flower Farem have served discerning floral designers nationwide with grower direct overnight shipping. Our reputation has been founded on producing exceptional quality seasonal crops, like Peony, Lilac, Snowball Viburnum, and Hydrangea.
The farm adheres to sustainable agriculture techniques like cover cropping, companion planting, and nurturing beneficial insect habitat to provide the backbone of our #beyondorganic farming operations. Crops are grown in vibrant, healthy soil, with a balanced biological ecosystem, certain to contain abundant nutrients, minerals, and live soil microbes. Chemical fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides are never used.
Mountain Flower Farm is located in Vermont’s Mad River Valley (c) Taken by Sarah
Mountain Flower Farm’s bloom schedule is delayed by Vermont’s slow-to-come, cooler summers. When most sources for seasonal cuts have finished for the year, Walt and his crew are just getting started! Of particular note, the farm’s peony crop is harvested from mid June – mid July.
COVID 19’s disruption in our world coincided at almost the same time Walt typically announces Mountain Flower Farm’s seasonal crop availability and opens up the pre-order system for peonies. His communication with his customers via email really struck me as extraordinary and I asked him to join me on the podcast to discuss Mountain Flower Farm’s present, past and future. I know you’ll find it encouraging.
One exquisite bloom (c) Taken by Sarah
Thank you so much for joining me for this special conversation! I believe that now, more than ever, the messages of sustainability and seasonal and locally-available flowers is top of mind — among consumers, flower farmers and florists. Walt wrote this in his first newsletter of the season, dated March 31st: ” . . . one thing for certain is that we will be here toiling away, with our hands in the dirt, flowering fiercely for the future. Mountain Flower Farm is already in action, and we will be here doing whatever it takes to safely put flowers in your hands. Our model of grower direct overnight shipping was made for these times! Social distancing. Door to Door Delivery. Top quality product. Consistency. Value.
“These are not new themes for us . . . in fact, this is what we have trained for and what we have been streamlining and perfecting for over 20 years! We stand ready to help our customers succeed through challenging times.”
The tour continues with Walt at Mountain Flower Farm (c) Taken by Sarah
Just one week later, he continued the story, and this is what inspired me o invite Walt to share more with you today.
“A week ago, in the midst of great uncertainty, we stuck to our schedule and published this season’s cut flower availability. Sending that email was for me, a moment that I was dreading. Questions and doubts were bountiful. We all know by now, life has been turned upside down. The economy is reeling, and the floral industry is one of many hard hit segments.
“It brings me incredible comfort and hope to be able to check in today and report that the response we’ve received has been nothing short of incredible. For that, I am absolutely thankful and humbled. Our community is strong. There is hope, not only for @mountainflowerfarm, but for all of us trying to make it through this time. Thank you all for your generous orders. For your faith in our farm, our team, and our collective future. One thing that really struck me, that I want to share, is the nature of the orders we received.”
He continued, “As many of you know, we preceded our cut flower inventory release with a sliding scale discount offer created to help floral designers persevere. Customers could choose which level of discount they needed. I was very happy to see people taking advantage of this offer. I was also surprised, when I started to receive orders with notes attached saying ‘Thank you so much for this offer. I don’t need any flowers for my shop, but I’m placing this order for peony roots for our home garden,’ or others saying ‘Thank you for thinking of us florists and trying to help . . . I’ve placed orders for the season, but chose to not use any of the discount offers.'”
Walt Krukowski, presenting at last September’s floral sourcing workshop (c) Taken by Sarah
In the 24 hours after releasing Mountain Flower Farm’s discount offer, Walt received literally hundreds of emails. All of them full of appreciation, hope, and positivity. He responded, writing, “For that, I want to stand on the tallest peak and shout “THANK YOU!!!” “THANK YOU!!!” “THANK YOU!!!” We’ve come to a point where, it’s really not abount sales or money anymore. It’s about humanity. It’s about hope. It’s about resilience. Like everyone, I have legitimate fear and worry right now. The outpouring of support that has been received this past week has helped to calm my worries and point my focus towards the future. Our floral community is strong. We are all connected, and for that I am absolutely grateful.”
Tulips grown by Gonzalo Ojeda of Ojeda Farms, a farmer I know and trust.
As I said last week, I want the Slow Flowers
Podcast to be a companion to those of you in isolation, away from your physical
community of peers, neighbors, customers and friends. I hope today’s interview
was as inspiring to you as I found it to be for me.
The Gardener’s Workshop Cut Flower Farm: Lisa Ziegler and her family and crew.
Before we wrap today, I want to share a bonus interview with Lisa Ziegler of The Gardener’s Workshop, our newest Slow Flowers Podcast sponsor, announced last week. Lisa is a fellow garden writer, author of Cool Flowers, published by St. Lynn’s Press, the same publisher behind my books, Slow Flowers and The 50 Mile Bouquet. Lisa is a flower farmer, based in Newport News, Virginia, where The Gardener’s Workshop is also home to an online shop offering seeds and supplies for home gardeners and a growing curriculum of online courses for flower farmers and farmer-florists. I invited Lisa to give us an overview and update on The Gardener’s Workshop.
Thanks so much for joining me today as we heard from two flower farmers who have developed their businesses to reflect their passions and fit their lifestyles. And truly, that is what I wish for each of you and your floral enterprise.
Last week we held our third Virtual Member Meet-Up on April 10th. We had a great group in attendance and I thank you for joining us; A special thank you to Holly Chapple of Chapel Designers, Holly Chapple Flowers and Hope Farm, for her guest appearance to talk about how she is adapting during the Coronavirus. You can find the link to the Zoom replay video here. Thank you to each of you who attended!
Join us! Here is the Zoom Replay Video from April 10th
Please join this week’s Slow Flowers Virtual Meet-Up on Friday, April 17th at 9 am Pacific/Noon Eastern. Please join here. We’ll also share the Zoom Meeting Link in our Instagram Profile and on Facebook (Slow Flowers FB Page and Slow Flowers Community Group).
Thank you to our Sponsors
Florists’ Review magazine. I’m delighted to serve as Contributing Editor for Slow Flowers Journal, found in the pages of Florists’ Review. Read our stories at slowflowersjournal.com.
Longfield Gardens, which provides home gardeners with high quality flower bulbs and perennials. Their online store offers plants for every region and every season, from tulips and daffodils to dahlias, caladiums and amaryllis. Check out the full catalog at Longfield Gardens at longfield-gardens.com.
Syndicate Sales, an American manufacturer of vases and accessories for the professional florist. Look for the American Flag Icon to find Syndicate’s USA-made products and join the Syndicate Stars loyalty program at https://shop.syndicatesales.com/.
Rooted Farmers. Rooted Farmers works exclusively with local growers to put the highest-quality specialty cut flowers in floral customers’ hands. When you partner with Rooted Farmers, you are investing in your community, and you can expect a commitment to excellence in return. Learn more at RootedFarmers.com.
The Slow Flowers Podcast has been downloaded more than 596,000 times by listeners like you. Thank you for listening, commenting and sharing – it means so much.
As our movement gains more supporters and more passionate participants who believe in the importance of the American cut flower industry, the momentum is contagious. I know you feel it, too. I value your support and invite you to show your thanks and with a donation to support my ongoing advocacy, education and outreach activities. You can find the donate button in the column to the right.
The content and opinions expressed here are either mine alone or those of my guests alone, independent of any podcast sponsor or other person, company or organization.
The Slow Flowers Podcast is engineered and edited by Andrew Brenlan. Learn more about his work at soundbodymovement.com.
Our featured guest this week is Katie McClain of Posh Petals, based in Oro Valley, outside Tucson, Arizona. Just like last week’s guest, April Vomfell of Flathead Farmworks, Katie and I recorded this interview in person on March 14th at Hitomi Gilliam’s Trend Summit in Vancouver, B.C., Canada. Little did we know that business as usual and all our plans for the 2020 growing and floral design season would be radically changed soon after Katie and I traveled home the following day. I’m delighted to share our conversation with you today.
But first, our bonus series here on the Slow Flowers Podcast continues with our next installment of Stories of Resilience. I believe that now, more than ever, the message of sustainability and seasonal and locally-available flowers is top of mind — among consumers, flower farmers and florists.
I want the Slow Flowers Podcast to be a companion to those of you in isolation, away from your physical community of peers, neighbors, customers and friends. I don’t have many answers, but I do want to keep the lines of communication open and accessible.
Today’s Stories of Resilience guest wrote one of the very first posts that signaled to me that our TIMES ARE CHANGING when on March 14th I noticed 3 Porch Farm’s instagram post offering free shipping of their flowers. They wrote:
“In light of the current situation, we are shipping a box of mixed blooms to your door !! This is the first time we have offered this option and we are excited to be able to bring y’all a little bit of bright sparkle during this time of potential stress. Each box will contain a mix of 35 stems of our blooming beauties for the price of $65. You can expect approximately 7-8 Tulips, 20-22 Poppies (even a few of the big Italian varieties), and 7-8 Daffodils…maybe even a few Ranunculus and Anemones thrown in there too. (Our first succession of Ranunculus is on the way out while our next batch isn’t quite ready yet). But what I can promise is that they will all brighten your day !! . We will begin shipping this Monday with first come, first serve. We hope to ship throughout the week assuming shipping continues. . . . we can never thank y’all enough for all the love and support you constantly extend our way !! Really and truly, this farm only works bc of your kindness and belief in what we are doing over here !! Sending y’all so much love, happiness, and excellent health.”
I reached out to 3 Porch to learn more and ever since, Mandy and I have been juggling our schedules in order to record this conversation. Based in Comer, Georgia, Mandy and Steve O’Shea are past guests of this podcast in 2016, which you can listen to at this link.
Mandy O’Shea of 3 Porch Farm
Here’s a bit more about Mandy O’Shea. She graduated from UGA with a degree in Horticulture. During that
time, she began working with a local sustainable farmer and selling their goods
at the Big City Bread farmers market and other local venues. She has been
hooked ever since. Her love for the farm life took her to California via the
WWOOF’s program where she learned to combine her love for horses and farming.
While in Ca., she also worked at the prestigious organic olive oil company
McEvoy Ranch for multiple years helping to manage their 7 acre vegetable and
cut flower gardens as well as doing daily flower arrangements to beautify the
ranch, the S.F. Ferry building store and for frequent events. After missing her
home state for too long, she and Steve packed up their dogs…and bee hives…
and headed east bound and down to begin their new farming endeavor. They are
passionate about bringing beauty, blooms, and good food to the local folks.
A bumper crop of ranunculus from 3 Porch Farm
3 Porch Farm is a “Certified Naturally Grown” (which adheres to the same standards as USDA Organic), yet Steve and Mandy’s commitment to sustainable farming goes far beyond that. All 5 of the farm’s vehicles run on waste vegetable oil recycled from restaurants in Athens. Since 2012, 3 Porch Farm is entirely solar powered!! The program is ever-evolving, with over 36 KW of solar panels that provides enough electricity to supply the needs of the entire farm plus the O’Shea house, and still quite a bit extra to feed back into the grid.
Spring’s tulips — ready for shipping in this Coronavirus era
With Planet before profit as their operating
principal, Mandy and Steve’s goal is to be carbon neutral and to use the farm
as an opportunity to put best ethics into practice. The farm is lush with
strawberries and blueberries supplying customers at the Athens
Farmers Market and Freedom
Farmers Market (in
Atlanta) on Saturdays. Each year’s love for growing and designing with flowers
expands. 3 Porch Farm has hundreds of rose bushes and peonies, thousands of
dahlias and ranunculus, and a myriad of other varieties for every season. As
they explain on 3 Porch Farm’s web site: “We have the good fortune of
living on an amazing farm with a little under 9 acres of gorgeous landscaping,
constantly in bloom, and filled with wildlife. It is our great pleasure to
spend our years working together to bring something positive to an already
wonderful community.”
Despite all that is on her plate, I’m so glad that Mandy devoted a bit of time to record this Stories of Resilience segment to share today. Mandy discussed that 3 Porch Farm has joined CalFlowers (the California Association of Flower Growers & Shippers), which is the trade association offering its members access to discounted fed-ex shipping rates. I hope you can take one tip or strategy from our conversation as you adapt and pivot your own floral enterprise. Best wishes to you both, Steve and Mandy!
Mandy and Steve O’Shea of 3 Porch Farm in Comer, Georgia
Okay, let’s jump right into my conversation with Katie McClain of Posh Petals!
Posh Petals is a flower studio located in sunny Oro Valley, Arizona! Katie has been designing gorgeous floral art for weddings and special events for over 13 years. She is a Certified Arizona Master Florist and extremely knowledgeable when it comes to everything floral. Posh Petals is not your typical 9-5 flower shop. Everything Posh Petals designs is custom inspired by personal conversations with customers. The studio asks questions about the recipient, his or her color preferences, home interior style, aesthetic vibe and more. Typically, Posh Petals is available for daily deliveries, special orders, events, and its specialty: weddings of all kinds.
The natural Arizona landscape and its flora are a theme in Posh Petals’ designs
In the current Coronavirus climate, Katie has added an update on Posh Petals website: “From the Studio to the Porch: We are available for no contact daily delivery orders from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.”
Find and follow Posh Petals at these social places:
This is the arrangement designed by Katie McClain at the 2018 Team Flower Conference. It certainly caught my eye! Note the inclusion of cactus – a signature Posh Petals design elementThis is the text that Katie wrote to accompany the above arrangement
Thanks so much for joining me today as we heard from both a flower farmer and a florist in our Slow Flowers community! I don’t know about you, but things are sinking in this week that we are not in a temporary situation, but a long-term one with no end on the horizon. Some days are better than others.
Days when I can do a little gardening, like planting sweet pea seedlings gifted to me by Lorene Edwards Forkner, one of our Slow Flowers Summit 2020 speakers. And days when I can arrange for a contact-free, socially-distanced flower pickup from a nearby farm — thanks Laughing Goat Farm in Enumclaw — and then have late afternoon mental health breaks to play with those local stems.
It’s
so easy to feel overwhelmed and I know I have felt that way for a few weeks,
wondering how Slow Flowers can support our community.
Last week we held our second Slow Flowers Member Virtual Meet-Up on April 3rd. We had a great group in attendance and I thank you for joining us; A special thank you to Missy Palacol of Missy Palacol Photography and the Kalyx Group for sharing her 30 Day Social Media planning tool (You can find that link in today’s show notes), and Amelia Ihlo of Rooted Farmers for walking us through the new marketplace for flower farms and florists.
Click above to watch the Zoom replay video of the April 3rd Virtual Meet-Up.
Please join this week’s Slow Flowers Member Virtual Meet-Up on Friday, April 10th at 9 am Pacific/Noon Eastern. Click here to join. All you need is a device with a Camera (Laptop, Smartphone, PC, Tablet). A Mic/Headset are nice, but not a necessity.
Holly Chapple, our special guest on April 10th Slow Flowers Member Vitual Meet-Up
Can’t wait to see you there! Our very special guest is Holly Chapple of Hope Farm, Chapel Designers and Holly Heider Chapple Flowers. She will join us to talk about weddings, bookings, managing rescheduling and pivoting to a new reality. Please join us!
Last week I announced updated plans for the fourth annual Slow Flowers Summit, scheduled for June 28-30. In case you missed it, I announced that May 15th is the date when we will announce a definitive decision whether to move forward with the original conference dates or reschedule them. We want to make sure you have 45 days’ notice to adjust your plans if we have to postpone. And just in case, mark October 26-27 as the backup dates for gathering together at our beautiful venue, Filoli Historic Home and Garden in Woodside, California. As I said last week: I’m as eager as you are to experience a fabulous conference that’s presented in a safe environment. I hope this plan assures you and assists you in managing your own schedule moving forward into 2020.
You
can contact us anytime with questions and I’ve added links to my email and that
of our event manager Karen Thornton in today’s show notes. You can also follow the Filoli
VISIT Page and Slow
Flowers Summit Page for additional updates.
Thank you to our Sponsors
This podcast is brought to you by Slowflowers.com, the free, nationwide online directory to florists, shops, and studios who design with American-grown flowers and to the farms that grow those blooms. It’s the conscious choice for buying and sending flowers.
And thank you to Florists’ Review magazine. I’m delighted to serve as Contributing Editor for Slow Flowers Journal, found in the pages of Florists’ Review. Read our stories at slowflowersjournal.com.
Welcome to our new sponsor The Gardener’s Workshop, which offers a full curriculum of online education for flower farmers and farmer-florists. We’ll share more in the future weeks, but we want to give a shout-out and thanks this week to Lisa Ziegler of The Gardener’s Workshop. Online education is more important this year than ever, and you’ll want to check out the course offerings at thegardenersworkshop.com
Our next sponsor thank you goes to FarmersWeb. FarmersWeb software makes it simple for flower farms to streamline working with their buyers. By lessening the administrative load and increasing efficiency, FarmersWeb helps your farm save time, reduce errors, and work with more buyers overall. Learn more at www.farmersweb.com.
Our final sponsor thanks goes to Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers. Formed in 1988, ASCFG was created to educate, unite, and support commercial cut flower growers. It mission is to help growers produce high-quality floral material, and to foster and promote the local availability of that product. Learn more at ascfg.org.
The Slow Flowers Podcast has been downloaded more than 594,000 times by listeners like you. Thank you for listening, commenting and sharing – it means so much.
As our movement gains more supporters and more passionate participants who believe in the importance of the American cut flower industry, the momentum is contagious. I know you feel it, too. I value your support and invite you to show your thanks and with a donation to support my ongoing advocacy, education and outreach activities. You can find the donate button in the column to the right.
The content and opinions expressed here are either mine alone or those of my guests alone, independent of any podcast sponsor or other person, company or organization.
The Slow
Flowers Podcast is engineered and edited by Andrew Brenlan. Learn more
about his work at soundbodymovement.com.
Music Credits:
Dirtbike Lovers; Heartland Flyer; Gaena; Glass Beads by Blue Dot Sessions http://www.sessions.blue
Thanks so much for listening in on my virtual visit to St. Louis and Flowers and Weeds. The local connections being made are so important and are deepening ties between where flowers are grown and the ways floral consumers can enjoy them while supporting floral agriculture. 
Our special guests include Yoni Levenbach of Flowers Without Borders, and Bethany Little of Charles Little & Co. They both work in the wholesale arena, although with very different models. I am excited for you to hear from Yoni about what he calls being a “Flower Hunter,” who works from his base in Los Angeles to custom source from farms across the U.S. for a diverse customer base. And I’m thrilled that Bethany will have news to share from Eugene Oregon, where she and her husband Charles Little are veteran cut flower farmers who have seen it all. Everything old might be new again for Bethany and Charles, but they are elevating and expanding their flower business in exciting new ways, which will inspire you.
We’ll welcome Kelly Shore of 
