SLOW FLOWERS Podcast: Bonus Interview with Sid Anna Sherwood of Annie’s Flower Farm

October 29th, 2014

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Sid Anna Sherwood of Annie’s Flower Farm in Sequim, Washington

I wanted to quickly post this audio interview with Sid Anna Sherwood, of Annie’s Flower Farm in Sequim, Washington.

Why?

Because she’s in the middle of an innovative crowd-sourcing campaign to save thousands of perennial plants and purchase the equipment and infrastructure that she’s been leasing from a now-closed flower farm in her area.

This isn’t a “crowd-funding” campaign, but a “crowd-lending” campaign. Money that you “lend” will be paid back!

I can’t think of a better way to invest in domestic, local, organic and seasonal cut flowers! Here’s her post about “Moving Annie’s Flower Farm.”

Sid Anna sent me this email earlier in the week to share more about her efforts:

“I have followed your work and books since I took over an established flower farm her in Sequim, Washington, two years ago. They have all been very helpful to me.

I took over the established one acre flower farm (at The Cutting Garden in Sequim) when the Mixes wanted to close it. I leased it from them.

Now they are turning it back to pasture but they are selling the hoop house, greenhouse, irrigation and perennials to me. I am moving everything four miles further west to more leased farmland.

A beautiful, local and seasonal bridal bouquet grown and designed by Sid Anna Sherwood of Annie’s Flower Farm.

To raise the money to do this I am micro financing a crowd-lended loan through Kiva.Net.org. Kiva is a nonprofit that supports entrepreneurs with zero interest loans.

I was endorsed for the loan by The Greenhorns, an outfit in upstate NY that supports new farmers.

I currently have 110 “lenders” and I have raised about $3000 with $7000 to go.

I need a lot more lenders and only have fifteen days to finish funding the loan. (Like Kickstarter, it has to be completely funded–unlike Kickstarter, it is a loan so it gets paid back).

I found out about this loan opportunity through the Washington Agricultural Extension local newsletter.

My invitation link is here.

It has all of the information about the loan and what it is for.

I sell to florists, have a CSA, do floral design for weddings, DIY weddings, sell bouquets at grocery stores, dothe floral arrangements for a local restaurant that promotes locally grown food, sell seeds, participate in the Clallam County Farm Tour and have a u-pick/u-cut which is on the honor system. My wedding business is growing and this summer I had twenty-two weddings.

I am an organic gardener. Last September my flower farm was mentioned in Sunset Magazine.

Can you think of any ways I could get more people involved in my Kiva Loan?

I was hoping you might post something to let more people who are interested in the local flower movement know about the support I need.”

Thanks so much,

All the best,

Sid Anna Sherwood
Annie’s Flower Farm
Sequim, WA 98382
360 809 3959

PLEASE help if you are able! A $5 loan up to a $500 loan will help Sid Anna as she continues to grow flowers for her community!

As of today, she’s 33 percent to her goal, but there are only 8 days left to raise about $6,500. Check it out and join the effort if you can help a flower farmer!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 29th, 2014 at 9:15 am and is filed under American Grown, Blog Posts, Creativity, floral design, Gardening, General, Podcast Episodes, SLOW FLOWERS Podcast, Slowflowers.com the Directory of American Flowers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.