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Thank you so much for joining us today! As you may know, October is our month to celebrate our Slow Flowers members and one of our goals is to showcase and thank as many of our Premium Level members as possible, our top supporters.

Today, we’re visiting David Brunton of Right Field Farm in Millersville, Maryland, outside of Annapolis. David is a past guest of this podcast – you can go back to listen to my original interview with him in July 2018 at debraprinzing.com for Episode 529.

One key takeaway from my past conversations with David and his wife and partner Lina Brunton, is that they know what and how their farm should work for their family’s lifestyle. On their family farm they grow, design and deliver a mix of perennial and annual flowers in Anne Arundel County, Maryland with an eye toward all the natural beauty the region has to offer. From April to October, Right Field Farm delivers over two hundred varieties of flowers in abundant, garden-inspired hand-tied arrangements. Newsletter customers receive weekly updates during the season with all the latest information, including any specials or pop-up flower sales.

They are committed to nurturing the health of their farmland, and tending the thriving ecology that it supports there. In addition to flowers, Right Field Farm is home to laying hens, honeybees, sheep (for wool), dogs (for companionship), and their four children. They don’t use any pesticides – not on their flowers or in their soil – which means Right Field Farm is also home to wild bees and birds and frogs and soil fungi and all manner of woodland critters.

When I asked David if he would join me on our new video-vodcast channel, he said the timing was perfect. Just a few days ago on Saturday, October 16th, David planned to design for the season’s final week of bouquet deliveries. He joined me on screen, from his beautiful covered porch where he always designs, and produced some epic hand-tied bouquets during our conversation.

You will love watching him and enjoy all the topics we touched — from deciding what to grow and how to make sure you have plenty to harvest each week of a 26-week-long season for subscribers and a la carte delivery customers — to the story of one family’s flower-based life and business.

That was one of the most enjoyable and relaxing experiences I’ve ever had on a Zoom interview! I had to actually turn off the recording because David and I were having trouble “ending” the conversation – it was too much fun.

Subscribe to Right Field Farm’s newsletter here.

Follow Right Field Farm on Instagram

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We have devoted the entire month of October to Member Appreciation Month, with something special scheduled every day to highlight our members, leaders and visionaries of the Slow Flowers Movement. In addition to joining me here on the podcast, I’ve hosted Instagram Live conversations and shared stories and other resources like our new Slow Flowers Video, as well as across our other many channels, including at Slow Flowers Journal and in our weekly email blasts.

Last weekend, I took a moment to write “Future Flowers,” an essay that reflects on what our members Have achieved and accomplished since we launched Slow Flowers in 2013 (and PS, that’s year this Podcast began, too!). Here’s an excerpt of what I wrote:

Even though this question: “What does Slow Flowers mean, anyway?” is still asked, it’s being asked less often. With 98 million social media impressions for the hashtag #slowflowers in the past year alone, there is no denying the term is used around the globe. It is synonymous with the goals and practices outlined in our manifesto.

As we approach 2022, my message to each of you is to dig deep into your own values and belief systems and ask yourself: What do I want to achieve through my floral enterprise? The idea of doing “better than” and doing good with
our flowers is more important than ever. We’re seeing more of our members use their flowers as a vehicle for causes they support; using flowers to symbolize hope and humanity, while also building a business that offers a sustainable
livelihood to them, their families and their employees while at the same time improving farmland and communities alike. I invite you to share your message of hope for the future in the comment section of our show notes or at @slowflowerssociety on Instagram. I am so grateful for the many of you who have taken the time and lent your voice to the conversation — and I congratulate you on taking a leadership role with your sustainable actions and beliefs.

Read the full essay at Slow Flowers Journal

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Thank you to our sponsors!

This show is brought to you by Slowflowers.com, the free, online directory to more than 880 florists, shops, and studios who design with local, seasonal and sustainable flowers and to the farms that grow those blooms.  It’s the conscious choice for buying and sending flowers.

Thank you to our lead sponsor for 2021, Farmgirl Flowers. Farmgirl Flowers delivers iconic burlap-wrapped bouquets and lush, abundant arrangements to customers across the U.S., supporting more than 20 U.S. flower farms by purchasing more than $9 million dollars of U.S.-grown fresh and seasonal flowers and foliage annually. Discover more at farmgirlflowers.com.

Thank you to Rooted Farmers, which 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.

Thank you 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.

Thank you to 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 for backyard cutting gardens like mine. Find the full catalog of flower seeds and bulbs at johnnysseeds.com.

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Thanks so much for joining us today! The Slow Flowers Podcast has been downloaded more than 778,000 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 our domestic cut flower industry, the momentum is contagious. I know you feel it, too.

Slow Flowers Society is a member-supported organization focused on advocacy, outreach and education around the importance of local, seasonal and sustainable flower growing and floristry. You can find the donate button in the column to the right at debraprinzing.com

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I’m Debra Prinzing, host and producer of the Slow Flowers Show & Podcast. Next week, you’re invited to join me in putting more Slow Flowers on the table, one stem, one vase at a time. 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. You can learn more about Andrew’s work at soundbodymovement.com. 

Music Credits:

Lissa; Turning on the Lights; Gaena
by Blue Dot Sessions
http://www.sessions.blue

Lovely
by Tryad 
http://tryad.bandcamp.com/album/instrumentals
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

In The Field
audionautix.com

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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I’ve documented the emergence and rise of regional wholesale flower hubs for more than a decade — you’ve heard it all on the Slow Flowers Podcast!

We have witnessed, encouraged and featured on the Slow Flowers Podcast numerous other regional efforts to bring flowers from the field to the florist and consumer in innovative ways — from legal cooperatives to privately-held wholesaler operations; from casual meet-ups to marketing collectives.

My deepest ties are with the Seattle Wholesale Growers Market, a farmer-owned cooperative whose origins date to 2010 when a group of growers came together at a regional ASCFG meeting held at Charles Little & Co. in Eugene, Oregon. Fortunately, I was there and witnessed those first, ambitious, optimistic conversations that yielded what we here in Seattle enjoy today. At the time, there were only two other models to which the founders of Seattle Wholesale Growers Market could look: Oregon Flower Growers Association, which has a long history in the Portland market, having been founded in the 1940s; and Fair Field Flowers, a small but mighty collective of Wisconsin and Illinois growers serving Madison and Milwaukie florists. Fair Field Flowers ceased operating as a collective on January 1, 2019, but many of the flower farmers who participated still grow and sell flowers; just independently.

And now, we have a new example to highlight. Let’s welcome two of the founders of Old Dominion Flower Cooperative, a Washington, D.C.-area local flower cooperative.

My guests are Melissa Webster, founder, and Megan Wakefield, director of operations — two growers who are part of this group that launched publicly at the end of January.  Soon thereafter, Old Dominion joined Slow Flowers Society and reached out to introduce themselves. Here are some statistics from a few months ago — I wouldn’t be surprised if the numbers have grown in all categories:

• 22 farms within 90 miles of Great Falls, VA
• 85+ years of combined cut flower production experience
• 40+ acres under production 
• 100% female 

Old Dominion Flower Cooperative is a community marketplace that brings together local growers, designers, and flower lovers by providing top-quality, seasonal, sustainable, diverse, and locally-grown cut flowers and foliages. They aim to make these floral products accessible to designers and the public, while also respecting the efforts of their local farming community. 

Old Dominion Flower Cooperative started in the winter of 2020 with a series of conversations led by local flower growers and floral designers in the greater D.C.-area about how to fill a gap they saw in the local floral industry. They identified that a lot of fantastic flower growers in the area were having trouble breaking into the wholesale market and even more designers and flower shops that want to use local flowers but were having a hard time finding consistent sources of blooms.

With an emphasis on education and high-quality floral product Old Dominion started a six-week training program for member farmers in March. Taught by their mentor Barbara Lamborne from Greenstone Fields and Laura Beth Resnick from Butterbee Farm, topics covered include harvesting, quality control, growing for designers, and conditioning.

I’m excited to share this conversation with you today. Before we get started, let me tell you a little more about Megan Wakefield (left) and Melissa Webster (right)

Melissa Webster is the owner of Old Soul Flower Company. She has been growing for her community for over eight years and is passionate about good stewardship of the land. Melissa received her M.A. from Georgian Court University where she studied food access; soon after she was the farm manager at Common Good City Farm in downtown Washington DC. Melissa spent time as the education director at National Farmers Union where she worked with farmers around the country. Melissa is a strong advocate for beginning and female producers. Melissa owned Ladybell Farms in West River MD, before moving to Great Falls, VA in 2019 with her husband (Ben) and three dogs (Riley, Brixton, and Bean).

Megan Wakefield is the owner of Walking Wild Gardens, based in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. She started gardening with her grandmother when young and later owned a small herbal shop on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. She says her love of gardening, plants, tea, and herbs are all due to her grandmother’s influence. In law school, Megan started getting interested in where her food came from. As a first-year lawyer, she started volunteering on a local farm on weekends. Soon, she was hooked and left her 9-5 legal job to work on farms.
Today, Megan owns Walking Wild Gardens. She teaches gardening workshops, offers consultations, blends tea and builds beautiful gardens. In the end, everything I do is about building relationships with plants.

Thank you so much for joining my conversation today! We are committed to nurturing this new business model for wholesale flower hubs and the stories continue.

Find and follow Old Dominion Flower Cooperative on Instagram and Facebook

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Join this week’s Slow Flowers Member (Virtual) Meet-Up

We have a very special Slow Flowers Member Meet-Up coming up very soon and I want to give you all the details.

It’s all about PEONIES and we’re meeting virtually – on Zoom – as we’ve done for more than a year, folks! Join me, Friday, May 21st – 9 am Pacific/Noon Eastern and meet two Slow Flowers members from Alaska’s peony country! Grower Beth Van Sandt of Scenic Place Peonies  and designer Brandon Scott McLean of East Hill Floral will share their knowledge and talents — and introduce us to the upcoming Alaska peony season. Beth and Brandon will come to us LIVE from the greenhouse at East Hill Floral. Learn about the selection, cultivation and post-harvest “best practices” for peonies from Beth. Watch an inspired floral design demonstration from Brandon!

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Thank you to our Sponsors

This podcast is brought to you by Slowflowers.com, the free, online directory to more than 880 florists, shops, and studios who design with local, seasonal and sustainable flowers and to the farms that grow those blooms.  It’s the conscious choice for buying and sending flowers.

And thank you to our lead sponsor for 2021, Farmgirl Flowers. Farmgirl Flowers delivers iconic burlap-wrapped bouquets and lush, abundant arrangements to customers across the U.S., supporting more than 20 U.S. flower farms by purchasing more than $9 million dollars of U.S.-grown fresh and seasonal flowers and foliage annually, and providing competitive salaries and benefits to 240 team members based in Watsonville, California and Miami, Florida. Discover more at farmgirlflowers.com.

For each Podcast episode this year, we thank three of our Major Sponsors:

Our first sponsor thanks goes to 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.

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.

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.

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Thanks so much for joining us today! The Slow Flowers Podcast has been downloaded more than 727,000 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 our domestic cut flower industry, the momentum is contagious. I know you feel it, too.

I value your support and invite you to show your thanks to support Slow Flowers’ ongoing advocacy, education and outreach activities. You can find the donate button in the column to the right at debraprinzing.com

I’m Debra Prinzing, host and producer of the Slow Flowers Podcast. Next week, you’re invited to join me in putting more Slow Flowers on the table, one vase at a time. And If you like what you hear, please consider logging onto iTunes and posting a listener review.

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:

A Palace of Cedar; On Our Own Again; Turning on the Lights; Gaena
by Blue Dot Sessions
http://www.sessions.blue

Lovely
by Tryad 
http://tryad.bandcamp.com/album/instrumentals
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

In The Field
audionautix.com

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Podcast Index | RSS | More

I’m so pleased today to welcome Hermon Black, a floral designer I first met when she attended the 2018 Slow Flowers Summit in Washington, D.C.

Hermon is based in Arlington, Virginia, where she runs a design studio serving weddings and private clients. She tells a beautiful story of growing up in East Africa (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia) where her mother allowed her to cut and arrange flowers from their garden, and encouraged young Hermon in her floral design interest.

I love how her journey has brought Hermon full circle back to her childhood love of flowers. It’s a story to which many of us can relate. Enjoy our conversation as we discuss how Hermon developed her design studio HB Fiori and how she has adapted her focus due to the challenges of 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Follow HB Fiore on Instagram

Enjoy this gallery of Hermon’s seasonal arrangements. Her subscription floral program sources 100% locally-grown flowers from farms in Virginia and Maryland.

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Thank you so much for joining me today! I’m so encouraged by the conversations I record to share with listeners of the Slow Flowers Podcast. We are in complicated times, friends. And there is so much stress and pressure, uncertainty and worry facing each of us. I hope you find comfort in being part of our larger community of people who care about the planet, about equity for all, and about the importance of nurturing our creativity.

NEW PODCAST

Deborah Voll, flower lover and host of the “Calm the Chaos” Podcast, recently turned the tables on me — and I was the one answering her questions.

It was a fun experience to join Deborah, a life coach who specializes in helping women find purpose and passion after 50 (um, yes, that would be me!).

Click on this link to hear our conversation — and subscribe to future episodes, as Deborah hosts so many interesting women guests who are pursuing fulfillment in their “chapter two” careers.

The Slow Flowers Podcast has been downloaded more than 643,000 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.

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.

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, which 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 johnnysseeds.com.

I’m Debra Prinzing, host and producer of the Slow Flowers Podcast. Next week, you’re invited to join me in putting more American grown flowers on the table, one vase at a time. And If you like what you hear, please consider logging onto iTunes and posting a listener review.

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:

Daymaze; Gaena
by Blue Dot Sessions
http://www.sessions.blue

Lovely by Tryad 
http://tryad.bandcamp.com/album/instrumentals
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

In The Field
audionautix.com

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Podcast Index | RSS | More

Why and how do a full-time attorney and a PhD research scientist make the leap into flower farming as their side hustle?

You’re in for a real treat today as you’re invited to sit in on my lively and engaging conversation with Tom Precht and Sarah Daken of Grateful Gardeners, based in Boyds, Maryland. As a couple, Tom and Sarah exude passion and enthusiasm for their relatively new flower farming journey, one on which they embarked in 2018. In large part, their inspiration began with Tom’s mother, Diana Precht, owner of Rocky Mountain Blooms in Loveland, Colorado, who is an expert dahlia grower and new Slow Flowers member.

As Sarah shared with me in an email, “Diana is one of the most beautiful souls I know. I am so lucky to have her in my life. She was our inspiration for this entire flower journey and I know she takes great pride in seeing Tom embrace her love of dahlias. Dahlias are her legacy to us and she gets to observe us fall in love with them in her lifetime, which is so meaningful. We now all share this flower farming journey and regularly troubleshoot together, share tubers, discuss pest control, etc. We’re so grateful for the way flowers have further connected us.”

You will hear how Sarah and Tom balance their full-time, demanding and stressful professions with co-parenting three children in a blended family —  all while starting down the path of flower farming. It is an inspiring story and I really appreciate this couple’s honesty and transparency in sharing the origins of Grateful Gardeners. We will have to circle back in a few years for an update, for sure.

Serendipitously, I met them both at the very beginning when I was Kelly Shore’s guest at the second annual American Flowers Week flower-crown party held at M&M Plants and Flower Farm on June 27, 2018. Two days later, Tom and Sarah attend the 2nd Slow Flowers Summit in Washington, D.C., where we heard a little more of their new floral venture.

This fall, when I knew I would be traveling through the DC Metro area in mid-October, en route to Holly Chapple’s Flowerstock festival, I reached out to Grateful Gardeners to see if they were up for a visit.

Tom and Sarah fetched me from the train station in Baltimore and took me to see their young Maryland flower-growing operation. After touring the beautiful fields where annual flowers, foliages and lots of dahlias were still flourishing, pre-frost, we sat down in Tom and Sarah’s living room to record our conversation.

The couple planted their first flowers here last summer, setting up raised beds, planting rows of annuals and erecting a seed-starting structure, as they began to take over portions of Sarah’s mother’s one-acre property.

It soon made sense for Tom and Sarah to buy grandma’s house and move there with their children, just a few months ago. So now, instead of a 40-minute round trip commute to tend to their flowers, they are living where their flowers grow. Fortunately, transition hasn’t disrupted the younger children’s schooling and Tom and Sarah say the change has immediately made things more efficient and effective. When we pulled into the driveway of the charming brick ranch house, the first thing we did was visit the brand new walk-in cooler that Tom and his dad recently finished building. Seriously, a game changer!

Sarah also shared this with me: “Buying the house where we farm means we are “all in” and on-site, which has been life altering. No more commuting every day to the fields!”

Please enjoy this conversation and take a moment to follow Sarah and Tom at Grateful Gardeners’ Instagram feed — and reach out with your words of encouragement and advice! Interviews like these reinforce my belief that the Slow Flowers Podcast is an ideal vehicle to share inspiring voices and personalities with the broader floral community. I’m humbled that you have taken time to listen today and I invite you to share your feedback in the comment section below!

Find and follow Grateful Gardeners on Instagram

Now, let’s take a virtual visit to South Carolina and meet Kendra Schirmer of Laurel Creek Flowers as I continue uur theme for 2019 – Fifty States of Slow Flowers. Based in Sunset, South Carolina, Kendra is an event florist and flower farmer who describes her aesthetic as “naturalist floristry that is consciously sourced and infused with whimsy.”

Originally hailing from the Appalachian mountains of north-western New Jersey, Kendra spent most of her childhood making snow angels or romping barefoot in the woods looking for fairies in the wild columbine blooms. Her parents always had some shady gardens along the edges of these woods, yet her own desire to tend to plants didn’t come until much later. 

After attending Bard College and studying Photography/Environmental Studies, she lived in Nashville for almost 9 years before meeting her farmer man. Craving the cleaner air and star-gazing opportunities of country life, Kendra and Sam moved to a lovely farmhouse back in Appalachia in 2013 to break ground on farming dreams. Tomatoes and cows and just a small patch of zinnias blossomed into an expanded flower garden.

As Kendra fell completely head over heels for all things floral & design she expanded her offerings to wedding design in 2015 and has never looked back! She seeks inspiration from designers all over the world and saves new ideas to bring a unique take on design to her clients. She is always adding new seed packets (too many really) to the wishlist and popping in interesting perennials on any scrap of property she can dig into.

Find and follow Laurel Creek Florals:

Laurel Creek Florals on Instagram

Laurel Creek Florals on Facebook

Laurel Creek Florals on Pinterest

The Slow Flowers Podcast has been downloaded more than 532,000 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.

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. It’s the leading trade magazine in the floral industry and the only independent periodical for the retail, wholesale and supplier market. Take advantage of the special subscription offer for members of the Slow Flowers Community.

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.

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. I’m so excited to get my recent order into the garden very soon — in addition to tulips and narcissus, I’m planting anemones for the first time, so stay tuned! I’ll be sure to share an update of my anemone crop next spring in the #slowflowerscuttinggarden.

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.

I’m Debra Prinzing, host and producer of the Slow Flowers Podcast.

Next week, you’re invited to join me in putting more American grown flowers on the table, one vase at a time. 

And if you like what you hear, please consider logging onto iTunes and posting a listener review.

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.