Springdale Flower Farm: How this 1st yr flower farmer pitched & found a profitable sales outlet

Рет қаралды 5,905

Күн бұрын

I sit down with Melinda from Springdale Flower Farm, located in Dover, MA about how she found success in her 1st year of flower farming on just 800 sq ft.
Melinda is a complete new grower who started from complete scratch this year. She not only had to learn flower varieties, but also how to grow and sell her product. Impressively, she achieved all this AND found a very profitable sales outlet, with some weeks selling $1k! This is a longer interview, so here are the time stamps for various subjects:
The land & raised beds: 11:39
Profitable sales outlet: 34:14
Negotiating better terms: 46:55
Bartering for more flowers: 49:45
Failures with other outlets: 53:20
Cold calling: 1:03:00
Did you know that for every 1 minute in an interview, it takes me about 3 minutes to edit? Interviews are the most time-consuming type of video to edit for me, but I do it because I feel there are so many gems in these conversations. Want to support me to be able to record more interviews? You can do so by joining my Patreon for $5 a month. You'll get access to more valuable, gated content too!
www.patreon.com/bareflowerfarm

Пікірлер: 43

@mylesschmid7396 8 ай бұрын

Most flower farmers need to learn the actual value of stems. Most flowers farmers, myself included, under value the price of their flowers. Great Interview.

@babystepsgardening9414 9 ай бұрын

So enjoyed this interview! I can’t believe the progress Melinda has made in all the different avenues a flower farmer has to negotiate to be successful. I’m gonna have to get MUCH better at my pep talks😅

@bareflowerfarm 9 ай бұрын

Haha even for me too! Time to have more and effective pep talks for me too!

@mhubertcfi 9 ай бұрын

This was such an inspiring interview! A boost of confidence to find your niche by exploring many options and it is clear that Melinda is not afraid to rise to the occasion ❤

@bareflowerfarm 9 ай бұрын

Glad to hear this was inspiring! And yes- she's definitely not afraid to rise to the occasion!

@nicomyth 9 ай бұрын

I pair the queen series with benary coral and salmon. Also the plum sunflowers, lemon basil and orange comb celosias. It made a beautiful citrus bouquet.

@bridavis7345 9 ай бұрын

I'm a first year in MA too this year! Love your story about how you got started! Thank you for both for sharing your experiences ❤😊

@bareflowerfarm 9 ай бұрын

Here is the link! www.amazon.com/dp/B084TSNR79?ref_=cm_sw_r_cso_cp_apin_dp_SXQV6YN4CPCYAZGH7HYN

@darlenecullen9806 5 ай бұрын

Love seeing interviews with micro/small growers. Not everybody chooses to go big, and small growers can face some challenges larger growers do not. Keep up the good work. Enjoy your videos!

@bareflowerfarm 5 ай бұрын

Thank you! I'm so glad you feel this way! I agree with you - many of us have no desire to go big or have high tunnels. I think that the smaller growers feel more relatable for folks like us!

@thecakepopsistars 4 ай бұрын

Love loved this interview thank you both so much for your generous sharing of mutual experiences!

@bareflowerfarm 4 ай бұрын

Glad to hear this was helpful!

@maaike3259 9 ай бұрын

This was a great interview! I’m flabbergasted at how far she came in just a year! I would have liked to have heard a little more about the planting itself. Not that the sales aspect wasn’t interesting- it certainly was, but like how did she know how much to plant? How did she know she could supply x number of mason jars and for how long? I really want to do something similar as a side hustle- however I have no land. My brother in law has 3 acres and I’m thinking of talking to him to see if maybe I can setup some raised beds at his place. Really cool to know that it’s possible to actually start from nothing, work hard and get something off the ground like Melinda did! I love your channel by the way, thank you!

@melindaching5745 9 ай бұрын

Hi! This is Melinda - planning out the raised beds was definitely something I struggled with. I searched for online resources, but ultimately, I ended up using good old fashioned graph paper and would plot out how many plants I would need in each bed. I then would plant more than I needed, since I knew some would die. I used soil blocking since we didn't have a ton of space. I used 1 storage metal rack with shop lights from amazon to set up a grow room and started them in mostly March. I started way more than I needed. Hope that is somewhat helpful! I would definitely ask your BIL if you can setup some raised beds. If you are not going to be there to tend to them, definitely make sure you do some automated watering system. I bought B-Hyve which has been amazing (and overhead watering sprinklers that cost like $10).

@leslieshelley3200 8 ай бұрын

❤

@maaike3259 7 ай бұрын

@@melindaching5745 thank you so much for that and apologies for my very delayed thank you to your comment. I didn’t realize I had KZbin notifications turned off 🤪

@jaxisblooming3791 Ай бұрын

Love this perspective. I make mason jars also, and I think filling them with beautiful flowers rather than counting the stems works better for me as well. I find that when I post those pics, most often than not, someone messages me for a small mason jar event. I find it takes me 20 mins to make a jar…which doesn’t seem time efficient, but the product shows the worth. Love the specialty store as an outlet. 👏🏼

@bareflowerfarm Ай бұрын

It’s funny because as I’ve gained more experience in flower farming and running a business, I agree with this now! In the beginning I was so obsessed with trying to be profitable and I often landed in a situation where I felt the perceived value of a wrap didn’t meet the price tag. I always ended up putting in more stems because I wanted customers to be satisfied but mentally I felt like I was doing things wrong. Plus, we definitely all get more efficient in making arrangements along the way and I feel we all self adjust as we evolve and the customers who loved our products are willing to stick to us. Thank you for taking the time to comment ☺️

@trisha4829 9 ай бұрын

What a great interview! As a new gardener it was nice to hear about her challenges and how she overcame them. I have started cut flowers this year and plan on expanding. Your channel is amazing ❤

@bareflowerfarm 9 ай бұрын

Thank you :) :) :)

@aimeesgardens 9 ай бұрын

This was great! Although I wish she would have told us what test she used off Amazon! I can't find one on Amazon that is that comprehensive

@wonderfullymundane1061 9 ай бұрын

I vegetable plant, so use neem oil spray - you can spray weekly come end of summer

@misfitkrew2144 9 ай бұрын

But then your killing all the beneficial insects in your garden. On the bottle, it says it doesn’t affect pollinators. You have to think about all of the native beneficial insects that are solitary insect that sleep in your plants so when you spray it early in the morning or late at night, you’re killing all those beneficial insects. I hate neem.

@wonderfullymundane1061 9 ай бұрын

I spray the leaves in the evening, never the flower. Once it dries, or rains, it's ok

@clairepimleydavison4237 9 ай бұрын

Thank you both for such an honest and inspirational chat

@ElderandOakFarm 9 ай бұрын

Really enjoyed listening to this while cleaning up the garden! 😊 She should be very proud of herself! She's accomplished more in her first year than a lot has accomplished by year 3+

@Fabdanc 9 ай бұрын

Fun interview! Something I have been finding really interesting are the discussions on soil health. I find that we only talk about soil health in the context of what we intend to grow and not whether the condition the soil is actually the native, healthy condition it's supposed to be. We think of soil as some uniform monolith, and it's not. I think we should refer to it as soil conditioning versus soil health. The native plants, insects, and microbiome evolved in that soil, most likely, as it is. It is a very interesting topic.

@bareflowerfarm 9 ай бұрын

Very good points here as usual! This is why I don't know how I feel about soil tests. I think it's great to give you a snapshot of what you're working with but are the recommendations really helping contribute to the soil health? Good soil health from what the more recent research shows is a byproduct of soil life activity and not just throwing on minerals and nutrients!

@beckysocia1642 9 ай бұрын

Good interview! I'm surprised all she accomplished in one year, but her area might have some influence on that success. I also started a big spreadsheet of info on flowers I wanted to grow, but it just grew out of control and I never reference it. Why do so many farmers start this from scratch?... maybe I should clean up my spreadsheet or make it into an app and sell to other farmers, even as just a starting point! What do you think?

@bareflowerfarm 9 ай бұрын

I think it’s one of those things where plans may look so different for everyone between climates, zones and preference. Your plan will never look the same every year. Having a basis to plug in varieties to calculate DTM could be helpful though!

@misfitkrew2144 9 ай бұрын

I think the sweet peas depend on where you get them. I grew florets and I got 7-10 day vase life. The ones I sourced from other companies not so much. I also grow in a hot hot dry climate. (Zone 10b so cal) if I can get them here you can grow them anywhere!

@bareflowerfarm 9 ай бұрын

That's super interesting. I've never grown them bc I've felt my springs are too short, but if I do try, I will definitely try floret seeds!

@johnandmichelevaughan1638 9 ай бұрын

Great video and congrats Melinda! Questions 1) you worked up to a 70/30 split. Do you mean this being a percentage of MSRP and if so…did YOU set the MSRP or did the store? 2) you quickly touched on an agreement you have with the store where you replace unsold bouquets. Can you expand on that? Thanks!

@bareflowerfarm 9 ай бұрын

Hi! Trying to answer on behalf of Melinda here: 1) The 70/30 was a percentage of MSRP and it sounded like the store set the MSRP of $25 since Melinda originally thought that was too high. But of course, the store knows its customers best! 2) From what I understand, the store actually wasn't expecting her to replace bouquets but Melinda wanted to. It sounds like this doesn't happen often. This is what you ideally want- finding a sweet spot where you figure out the weekly volume so that there is no wasteage for anyone.

@cbak1819 9 ай бұрын

Powdery mildew is crazy here this year.. almost every zinnia I'm growing.. it was very dry then the rain and humidity came and PM showed up. My beds are under maple trees.. that might be a contributing factor. PM makes me itchy. Ugh. Next year I will cut them harder from the start.