Talking flower farming business & profitability with Serina from You Can't Eat the Grass

This was such a fun interview with Serina from You Can't Eat the Grass! Serina and Ian have been a huge inspiration for me. The algorithm fed me their content back in 2021 and I was hooked. This was when I didn't even realize flower farming was a "thing".
Serina focuses many of her videos on the flowers and selling them, but we get into flower farming business and profitability topics like:
1) Her farmer's market vs farmstand revenue and future plans to increase sales
2) Building $20 bouquets and her process/evolution
3) Rethinking about profitable $20 bouquets by decreasing the number of stems, but still increasing the value of those stems left
4) Some ah-ha's in terms of specific varieties that she has come to realize are less profitable than one may assume
5) General plan for 2024 & beyond ($100k or bust)
And much more!!
A huge thank you to Serina for her generous time. You can find them over at @YouCantEatTheGrass!
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[@jessicamiller9168]

I appreciate Serena and this interview so much! Don't let the haters get you down! Make your moves and I'm grateful for how you share your story/journey and what you've learned with us!

[@bareflowerfarm]

Well said!

[@aileensteele7298]

Great interview. Serena and Ian are hard workers showing us what it takes to work a dream job. Also last year Serena’s creativity shined when she built a flower “thank you” monument to the firefighters. It was astounding to watch her free flow build the tribute.

[@bareflowerfarm]

Absolutely. I think she makes some of the best bouquets on KZbin, and that is definitely a reflection of her experience and practice. And it always stands up on its own in spiral. Amazing!

[@gaylemccrath1304]

Wouldn't you just love to vacation in the Kelowna area & run into Serena & Ian at the farmers market!💐

[@carolleimbach6407]

Me too❤

[@bareflowerfarm]

Yes! There is also a famous crossfitter who lives in Kelowna and in my mind, he hangs out with Serina and Ian at the market🤣

[@user-vx7kg1lu7v]

Finally.❤😂 When I started following Jessie I immediately hoped that she and Serena would meet. Thank you both for your transparency and knowledge. Great questions.

[@3kidmama]

What a fun and informative interview! Thank you for this content - and YES please! A course on putting together a market bouquet cost-wise would be so awesome! We can't wait!

[@Wyldheatherfarm]

Better than Netflix! This was such a great interview! You ask the best questions. Thanks for all the inspiring and real content you both put out! 💚

[@bareflowerfarm]

Thank you! ☺️

[@LittleBirdBloom]

Jessie, this was a GREAT interview. Thank you for making it all happen💖

[@bareflowerfarm]

Thank you! I've enjoyed and learned from so many of your videos, trying to understand the florist perspective. I'm a big fan of your content!

[@blommfleuriste]

@LittleBirdBloom As a full time home-based florist growing flowers in season, I'm thrilled to see you on the flower farming side of KZbin Kathleen! I can't wait to learn more about your next steps. Bye for now! 🫶

[@sanniepstein4835]

Serena's color sense is exceptional.

[@thecakepopsistars]

Yessss! Serena and Ian 🇨🇦💐

[@TheMistakenGarden]

Fantastic interview! Thanks for the wonderful episode to watch this Friday evening ❤

[@dawndanielson5635]

I really enjoyed this interview! You did an excellent job interviewing and the content was so informative for flower farmers. I to enjoy watching Sabrina as well as Nicole and have learned so much valuable information from them both. I can now add yourself to that list of people to watch for information about the reality of growing cut flowers. ❤

[@bareflowerfarm]

Aww thank you. Both Serina and Nicole have have been huge positive influences for me, so it really is an honor to be added to a list that includes the both of them ❤

[@lisajelle714]

Wow- a course on bouquet recipes- so cool! Go, Serina!

[@jtg2323]

Great video. I’ve watched a lot of YCETG. I’ve learned a lot which I apply to my own 1/4 acre field of mostly flowers. Farming is expensive, it’s extremely hard work. From ordering, seed starting, germinating, potting up, pinching, transplanting, watering, fertilizing, weeding, protecting from too cold, too hot, too much sun, too much shade, too windy, insects, fungi, etc. You have to know the intricacies of every different plant’s ideal growing, harvesting , and storing conditions. People who don’t have a farm love to give advice on what I should be doing to sell my flowers, lol. It takes years to get everything right and then you’re still at the mercy of the weather, the economy, and your own physical condition. I grow flowers because I don’t want to work in an office, I’m in awe of their beauty, and they bring a little joy to others. And, the physical labor means a gym membership is not required 😅 Thanks for providing content - that also takes a lot of time and effort ! Wishing you continued success!

[@bareflowerfarm]

Haha everyone has an opinion, right? Wishing you a great 2024 season!

[@suzannemoak6394]

I appreciate y’all taking time to make this video! I stumbled across, You Can’t Eat the Grass channel, and they also inspired me to start flower farmer! You ladies are wonderful!

[@bareflowerfarm]

Thank you ☺️! So many of us flower farming bc of a few people!

[@poliwhirl9]

This feels like a Marvel crossover, love it!

[@bareflowerfarm]

Hahaha!

[@NaturallyNicool]

Great interview! As a homestead/farmstand seller there was a lot to think about. Appreciate this knowledge & hope to watch more practical interviews like this one in the future 🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻

[@slavicadimcevski9585]

Thank you both 🥰

[@patsyden6276]

Really great information. Thank you for sharing. Really great content creators. Thanks again. A must watch interview with great information.

[@kimlanyon8064]

Thank you ladies for a great interview! Serina ty for keeping me grounded practical and Jess great questions! Looking forward to the bouquet video

[@bareflowerfarm]

Glad you got something out of it! ☺️

[@katipohl2431]

Love to see both of you talking. Greetings and blessings from Germany.

[@bareflowerfarm]

Danke schön ☺️

[@dsabo6426]

In my head, I have hoped that you were friends. Good to see you together.

[@user-gz6tm6tp4b]

I would love a Canadian course on pricing! Great interview!

[@jenniferwood9151]

I saved this vid to watch as my dessert! 😂 Thanks for another great video, I enjoy both of your channels so much and your business acumen helps me to think more analytically about what's growing, (or gonna grow anyway) in my backyard, and what's possible. I would just like to sell enough to cover the costs of this new found obsession. If i can meet that goal, then I'll set a new one from there. 😊

[@bareflowerfarm]

Aww yay! I think once you start selling, you'll grow more and it'll turn into a new addiction to grow even more to sell even more🙃

[@vivherman2296]

This was soooo good! Love the thoughts being thrown out there on the numbers..futures..what works/or not. Serena and Ian rock..they work so hard ....they make me tired!! We don't all get to where we're going the same way. That's what makes the journey yours. Always learning, always a flower friend.

[@bareflowerfarm]

Love this comment 🧡

[@maryrekar2150]

Such a great informative discussion! Thank you

[@villanella]

wow, my two favourites

[@wordvendor1]

Great interview!

[@gracieshomeandgardens5089]

❤❤❤❤omg.i cant miss this episode.love you both.😊❤❤❤❤

[@user-sd9sm5mg5r]

Thank you. ..

[@mhubertcfi]

Such a great interview ❤. Definitely the Netflix of flowers😍 (both of you)

[@bareflowerfarm]

Aww😊

[@mimlauj6869]

Great interview! 😊

[@tumlehedsblommorochtradgar2598]

This was great. Inspiring video. I've followed Serena for years and now you. Greetings from Sweden ❤

[@bareflowerfarm]

Hey there! Thanks for tuning in and for the shoutout from Sweden!

[@tr255788]

Great conversation ❤

[@mothernaturesapothecary]

This was such an enjoyable episode and your questions were amazing! Very thoughtful!❤

[@bareflowerfarm]

Thank you so much for your kind words! I'm glad you enjoyed the episode and found the questions thoughtful.

[@shawnsg]

I'm with Serena on the zinnias. They are a very common flower where I'm located. It's so easy to snap their little hollow necks. I also have some kind of terrible leaf spot problem every year. This past season I struggled with Zinnia Meltdown or something as well.

[@bareflowerfarm]

Definitely alot of cons against zinnias which is why I wrote them out of my crop plan in 2023. But here I am in 2024 writing them back in bc of Floret😛

[@marilynclayton3430]

💚

[@EvelynM-vlogs]

Yup, tried zinnias once. That was enough.

[@bareflowerfarm]

🤣🤣🤣 Here I am writing it back into my crop plan for 2024. We shall see what that means for 2025!

[@michellebeatty7899]

Down with zinnias! 😂

[@bareflowerfarm]

lol!! Too bad I have a bunch of floret original zinnias that I'm dying to grow. I may be joining Serina's rant next year😝

[@blessildajoy]

I like Serina & Ian as content creators, but their business model and approach is head scratching...

[@gaylemccrath1304]

I appreciate their business model and their ability to be flexible and change as it works for them. Also, the content portion of the business is just as important/ profitable as the actual farming. Their strategy of keeping flowers in production for viewing purposes is appreciated. Often when I'm watching flower growing videos where the person is mainly doing a lot of discussion, I feel like yelling SHOW ME THE FLOWERS! You can have good informational content while also showing pictures.

[@Lana-zq8vr]

@@gaylemccrath1304 By their own admission, their farming hasn't been profitable (at least so far) since they spend more than they make through farming alone. So they are actually living off funds generated by content creation.

[@glaizaroe]

I like them, too. They were one of the content creators that get me started to grow and sell. However, I still cant wrap my head around the fact that theyre not profiting from it after all these years. They buy so much stuff and go back and forth on the plans

[@blessildajoy]

@@glaizaroe Right!?

[@glaizaroe]

@@blessildajoy I really want them to succeed because I know they work hard on it. But it can be a little deceiving to alot of new growers. To be fair, they are open about making the bulk of their income as content creators. And yeah, Im still gonna be following their journey❤ I miss the funny videos tho

[@OfftoShambala]

The next question is, how much are they making off their web content in addition to the retail sales… but the internet content counts as part of the whole business too. As she spoke about earlier. Could the internet earnings and the planned edu content bring the farm up to the 100k goal… of course, I get the goal applies to revenue from grow production portion. But, I for one, would be happy to end up making the equivalent of minimum wage doing something I love, than something I dread doing and doesn’t have much potential to go further unless it’s further into more daily dread. I know a guy who manages a convenience store, he’s good at it and his employees love him and he loves doing it… but to do something in the farm field, he has no interest. I’m finally going to start a small cut garden this spring to see what I can accomplish. I still need to work full time, but hopefully I can get some kind of revenue going by next year and take it from there. Great content! Thanks for sharing this valuable info!

[@bareflowerfarm]

It's a good question. They did a video a few years back about how much they made from KZbin ad revenue and that was my lightbulb moment on the potential of being a content creator. I wish you the best of luck. Many of us will need to work full time for a long time before we can quit our jobs. We picked a difficult business to get into! :)

[@OfftoShambala]

@@bareflowerfarm I’m in that work full time category… yeah, I saw that vid… somehow I missed that part the first time I listened to this vid… you did bring that up…. Great interview!

[@erperry2013]

serena’s name is spelled with two e’s.😊

[@bareflowerfarm]

If you look at their KZbin profile page it’s actually with an “i” 🙂

[@erperry2013]

@@bareflowerfarmack! you’re so right, i am so sorry! her farm is a couple hours from my flower farm in BC and somehow i thought it was an ‘e’ all this time. 😮🙃

[@maryschroeder1533]

She makes me immediately doubt that she knows what she's talking about when she says Zinnias aren't profitable. That is simply not true.

[@bareflowerfarm]

I think that what Serina is saying is that for her, zinnias are less profitable than some of the other crops she grow which I can see to be true. I personally get a ton of powdery mildew which makes them way less profitable than they can be. That being said, I cut them out of my crop plan last year but plan on testing the floret varieties this year so I'm curious to see how they do for me including profitability!

[@donnabauerofbrilliancebyde1178]

Not all zinnias behave as she is stating….

[@bareflowerfarm]

I haven't grown enough zinnias to be as frustrated but I get it. My zinnias in year 1 were very prone to powdery mildew and basically impossible to get anything beyond a first cut.

[@TheEmbrio]

Everyting in gardening and farming is site specific too. If someone is better than them at growing zinnias, more power to them.

[@sanniepstein4835]

@@TheEmbrio Yes. Delphiniums grow like grass in the north, but when I tried them in Eastern Ontario, the humid heat there defeated them.

[@nikkimau5]

This was awesome 🩵🩵🩵

[@clarychambers1056]

Serena shared that they use flowers as cover crops, and I'm wondering which type of flowers they use - Did anyone catch if they shared which types of flowers they used for that? @b.a.reflowerfarm do you know? We are in our first season of flower farming, and have tilled an area that was sod before and would love to use flowers as cover crops. Any ideas of what we might be able to use?

[@bareflowerfarm]

Hi! I had a bit of an offline convo with Serina on this. She emphasized that this is a very expensive way of cover cropping and not one that she necessarily recommends. Because they youtube, the "cover cropping" also serves as a beautiful backdrop during their tours. Without the youtube piece, they likely wouldnt be cover cropping with flowers. If you do want to use flowers to covercrop, I recommend just getting a wildflower mix. You'll attract a diversity of insects, birds, and help keep the soil covered. Just make sure you terminate before they go to seed!