0:21

Welcome back to these flower files Wildly

0:24

Native Flower Farm podcast . This

0:26

week we're going to talk all things . What do

0:28

we do with flowers when we have them ? We

0:31

planted a thousand seeds way back when and we

0:33

had to figure it out . We definitely

0:36

had to figure it out Because it was funny .

0:38

she would walk out and be like , wow , that's pretty

0:40

.

0:41

Wow , yeah

0:43

, I still do that .

0:45

Especially if it's something new where we get that eyeball

0:47

thing that like , oh , what's ?

0:49

that . Yeah , like something random from last

0:51

year that just decided to come back and race

0:53

again and like , oh , I'm going to go cut that Specifically

0:55

for this . Like I feel like

0:57

we do that all the time . I do that

0:59

all the time and it cracks me up , like

1:02

this is perfect for this and I tried

1:04

to stick it in our bridal bouquets

1:06

as much as possible .

1:07

Yeah , I was just telling Liz last week , some of my

1:09

favorite times are when you send me out in the fall

1:11

for like one oddball arrangement that somebody's

1:14

ordered and I just go out with a vase with

1:16

water in it and I get to pick out my favorite

1:18

flowers to put in there and just , oh , that's pretty .

1:21

Okay , I can deliver this .

1:22

Yeah 100% . Those

1:25

are usually the best ones . Well for you guys

1:27

.

1:28

I struggle with those because there's so many

1:30

times where I have the vase and I put it down because I

1:32

want to do something else , and then I turn around

1:34

and I dump the vase .

1:36

Oh yeah , I'm like , whatever I give up , especially

1:39

if the wind is blowing . Yeah , oh

1:41

, there's water out there .

1:43

Yeah , 100% , 100% . I

1:45

don't know . I still like I must pick the bumpy ground

1:47

to put it on . Yeah , I don't

1:49

know , I don't know . Okay

1:53

, so we planted the 1000

1:55

seeds and after we figured out

1:58

the mulch , the black paper

2:00

that we worked so hard to put that black

2:02

the dog stepped on

2:05

it the one day and ripped it and I was like I

2:07

don't like this stuff and you're like I'm done

2:09

, yeah , nothing . And

2:11

then the newspaper always made me feel weird because

2:13

I was like what about the inks ? And if somebody

2:16

wants to eat them ? Like I just struggle

2:18

with that . And

2:20

then that's how we landed with the

2:22

fabric , which I know we've already talked about , but like

2:25

it was a very real moment

2:28

where , okay , we know

2:30

we can grow , we can grow

2:32

and we can grow and we can grow , but

2:34

would we do with it ? And

2:37

I think that's a bigger question we grew some

2:39

flowers , and what do we do with them now

2:41

?

2:41

What are our options ? Where

2:44

can we go with this ? And I think

2:47

right now to where

2:49

, like , we've found a good rhythm with

2:51

what we are doing with them , but it's like we're trying

2:53

to find that full circle moment of dried

2:56

to the seed , back into

2:58

the ground , used fresh , save

3:00

everything , petals and stems

3:02

and all that . I feel like where

3:04

we've got some things in the works

3:06

, which is very exciting , but

3:09

you know , I

3:12

guess the plant circle of life is what we're

3:14

trying to do and not just add to the pile

3:17

of stems and trash

3:19

that sits on the floor .

3:20

Right .

3:21

Like right and how do we

3:23

use all parts of it and how do we look at

3:26

it through a different lens ? I

3:28

mean so , obviously , social

3:31

media , all of the things , parts of

3:33

Instagram and you know , the Cut Flower

3:35

Association and this grower association and

3:37

all of these different things and one

3:39

of the there was a whole big long post

3:41

that I read about . You know , what are some

3:44

greens that people use , and a lot of people

3:46

talked about how they use greens

3:48

of flowers before they even bloom and

3:50

I think that's a miracle .

3:52

That's used very heavily .

3:53

We use a lot of herbs . We use a lot

3:55

of herbs in our stuff because Cosmos

3:57

too .

3:58

I'm not a huge fan of cosmos , if

4:00

you haven't heard before , it's just

4:02

they're beautiful and delicate , but they do not

4:04

last in any sense , unless they're

4:06

sitting in water .

4:08

I want something that's going to be durable because

4:10

, let's face it , by the time they

4:12

get cut in the field and

4:14

depending on how they're processed , and

4:16

what their end thing is .

4:20

They're going to be ready to grow and use goal

4:23

.

4:23

Yes , that is much better , thank you

4:25

, but it depends on what you're

4:27

going to do with that . They're not going to so

4:29

, so let's talk about some

4:31

of the different things that you can do with flowers

4:33

. So you

4:35

can , lizzie , what do you do with flowers ?

4:39

Well from the wedding side , we're making

4:41

bouquets and bud vases

4:44

and cocktail tables and arrangements

4:46

and greenery and hanging

4:49

installations and there's like you name

4:51

it Okay , so pause for

4:53

a second and let's go backwards through

4:55

.

4:55

that bouquet is going to be in and out

4:57

of water .

4:58

Yeah .

4:59

A cocktail vase could be knocked over

5:01

and stood back up . Has the potential

5:03

for some in and out of water .

5:05

Sitting in the sun needs to be strong against

5:07

the wind . Yeah

5:09

, especially here with being on the water 100%

5:12

, 100% .

5:14

Talk about some of your arch pieces and

5:16

things like that . We're using oasis, moss . You

5:19

know there's there's a couple different

5:21

things that we're using , so

5:23

you have to know which flowers are going to still

5:25

drink if their stems are clogged

5:28

with oasis .

5:29

Yeah . Or even if it's hot

5:31

yeah , heat is a huge thing or if it's

5:33

sitting in the van , or if it's direct sun

5:35

. Yeah , that's . It's a lot

5:38

. We're always incredibly thankful when we get our

5:40

archers that are like still in the heat

5:42

but they're like in the shade . Yeah , we're like oh

5:45

okay , thank God still look . Good for pictures , because you

5:47

can tell when they're drooping

5:49

. They're like the hot thing .

5:51

Plus the width of the stem too . Mm-hmm

5:53

, the width of the stem is that

5:55

definitely . You know , a bouquet of

5:57

30 cosmos compared

5:59

to a bouquet of 30 . So

6:04

some of them are the size of thick celery

6:06

. I mean you have to know what

6:09

your end thing is going to be . And if

6:11

you think about that from a

6:13

production standpoint , if

6:16

you're a florist and you're getting

6:18

things shipped in , sometimes

6:20

they come in boxes without water

6:23

, yeah . So some things are shipped wet but

6:25

some things are shipped in without water

6:27

, so you've got to rehydrate and that's a

6:29

whole different level of stress on the plant too

6:31

.

6:31

Yeah , and trying to learn how

6:34

different plants act . Like hydrangeas

6:36

you can stick , like you flip

6:38

them upside down and stick the heads

6:40

in water and they'll perk back up faster

6:42

, like with stock . Like if you smash not

6:44

smash , but like crush their stems a little bit , put them in water

6:47

and their petals will perk

6:49

up a lot faster than just cutting them and sticking

6:51

them in water . Graber's

6:53

are supposed to be cut underwater because of the water intake

6:55

. Like , it's just there's multiple

6:58

.

6:58

like food gangs .

7:03

That's sticky or sappy , like a milkweed or a poppy or

7:05

poppies Like red poppies , yeah , or daffodils

7:08

. So you've got to be careful with daffodils because they're so

7:10

slimy and gross . We have figured

7:12

out you don't have to necessarily

7:14

burn them , but if you put them in a bucket and

7:16

just kind of let them seep into

7:18

the water for a little bit , like you'll be able to tell like

7:20

as soon as you cut them , they're fine . And then

7:23

when you pick them up and it's like slimy

7:25

, and then when they're done , like you you can tell

7:27

when they're done , yeah , and then you can mix them with other

7:29

stuff . But it's still like it's

7:32

a learning process because they they

7:34

all act differently 100% .

7:37

So figuring out how to use them and how

7:40

to not waste some

7:42

of that stuff is really important

7:45

, and what are we allowed to reuse

7:47

?

7:47

Because a lot of the reusing is in like

7:50

, I don't say like top balls , but like bodily

7:53

functions and like senses

7:55

, like eating like edibles or

7:57

having bath soaks or

7:59

I don't know . You

8:02

have to know your flower yeah yeah

8:04

, because there are some that look like they're poisonous , like boxwaf

8:07

, totally 100% , looks like it's from like

8:09

fairy tale . I would not eat that , ever

8:11

, ever , ever ever . There's

8:13

so poisonous , ranunculus like they're

8:16

poisonous , but peonies are edible

8:18

, like to me a bigger flower would seem more

8:21

poisonous than a smaller flower

8:23

, but I guess that's the the

8:26

given . Yet with what's poisonous , I don't know

8:28

it's . It's weird .

8:29

Well in spring flowers . Spring flowers in

8:31

particular . Yeah that if

8:34

you look at the different sections of flowers

8:36

out of the season , there's more

8:38

poisonous in spring but , I , don't know if that's

8:41

an adaptation over the years

8:43

, because they have

8:45

to be poisonous so that they're not eaten , because

8:47

there's some of the first things that are available , I

8:49

don't know . I also a lot of the, totally

8:52

de-railing , but a lot of

8:54

the flowers in the spring have that cut

8:56

, like your larks

8:58

for your dance , or delphinium

9:01

, your Fox . Love all that kind

9:03

of stuff .

9:03

It's like I just look this up and I'm

9:06

like poisonous flowers in the spring , lily

9:08

of the valley yeah , it's poisonous

9:10

and they're so delicate . Yeah , the

9:13

dahlias are poisonous really

9:16

. Yeah , like

9:18

like I guess with some of them , like the .

9:22

See , but they're the same form and function like

9:24

stripes . They look the same as

9:27

a peony .

9:28

Rhododendrons are poisonous um

9:32

Lantana , which is assuming

9:34

because it's it's pokey

9:36

like I would want to eat that anyway .

9:38

So I hate .

9:39

Lantana . Anyway , I'm

9:41

sorry , I hate Lantana . It stinks , it

9:44

pokes you . i've worked with it too much in

9:46

garden centers and it's just like everywhere

9:48

and I I can't handle it , as

9:52

azaleas are poisonous um

9:54

, some irises are poisonous,

9:57

bird of paradise is poisonous , like it's just . I

9:59

don't know . You

10:01

gotta be smart , you gotta know what you're doing .

10:03

This Mm-hmm really inviting yeah

10:06

yeah , so weird to me .

10:09

And some of them , I guess , are more poisonous

10:12

than that , are more concentrated , because

10:14

some of them have like warning , all parts

10:16

of this , but like okay , if

10:19

I can do .

10:20

And I said do you think hibiscus

10:22

is poisonous or not ? What

10:24

would you say ? Why ? I

10:26

know that it's not . No , it's not

10:28

. But like , if you came up

10:30

to me and said , like , like you had a

10:32

dahliah and a hibiscus in one hand or the other

10:34

, which one do you think is poisonous ? I would

10:36

say I would say the hibiscus .

10:38

Yeah , for sure , this is the way that it works . I'll order some .

10:40

all the fact that stuff and they're

10:42

, they're not like I

10:45

wonder if is nigella . What

10:48

is this ? I don't know . Learn

10:54

with us guys .

10:56

So there are charts and all kinds of things

10:58

that we look at . They're

11:00

specific , well , and there's also it's

11:03

interesting . So when you start talking about florals

11:05

that can be used for edibles , because everybody

11:07

wants them up , lizzie has a

11:09

thing they're considered only slightly

11:12

poisonous .

11:17

You should never consume a whole plant . Caution's

11:19

advice , but

11:21

don't allow them to nibble

11:23

like kids . Are dogs like nibble on them . It's kind

11:26

of like a poinsettia , yeah , like

11:28

it's okay , but you're not gonna die

11:30

from it . You're like it'll kind of die .

11:32

Yeah , you know how much of

11:34

a poinsettia you have to eat before like even a cat

11:36

. Do you know how much a cat has ?

11:38

to eat before it dies .

11:38

Like the whole thing . Yeah , everybody's

11:41

like oh the poisonous . It's like you're cat

11:43

or a pearl . Yeah , it probably

11:45

upsets their guts a lot more

11:47

. Yeah .

11:49

And then the leafy flower , I'm

11:51

assuming probably would be poisonous . Yeah

11:53

, that already has like sap on it .

11:55

Like and they're sticky Yup . Yup

11:58

, yup , yup , yup , yup Not for me , so

12:01

okay . So you've got flowers , you know some of them

12:03

are edible , some of them are not , and you're

12:05

trying to figure out . You're standing in this field

12:07

, I'm not speaking from experience

12:11

at all .

12:11

Oh no , I was like this is

12:14

great .

12:14

I thought I was like , I feel like

12:16

Rapunzel , this

12:19

is the best day ever . I never should have done this . Yeah

12:22

, yeah , it's that panic of oh

12:24

my God , I have to do something with them .

12:26

Yeah .

12:27

So trying to figure out . So

12:29

initially I didn't know if we were going to do anything

12:31

with design because it's hidden

12:33

gem of a child over here being

12:36

. I was like nope

12:38

, I just want to do wholesale . So for

12:40

a couple of years I just kind of played with wholesale

12:43

and tried to figure out . You know , I

12:45

feel like there's so many different ways

12:48

that people think flowers

12:50

are processed , so they

12:52

think of them in like large mass fields

12:55

with great pictures of the tulips in

12:57

in , you know , the Dutch and the

12:59

Netherlands , all of the things over

13:01

there . I almost said the Dutch lens

13:03

.

13:04

I heard that going out I was

13:06

like yeah it's great .

13:09

And then you know you think of these great , big

13:11

, huge fields but realistically

13:13

there's other flowers too that you

13:15

can add and mix and change . Okay

13:18

, so you go and you talk to the wholesale

13:20

, or you talk to the florist and say , do

13:22

you want wholesale ? We live in a small town

13:24

so for me it's an hour

13:27

in any direction to get to a big city

13:29

which is a blessing . We can get to them

13:31

. Yeah , but it's a lot of traffic and a lot

13:33

of this was a lot . And then do

13:36

you join the there's a

13:38

local farmer flower network

13:40

thing that you can farm to do , where

13:43

you can list this and do that

13:45

and connect with them , and it's like okay

13:47

. So now I get one person in Wilmington and

13:49

one person in Baltimore news and news flash , that's

13:51

two opposite directions .

13:52

Yeah , I feel like you're like at 95 or

13:54

you get the bridge , yeah

13:56

, like there's just no

13:58

, no balance .

13:59

I was like this is , this is insane .

14:02

Unless you're trying to like hop

14:04

over , got a window to wear

14:06

.

14:06

Yeah , I was like so . So how

14:09

do we break into

14:11

that wholesale ? And then how

14:13

do you know how much to grow ? And then how

14:15

do you have the right quality ? How do you have the right

14:17

quantity ? How do you beat the market

14:19

?

14:20

And if I can grow , everybody can grow it , and

14:22

I mean we have talked about it before . We

14:24

do have a wholesale license

14:26

, Like I don't know

14:28

what it is for the , but for the local guide . We

14:30

cannot grow stock .

14:32

No , that's not true , listen .

14:36

We can grow , yes , we can grow stock , but

14:39

not at a wholesale level , oh , not in

14:41

that quantity . I understand it's

14:43

like straw flower . We

14:45

can grow straw flower in

14:47

every single way possible . Like

14:49

we had one row of

14:51

straw flower in the hoop house , which again was

14:53

a learning curve for us . We had

14:55

one plant . Like we had one

14:58

row , we had multiple plants , but we cut from

15:00

it the entire year , the

15:02

whole year from the beginning of

15:04

like probably April I was going to

15:06

say late March , November and

15:08

it just kept popping up Another

15:11

one , Another one In the fall .

15:13

When the light changed , it got really

15:15

leggy .

15:16

Yeah , it was laggy , really really skinny long . It was like

15:19

I'm coming . It's like I'm

15:21

here , it's

15:24

like you can see me , but

15:26

it was . I mean , if

15:28

we had a whole hoop house of just that

15:30

, we could have straw flower and do

15:33

it that way . But they're not like that

15:35

, you know what I mean ?

15:37

Well , they love , love the heat , Well , and I think we could

15:39

fatten them up if we fed them more and

15:41

watered them more .

15:42

It's like that makes sense . Yeah

15:44

, that makes sense , but , like we , everyone

15:47

says that it's so difficult to grow sweet peas . Sweet

15:50

peas grow like weeds for

15:53

us . If we have them , unless we rip

15:55

them out , they 110% will

15:57

come out .

15:58

Well , the one year that we had them and

16:00

I was like kind of we'll just let them go , but they've receded

16:02

themselves . We put in tea

16:05

posts . I'm

16:07

gonna say five , six feet apart .

16:08

I think they were six feet apart .

16:09

They were six feet apart and we had just regular

16:12

ag trellis netting .

16:14

It buckets oh my

16:16

God .

16:16

But it wasn't just that , it was we

16:19

had moved out into the field . We weren't paying

16:21

as much attention to the stuff . They pulled

16:23

the posts over . Everything fell over

16:25

. I mean , they were over my head

16:27

and not I mean even the photographers love

16:29

it , like they .

16:31

You know , sometimes that's the earliest

16:33

colorful thing that we have , probably

16:37

in like April , like

16:39

the first ones , it's gonna start to

16:41

come up in April . May

16:44

is like , let me

16:46

count , but May is like our

16:48

first , like peak of like , oh , the

16:51

Peonies are coming , like the Buds are starting to pull

16:53

through . And then we go out and be like , okay , it's

16:55

time to keep growing .

16:58

Like that one . Yeah , and the one

17:00

row that we had .

17:01

like you know I think Nicole was

17:03

talking to me about it she , there's this one woman

17:05

, it's a mom , she grows

17:08

Peonies but like rows and rows

17:10

and rows of Peonies . She

17:12

makes thousands

17:14

of dollars off of these Peonies , but then

17:16

it's a it's a triple , yeah , it's a digit thousand . Yeah

17:19

, like , okay . So like hundreds of

17:21

thousands of dollars , and she has it insured

17:23

and everything , because , god forbid , there's a storm that

17:25

comes through or whatever . I don't know where she's exactly located

17:27

, but it's insured for her kids . So

17:30

if she has to , if something

17:32

happens , like it's protected

17:35

. But she makes so much

17:37

money from like a two

17:39

to three month period depending on when they bloom , that

17:43

like that's a thing . And

17:46

the row that we have , how long is that row

17:48

out there ?

17:50

Oh , I bought those

17:52

. I think our second year .

17:54

So it's about half of a full field

17:56

.

17:59

So it's half of a poop house , so it's 50 feet .

18:01

Okay , last year we had over

18:03

probably 1700

18:06

Peanuts from that one row

18:08

and we have three other rows

18:11

growing and it's her first year , so we can be

18:13

gentle and thick .

18:14

It's their first cutting year .

18:15

Yeah , yeah , it's their first bloom , so oh , that's

18:18

exciting .

18:18

Yeah , yeah .

18:19

We are going to have- ? How are we going to cut

18:22

their heads off in the first few years and

18:24

like , I'm sorry , yeah , but I can't imagine

18:26

like this year , because they just keep coming back and we

18:28

take care of them Like the girls take care of them and we

18:30

treat them as they should be and

18:33

they're beautiful . They're the princesses of

18:35

the patch , but most of the time when they're blooming , the amount

18:37

of time where everybody else goes and cuts the field

18:39

I'm cutting Peonies the entire

18:41

time and I mean like fucking

18:44

buckets , buckets of

18:46

Peonies . And what sucks is that

18:48

the white and the light pink that

18:50

have some of the like the bright magenta

18:52

stripes and things like that . They go

18:54

first , but we have other

18:57

than a few like deep dark red ones . I think we have like two

18:59

or three plants of those like really deep red

19:01

ones out there . They fly , but like

19:03

the magenta , super dark . I

19:05

wish they bloom in the fall , but

19:07

sometimes they sit

19:09

in the corner and they sit and

19:11

they sit and they sit until it's time to hang them .

19:13

The color isn't used

19:15

as often for that time of year . We

19:17

took up two weddings this year that wants a

19:20

similar color to those that are just . I'm

19:23

like come on land , just right , yeah

19:26

yeah , I hope that the weather

19:28

pushes a little bit . Well , you know what ? And

19:30

that was another thing that we learned . That

19:33

was that first year we had so

19:35

many of the little Dutch iris .

19:38

Do you ?

19:38

remember we planted them even when the hoop house

19:40

was not where it is now . Yeah Little

19:43

tiny 50 foot hoop house and I was like this is great , I'm

19:45

gonna fill it and I'll never outgrow it . And now I have

19:47

like four of them , but you mean , the

19:51

Dutch iris were all the way in the back and

19:53

they came up , and when they come on

19:55

, they come on , there's no

19:57

slowing them down . So as

19:59

they were coming in , I was like , oh

20:02

, my God , I've got to save you . So we had

20:04

a fridge out in

20:06

our garage and I was like , okay , I'm gonna put them all

20:08

in there . I took everything out , put

20:10

all of the sodas and everything

20:12

else in the cooler .

20:14

Dad came out and he was like Liza , what , the fuck

20:16

, what ?

20:17

the fuck .

20:18

It's just like a sign . It's just fine

20:20

, it's just fine my life . There would

20:22

be like two that would pop open and then the next day

20:24

there would be like $50 million .

20:26

Yeah . So I was like , okay , I'm gonna save these . So

20:28

I put them in the in the regular refrigerator

20:31

, all of the buckets that were towards

20:33

the back froze and the first thing we

20:35

were gonna want to do , and that's when I was like , no , if I'm done , and buying

20:37

a flower cooler .

20:38

Yeah .

20:39

I was like no , it was depressing to say

20:41

at least no , no

20:43

, I was so wetter yeah .

20:46

It was so wetter . So we grow all these flowers and

20:48

we can design with them . We can also

20:50

go to wholesale with them .

20:52

And we do a little bit . We work with

20:54

some local markets where

20:56

it's funny , it's

20:58

interesting to see the dynamics

21:00

and how they change through the season , where

21:03

, when the boaters start to come

21:06

down , the colors start to shift

21:08

.

21:08

Yeah .

21:10

They . There's different demographics and

21:12

different colors , so

21:14

everybody loves bright , bold

21:16

, beautiful and all of that kind of stuff . But

21:18

if you have a couple that are neutral , you have

21:20

a couple one of the

21:22

favorites- of everybody this year that

21:25

they couldn't get enough of was eucalyptus

21:27

and sunflowers . Those bundles

21:29

, just they were the first ones to go . And

21:31

then the bundles of plain eucalyptus , but

21:34

having bright and airy , having

21:36

some of the neutrals , having some color

21:39

specific , that definitely made a

21:41

difference too . Yeah , Definitely .

21:43

Yeah , check , that was interesting .

21:45

Without a doubt , and I definitely think there's

21:48

times where we

21:50

have extras . I mean

21:52

, I can't actually have

21:54

much .

21:56

We get a lot of extras , especially in August , it's

21:58

like , okay , well , and

22:00

that's what we do now .

22:01

We are pretty heavy on our donations

22:03

. So I mean we do a

22:05

lot of donations throughout the year . We

22:07

sponsor a lot of local events . Somebody

22:11

will be celebrating something and you know

22:13

there's there's many times where

22:15

there's educational things . I

22:18

go hell came to us and they were celebrating . I

22:21

think it was their hundred hundred years .

22:23

I think so , and I think we're excited about indoor

22:25

weddings too , because we know that our flowers

22:27

are going to last and we're just saying if

22:29

you work with us in August , you get a lot of

22:31

flowers . Because every once

22:33

in a while we're like well , we have the flowers , we'll

22:35

just fill it in .

22:38

Like you know , throw a little extra . I feel like

22:40

we do that almost across the board

22:42

, yeah .

22:43

And I know that a lot of people come to us and

22:45

like , well , you guys are just too much cheaper

22:47

compared to like people over the bridge . We'll

22:50

think about the process . We're

22:52

not processing buckets

22:55

of hydrangeas that have little tiny

22:58

plastic bags filled with water attached

23:00

with rubber bands on the bottom

23:02

of hydrangeas Cuttings

23:05

yeah , packed in a box , like throwing out

23:07

trash from yeah

23:09

, ecuador , the Netherlands , canada

23:12

, like God only knows where . To California

23:14

yeah , from everywhere . And

23:17

all that time , hours , that it takes

23:19

to process everything we

23:21

don't .

23:22

How sturdy those flowers have to be , and

23:24

that's the other thing that's different for us .

23:26

And what's on your ?

23:26

flowers , I wasn't going to

23:28

go there . Pesticides

23:32

Well , the regulations through

23:34

countries are so different .

23:36

Yeah .

23:37

And flowers aren't regulated the same way

23:39

that food is . But

23:41

I don't know about you , but if something

23:43

smells good , I'm going to smell it . I'm

23:46

a tactile person .

23:47

I'm a hugger .

23:48

I'm a tactile person . I'm always touching

23:50

. That's my like . If I had to guess

23:52

what my superpower was , it's hugs , because

23:55

I'm always like , hey , let me

23:57

hug you . That's why God gave us arms

23:59

. But

24:01

I don't know

24:03

the process of some of the other things . You

24:06

know , are they fumigated ? Yeah , and

24:08

I'm not saying that it's wrong

24:10

, because if you're shipping something in , I don't

24:12

want your disease . You can keep your disease

24:14

in your country .

24:16

And that protects them . Because then what

24:18

are they going to trace it back with ? Like when we went

24:20

and toured in

24:23

a

24:25

wholesale business

24:28

with flowers , I guess , as you explained it , I'm

24:30

sure there was a specific thing whatever

24:33

, but

24:35

there was a person that had a job to look at

24:37

everything that came in to make sure that it all looked good

24:39

, and because some of the workers

24:41

that worked there don't know what flowers

24:43

are supposed to look like , Yaro is not supposed to

24:46

be droopy at all , but

24:48

they're not necessarily going to know

24:50

that .

24:50

No , they're an hourly employee and their job

24:52

is to find code

24:54

1016 yellow yeah

24:56

, with their little finger scanner . I

25:00

mean quality control ? Yeah

25:02

, there has to be there . Well , on

25:04

top of the fact , we're going to harvest and

25:06

use things at a totally different cycle

25:09

of flowering . We want things big

25:12

and bold and lush and in your face If

25:14

you're trying to sell or work with a flower shop , they

25:16

want it super tight because they want it to last . So

25:19

knowing when to pick what your market is

25:22

and how to figure it out

25:24

.

25:24

We're lucky with being able to watch everything on the field

25:26

.

25:27

Yeah by like a lot

25:29

of minutes . Hey , that's

25:31

going to pop tomorrow . Hey , we're going to need that for the

25:33

weekend . Hey , don't touch that . Tie a ribbon

25:35

around that so nobody cuts that . Because we

25:37

like that .

25:38

We want to pull those seeds , like there's

25:40

so many layers to it now , yeah , and

25:43

so we're short , support your local

25:45

flower farmers because , a it's going to be cheaper just

25:47

because of the process and , b you're

25:49

going to get so much more out of your flowers . Yeah , 100%

25:52

, 100% for life . Yeah , we

25:55

care a little bit more because we grew it from seed

25:57

, you know literally .

25:59

Literally , literally , I feel like

26:02

and this sounds crazy

26:04

, but when I first started

26:06

so Joe is super

26:08

into marketing and he

26:11

likes a plan for everything , like

26:13

he's very technical

26:15

. I don't know if it's technical

26:17

or logistics . I'm tight , I'm not sure it's

26:21

both . It's business , that's what it is . It's tactical

26:23

, it's very specific , when

26:27

I more of a jump in hey

26:29

, we'll do it , we'll figure it out , and

26:31

both sides have good

26:33

and bad to it . Did

26:36

I have a marketing plan initially

26:38

? Well , that's why I grew on a

26:40

smallish side to begin with

26:42

, to see what the process was and

26:45

how it worked and all that kind of stuff . But

26:47

I am definitely that person

26:50

who jumps and then checks their parachute

26:52

where Joe is . The person who

26:54

has checked his parachute

26:56

, has checked the emergency

26:58

part of the parachute , packed

27:00

it himself , jumped and then gone is

27:03

still gonna work . I'm

27:05

happy to air going woo . So

27:08

I think there's lots of different

27:10

approaches to it and

27:13

I feel like you have to have a certain level

27:15

of we're

27:18

gonna figure it out as we go if you're gonna be in farming .

27:20

We between snow and

27:22

rain and bugs , and yeah , and the weather

27:24

tells you what you're gonna do, foxes and you

27:26

know , you know .

27:27

You just have to

27:30

be able to know of it . We

27:32

don't like gambling , don't

27:34

we farmer ?

27:36

Yeah .

27:36

Ain't that the truth ?

27:37

Yeah , especially now , because Anything

27:42

can happen . Yeah , for

27:44

sure . Like our winters are not what they

27:46

used to be Like

27:48

at all , and the swings are

27:50

so huge , the swings are just ginormous

27:53

. Yeah , watching everything

27:55

, especially with like weather predictions

27:57

, and trying to read like

27:59

the bugs and the

28:02

flowers , kind of tell you what's happening

28:04

. Yeah , like , if we're like , oh , this time

28:06

last year was ready , and we're like , oh , I guess it's not

28:08

gonna be warm the next two weeks

28:10

, like there's always that , there's like

28:12

that sweet spot , there's like that last , like

28:14

false , like spring , spring

28:17

. We're like , oh no , it's cold . We're

28:20

like we're gonna drink like two days of like

28:22

70 something degrees , maybe like

28:24

high sixties , and then you go

28:26

, oh no , it's 40 . Sorry

28:28

, Testing the water with your toe

28:30

Mm-hmm , not a time yet yeah , can that

28:33

go . Yeah .

28:35

Hey , she's a nope , nope , nope , not at all

28:38

, not at all . So

28:40

I don't know . Somebody says , hey , what are

28:42

you gonna do with them ? If they

28:44

had asked me that when I first started , I

28:47

would kind of gone . I don't know . I'm gonna sell them and

28:49

figure it out . But

28:51

the answer that should

28:53

be said is something along the

28:55

lines of do your market research , you

28:58

know where you can sell them and

29:00

continue to grow and figure

29:03

out what makes sense . And

29:05

we've done that and scaled appropriately

29:08

. Have we stepped ?

29:09

into the wholesale world .

29:12

Not what most people would define wholesale

29:14

.

29:14

Not necessarily .

29:17

Buy the flowers for us to use .

29:18

We have had some florists

29:21

that and we have a couple here and there that we know

29:23

that we they usually ask us like hey , do

29:25

you have peonies ? I need like five

29:28

for a bridal bouquet .

29:30

I think the best compliment we got is

29:33

when other flowers call flower farmers . We

29:35

need the flowers to call me . But if other

29:37

flower farmers call me and say , hey

29:39

, I need that a fana to fill

29:42

out my bouquets this week to have these

29:44

?

29:44

So hey , oh yes , it's

29:47

very convenient . I mean at least we're prepared ,

29:49

yeah .

29:51

Well , there's been times where I call them and be like oh

29:54

.

29:54

I'm hot , I need 30 steps .

29:55

Yeah , so

29:58

yeah , I don't know it's

30:00

, it's there's a lot of different avenues .

30:01

I feel like we've kind of tested and we found our , our

30:04

special spot and now we're just trying to round

30:07

out the circle of what to do

30:09

with them after they're cut For sure

30:11

, Like yeah , how

30:13

to dry them .

30:15

I mean if we've gone through and

30:17

we've used everything that we can and exhausted

30:20

all the options . That's when we start

30:22

drying them . And then there's the

30:24

craft aspect . From there , like

30:27

how do you , how do you extend that season ? And

30:30

we're dealing with a perishable product ? Yeah

30:32

, the moment we cut it , it's dead . So

30:35

how do we sell it while it's I mean like just the

30:37

moment it blooms .

30:39

It's got a life life span .

30:40

It's got a shelf life , like it's

30:43

just it is what it is , absolutely

30:45

so how do you , and then how

30:47

do you , figure out what

30:49

to do with it after ? So

30:52

, when they're dry , they're shelf stable .

30:54

Yeah .

30:56

But what do ?

30:57

you do with them , because they're pretty hanging and some

30:59

of them are not pretty yeah .

31:03

See , and it cracks me up because there's so many times we're

31:05

gonna be like , oh , what's that ? I'm like , dude , that's a weed , yeah

31:07

. And then the Nicole and Lizzy go, You can walk through

31:09

the field and be like , oh , look at that , and

31:12

I'm like it's a weed . They're like no

31:14

, look at the seed , head and the fist , and it's that , and

31:17

I'm like it's a weed .

31:18

Yeah , it withstands

31:20

the heat out of water , so

31:23

we're lucky getting that what we're gonna use

31:25

, yeah .

31:26

If it waddles like a duck and quacks like a duck , it's probably a duck

31:28

.

31:29

Yeah , I'm like it's

31:31

dead . They're like no , it's dry . I'm like

31:33

it's dead . Yeah , I'm

31:36

like , stop it , it's dry . I'm

31:38

like , okay , okay , tell me . I'm just gonna go back to drawing

31:40

things .

31:41

I think my favorite thing is when the lines in

31:43

here are completely full of stuff to dry

31:45

and people are gonna go , wow

31:47

, yeah , and then our light from

31:50

the actual barn is shaded .

31:52

And then when we take everything off , we're like , wow , we can actually like

31:54

see , it's not just

31:57

like natural light that we're waiting to like bring

31:59

stuff in . Like we have ropes like boat

32:01

rope on the ceiling hooked up with hooks

32:03

to we can all the hang-dry stuff . But we

32:06

have to be careful where we hang-dry the celocia

32:08

because the seeds dropped on the floor .

32:10

We hope they're on the floor . I don't like when they

32:12

drop on my computer keys .

32:13

Yeah .

32:15

Kind of like oh

32:17

these seeds ?

32:18

Yeah , yeah , yeah .

32:19

Yeah , yeah , thank you

32:22

so much . Work with a team who

32:24

sees things through different eyes , so

32:26

what I see is trash . Other

32:28

people see as amazing things that

32:30

they can do stuff with . So when

32:33

somebody says again that rhetorical question of

32:35

hey , you've got flowers , what are you gonna do with them

32:37

? It's a

32:39

world of opportunity . Not

32:41

to sound cliche , but there's so much

32:44

you can do .

32:45

Yeah , pick your people and pick your avenue .

32:49

Know your market people .

32:53

Yeah , jump in big enough

32:55

.

32:55

He's planning .

32:56

I think that'll fail otherwise , so

32:58

you will miss .

32:59

I have a planner . Yeah , I

33:01

was really good this year . I got one

33:03

. It shows me the week . I've got little places

33:06

to take notes . I just keep turning

33:08

the page . I'm gonna

33:10

mark it for the next one . I'll try it

33:12

next week . I try , I try

33:14

, try , try . Put little notes in there Like don't

33:16

forget this .

33:17

It gives me like peace of mind In

33:21

your type . A yeah , I don't

33:23

know what I have .

33:24

X .

33:24

Something yeah .

33:27

I'm tight and I need to boot .

33:30

Yeah .

33:32

I don't know , I don't know , I don't know , but you

33:35

know what Keeps it interesting , so

33:37

cool . Well , you know what I would love

33:39

? I would love if people would comment

33:41

on this episode and tell me what they do with

33:43

their flowers . What are things that you do with

33:45

flowers , or what are some of your traditions

33:48

that you do with flowers that

33:50

maybe not many people know about . That would be

33:52

cool . I'd love to hear what other people

33:54

do . Yeah , let's give us your ideas .

33:55

We'll mark it for you , yeah .

33:59

We love to hear what you guys do , Because a lot of times we

34:01

have people that come in asking for buckets . They're

34:03

like I don't know you can do that . Well , this

34:05

is what we do with that , and we're like I never thought

34:07

about that .

34:07

That's interesting . I love

34:09

it when people walk in . It smells

34:12

so good in here I'm like I don't know , I

34:14

don't smell anything .

34:15

Yeah , it's fine , yeah , pretty much . I'm

34:17

like don't know what you're talking about . Well , this is a menthol from the

34:19

Eucalyptus .

34:21

I cannot smell it . What is burning ?

34:22

your nostrils today . So All

34:25

right guys .

34:26

Yeah , so hit us with your ideas .

34:29

It's just a chocolate cup of milk . Yeah , Because

34:32

she's excited All right

34:34

, guys , you can catch us next week , or

34:36

any week for that matter . We

34:38

have apple podcast now . We'll do .

34:41

Yes , we do !

34:44

You can find us on Apple podcast , spotify

34:47

, google podcast audible . You can find

34:49

us anywhere you get your podcast . I

34:51

think I'll post my favorite . No one popped up . Oh

34:55

, we're official . We

34:57

have Facebook , instagram , tiki Taki . You

35:00

can find us at The Flower Files or

35:02

Wildly Native Flower Farm . We have a Patreon

35:04

. Please make sure to check that out . There will be

35:06

extra episodes and fun things there , and

35:09

you can find us on the interwebs

35:12

at wildlynativeflowerfarm . com .

35:14

And if you go to the link in our Instagram

35:16

, it will show you all of those links in one

35:19

spot , so you don't have to actually go find

35:21

it . I did the work for you , you're welcome .

35:25

She was very excited the other day . She's like I

35:28

think we need a link tree . I

35:30

was like I don't want that . She was

35:32

like I mean you

35:35

used that for like a green . Like what are

35:37

we doing ?

35:38

Nicole knew what I was talking about . And then I put it

35:40

up and I showed you yesterday and you're like

35:42

oh yeah , I

35:48

mean it looks good . I think it looks good

35:50

.

35:50

I think it looks great Now

35:52

that I know what a linked tree is .

35:55

Yeah , All right

35:57

guys .

35:59

Oh yeah , that purple girl , yeah , yeah , nice

36:01

and purple . Go check it out .

36:03

We will catch you next week . I hope you have a

36:05

very week .

36:07

Yeah , we will see you very , very soon . Enjoy

36:10

the snow that has fallen , ground

36:12

that is ruining our lives . Bye

36:14

, bye , bye , bye , bye , bye

36:34

.