Episode Details

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XWxUGAMELY Nestled in the heart of Somers, New York, about one hour north of Manhattan, Honeybee Grove is a cozy little flower farm offering cut-your-own flowers, small events, workshops, retail pop-ups, and more. As owner Sarah Coldwell enters her fifth season, she joined me to share her story and discuss the benefits of planning a full year of events while managing the flow of production, sales, and customers. In addition to flowering her community with local blooms, Sarah incubates other small, local creative businesses through her weekly summer farmers’ markets and seasonal holiday markets that bring out the public. The season kicks off soon – on April 26th for Daffodil Day, a celebration that puts thousands of spring-flowering bulbs in the hands of her customers. And you’ll learn a thing or two about how to choose the best flowers for U-Pick programs and how to make your premium flowers more exclusive through a subscription program. She’s smitten with flowers so let’s join in and learn more. Daffodil Day at Honeybee Grove Flower Farm For Sarah Coldwell, Honeybee Grove Flower Farm began as an inkling of an idea and rapidly grew into a frenzied obsession: “I must bring a cut-your-own flower farm to our small town!” She could not get the dream out of my head after coming across a little roadside cutting spot in New York’s Finger Lakes area while vacationing with her family. With a background in marketing, branding and graphic design, and as a lifelong gardener, Sarah wanted to share the joy that she feels when harvesting blooms that have been carefully nurtured from seeds or bulbs. Honeybee Grove Flower Farm occupies rented land that was once part of a larger working vegetable farm in Sarah’s village. When she felt the itch for a new adventure, while simultaneously obsessing over the idea of a cut-your-own flower farm, Honeybee Grove Flower Farm was born in 2021. To Sarah, Honeybee Grove Flower Farm is about offering others an experience that they may not be able to create on their own – giving them the magical feeling of stepping into a field brimming with color and fragrance, that is buzzing with bees and butterflies. To slowly walk through rows of flowers to carefully select your own recipe for a bouquet. It is an experience that forces one to slow down, savor the natural beauty and harvest flowers with intention.   We initially planned on talking about the upcoming season launch – Daffodil Day – but Sarah and I went further down the garden path to discuss farm dinners and popup sales events, retail versus wholesale, and the allure of U-Pick. I learned so much and I can’t wait for you to hear today’s episode, so let’s jump right in and get started. Some parting thoughts from Sarah – that answer her “why” question: She writes: “I believe in bringing people together within a community. Our two larger artisan markets at the beginning and end of our season extend an opportunity to local artisans, artists and makers to sell their wares to the surrounding community.  With the success of our larger markets reaching a wider audience, I was eager to bring the town its own centrally-located Farmer’s Market. It gives our surrounding farms and food-product makers a weekly space to sell their crops and goods. It gives our community a chance to buy locally-raised meats, locally-grown produce and support small businesses from their own community.” What a beautiful mission! Find and follow Honeybee Grove Flower Farm on Instagram and Facebook Thank you to our Sponsors This show is brought to you by slowflowers.com, the free, online directory to more than 700 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, Flowerbulb.eu and their U.S. lily bulb vendors. One of the most recognizable flowers in the world, the lily is a top-selling cut flower, of