March 5, 2024
Spokane, WA
To subscribe to not to subscribe? It was less a question for you flower lovers out there and more for this little farm. Along with the millions of other questions we had when starting this farm. What would we grow? How would we sell our blooms--wholesale or flower subscriptions? How much would we invest in starting this farm? How would I balance a part-time job--let alone 4 kids and a flower farm. The questions are slowly working themselves out. Usually, in my experience, they work themselves out by trial and error. This is a story all about how (Fresh Prince vibes coming at ya!) we came to deciding that subscriptions needed to be in our overall farm plan.
When you have approximately an 1/8 of an acre of blooms, you get to choose to grow whatever the heck you'd like. The first year, our rows were full of some of this and some of that. Bit by bit there was this beautiful, colorful fiesta of flowers out in the field. What I also had? Sooo many random blooms. Time was spent running around like a bat outta hell trying to harvest everything at its personalized peak, and there was less of a quantity of anything specific--Except for snapdragons and branching sunflowers. I had more of those then I know what to do with. We are talking a seventy foot row of each! It makes me cringe and laugh a bit now. What a sight that must have been?! Goodness.
In addition to ridiculous quantities, I'd used the wrong weed fabric to stifle the weeds on my snap row. As my snaps grew taller and taller, the weeds that were provided with a slight bit of shade and lots of moisture grew along with them. As the flowers and weeds grew taller, my weed fabric became possessed and started levitating. I weeded and weeded...and weeded...........and weeded. Did I mention, I'm allergic to weeds? I have a doctor's allergy report to prove that. Anyway, back to the snaps. I had beautiful snaps. The weeds and levitating weed fabric likely caused them to compete for sun and they were tall and strong. Amid the chaos, I was so proud of them.
My initial plan for this farm was to grow and sell. That was it. Grow...and sell... That was the plan. Design work wasn't for me, making bouquets wasn't either. I wasn't a florist. Leave that to the pros! But they could use my blooms to create their beautiful arrangements and our flowers would get out into the community and happiness and joy and all the wonderful things would follow! Well, ignorance is bliss. I took approximately 9 bunches of snaps to a florist and this florist said they would buy them. I. WAS. PUMPED. Then came the teaching moment from this individual... My snap stems were too thick and no one would pay the price I was asking for them. I think it was about $8/bunch. I ended up walking out of there with approximately $50 in my pocket. To say I was defeated, was an understatement. Honestly not sure that covered my gas and it certainly didn't cover time or flowers.
As much as I love flowers, this was a great learning opportunity. My emotional connection to the flowers was wonderful, but the business side was another story. What was believed to be a plan for moving flowers clearly wasn't going to be realistic if time with my family was going to be a priority. I took on 3 subscribers that summer for a total of twelve subscription bouquets and painstakingly worked to make each bouquet beautiful. The next year, we had fifteen subscribers and the following year over thirty. Our flowers are getting out into the community--Just not in the way we had initially planned. And you know what's even better? Our subscribers typically buy the subscriptions for themselves. It is literally one of my favorite things to see when people choose to spoil themselves with blooms from our farm. How cool is that?!
Some may say we gave up on the wholesale world, and that's not necessarily true. We have done plenty of wholesale and bulk orders since this time, and cultivating relationships with people in the flower world is so amazing. That being said, we feel like we are currently doing what works for us at this stage in our flower farm life--and subscriptions happen to be just that. Here are a few of the reasons subscriptions work for us: We have advanced sales which allows us to purchase needed farm items; They are scheduled which allows me flexibility during the summer with my kids at home; I get to meet some amazing humans.
Now, we decided subscriptions are great for us...but why do we think subscriptions are a great option for our customers?
It's a treat. Subscribers get to treat themselves OR someone else.
Guaranteed blooms! Pending some freak natural disaster--It doesn't matter what we have going on...we prioritize subscriptions.
Summer vacations? You can pick a flower subscription that works with your schedule. We can be flexible with subscription dates if we know ahead of time.
Easy access! Live by the farm? Or want to go for a drive? Come on out! Otherwise, we will plan pick-up times for the valley or south hill. *Locations near our farm to make it a worthwhile trip: The Rosarium, Trellis and Table, Latah Latte, Wine & Taps, Latah Bistro, Chaps, Shelby's and James T Slavin Conservation Area all within approximately 5 minutes of our farm!
VIP Treatment! Again, we prioritize subscribers. First access to additional bouquets, U-Pick notifications, and this year we will even have an end of summer member's event!
Subscriptions for 2024 are now open. We are so excited to see so many of our prior subscribers back! and look forward to meeting some new faces as well. How do subscriptions work? Head on over to our page and read our Summer Subscription Information page. Perks of being a subscriber, pricing, etc. are listed on our website as well under our subscription options.
Want to hang out with us some more and learn about farm happenings? Enter your email below. You'll be added to our communication list AND as a perk receive our Top 5 Must Grow Flowers if you want to start your own cutting garden space.
What flowers are on your list of must grows this year?
Have a good one!
Molly
For questions or comments, please feel free to leave those below and if you've enjoyed this post just a little bit--feel free to like it as well! Thanks!
Have a flower lover in your life that isn't necessarily up for an entire subscription? We offer gift cards. Let them choose how they want to use it. Prices provided based on suggested items. For a personalized price, please reach out.
Comments