Today we’d like to introduce you to Mary Birrittella.
Mary, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Our Story Sam and Barbara Blue purchased Flower Valley Orchard in 1969 when they moved their family from St. Paul. Four generations of Blues, many friends, and acquaintances worked the farm and grew apples for 48 years.
In 2017, we stopped selling apples to focus on retirement but missed interacting with our customers. We have not forgotten how people who visited our farm continued to bring their children and grandchildren many years later. We are so thankful to continue that tradition by offering a pick your own flower experience on weekends from July through September.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
There has been a learning curve with our transition from growing apples to growing cut flowers for the pick your own experience. The growing part has been very rewarding as our inaugural year was weather friendly. Weekends were mostly perfect for customers to visit the Flower Farm for the Pick Your Own experience. We opened July 9, 2022 and hit the ground hard with promotion and media to get the word out. This is a challenging aspect of a short growing season and we needed a customer base right away. Flowers are ready to pick. We need pickers! That was my media push. #weneedpickers. There were so many flowers. By August the word had spread through FB/Insta/ and Tiktok. The very exciting part of the social media aspect of advertising is that it brought young people to the farm for the experience. HS and college age and such. I found this very rewarding and exciting.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
We are so very proud of being a part of the land and being good stewards of the Farm property. As we left the Apple business, we needed to continue to manage the property and care for it in a sustainable way. The Flower Farm is organic in that we do not use any sprays and we use organic materials to build the soil. With that said, the environmental impact was amazing as the hummingbirds, monarchs, swallowtails, hummingbird moths, and a variety of birds began joining us as we worked through the summer. Customers were thrilled to step into the flowers and become one with nature. Please take a look at our web site videos and FB page photos and videos. Check out TikTok with #flowervalleyorchards. Many photos were shared by customers. Thrilling. We are known in our community for providing apples for 48 years and we are looking forward to being known for our Flowers. The 2023 year will be bringing us to new ways of bringing the flowers to customers. We will continue with the you pick experience and supplement it with a monthly bouquet subscription. See our website for more information on that.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
Coffee among the Flower Farm every morning. Weeding and deadheading (a daily project). Sharing the beauty of the Flower Farm with friends, family and customers. Watching the excitement of children picking flowers and designing their own bouquet. Customers that come back every week and then tell all their friends about the joy of this place. Having talented friends who know more than I do share with me how to design a floral arrangement. Donating Flower bouquets to the Assisted Living Centers in our community. Finding how happy I am with fresh flowers in my home. Winter is going to be long and I will be visiting the local florists to fill the house with flowers until ours grow again. Reading and learning about growing cut flowers opens up a whole new world. Looking forward to the process of planting the seeds starting in January and growing the seedlings. Planting the seedlings and direct sowing. Weeding, weeding, weeding. I graduated from Red Wing 50 years ago and recently settled on the property which is next to the Flower Farm. So after being away for so long and returning to this land and the joy of being able to daily enjoy the property is pure joy.
Pricing:
- $25.00 per Pick Your Own Bouquet
- $100.00 per month for weekly bouquet picked especially for you.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.flowervalleyorchards.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flowervalleyorchards/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Flowervalleyorchards/about
- Other: #weneedpickers | #flowervalleyorchards
