Today we’d like to introduce you to Melissa Hartner.
Hi Melissa, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I have always enjoyed gardening. Growing up, my Dad always had vegetable gardens and would make sure that my siblings and I were involved with all aspects of the garden. Planting, maintaining, harvesting, and preserving our harvest, we were involved with all of it! He also grew flowers, mainly because my mom loved them.
I remember reading the classic, The Secret Garden, and being very inspired by it. I asked my dad to help me create my very own flower garden, so he and I planted a small tulip garden together. My childhood was magical in a lot of ways because of the gardens and so I wanted to recreate that for my own children.
My husband and I have four daughters, we homeschool, and I love to get them involved with the gardens and business. I believe hands-on learning is the best kind of learning!
I started out with vegetable gardens and would grow a small amount of flowers and over the last two years, I have decided to focus on growing mostly flowers and a small amount of vegetables.
I have been really inspired by some female flower farmers that I have been following on social media over the last couple of years. Seeing them have success growing and selling their flowers really inspired and encouraged me that this was something that I too could do! I joined some flower farming groups on Facebook and enjoyed watching YouTube videos of other flower farmers. So much free information that is literally right at our fingertips, it is amazing! I love learning from others, but I believe I have learned the most by doing!
This past year in particular was incredibly educational for me because I really dove in head-first into the world of profitable flower farming. I put in so much time and effort into this little business of mine, and I have been pleasantly surprised with how many flowers I have been able to grow and sell. I love that my flowers have brought so much joy not only to myself, but to many others around my community! Flowers just have that almost super natural ability to lift people’s spirits with their beauty!
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
There has most definitely been some struggles along the way. Farming is hard work and there are always unforeseen surprises and situations that can and will happen. As much as I love learning by doing, it is also important to learn from others, especially from other people’s mistakes. I wish I had spent a little more time learning about which flowers are deer resistant and which are not. I had to learn the hard way, by trial and error. My daughters and I planted 1,000 tulips two years ago. They began popping up in the spring, I was excited to see them, but unfortunately, so were the deer! I didn’t realize how much deer love tulips! They ate almost all of them! I think I got to see about 30 of them bloom. It was so disappointing!
I also learned how important it is to invest in a good irrigation system. I spent most of the springtime moving sprinklers around from garden to garden. Definitely not how I wanted to spend my valuable time! We finally invested in drip line irrigation and it really helped free up my time and helped the flowers reach their full potential, because they were able to get the water that they needed!
Another struggle that has become apparent to me is that I am going to need to hire some help next year. I offered a flower arrangement subscription this past year. I had around 15 customers sign up for my biweekly flower arrangement subscription. I did all the deliveries myself and as much fun as that was, it was just too much for me. I prefer to have more time to spend in the garden and with my family. Going forward, I plan on hiring help!
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I offer biweekly and monthly seasonal flower arrangement subscriptions and offer both delivery and pickup options, customers can also order single flower arrangements. I am also beginning to offer arrangements, bouquets and boutonnières for weddings. I also offer traveling bouquet bars, perfect for bridal showers!
I offer pick your own flower days here at the farm, flower garden tours, and flower arrangement classes for both adults and kids. I also offer paint classes here as well! The farm is available for private photography sessions, customers can bring their own photographer or hire me to take their photos. I love getting people out to the farm! We have a self serve flower stand here that is open weekends throughout the summer, people can stop by and make their very own flower arrangements with our homegrown fresh cut flowers. In addition to our flowers, I sell hollyhock seeds at our stand, as well as our handmade, all natural bath bombs, these are also available via my website. I also enjoy letting other local makers in the area add their handmade goods to the stand!
Something unique to Old Silo Flower Farm is our nursing home resident flower donation option which is on our website. This allows others to purchase flower arrangements for nursing home residents. Anyone in the world can donate. Whenever someone purchases an arrangement for a nursing home resident I match their donation. I deliver and donate these flower arrangements to local nursing homes here in central MN. I love bringing joy to our senior citizens! They are always so grateful to receive my fresh homegrown flowers!
I believe that what sets me apart from other farmers is the fact that I focus and specialize in cut flowers. I also am quite active on social media, which may not always come naturally to us farmers! I believe my willingness to put myself out there and advertise my business through social media really helped my business gain traction.
What sets me apart from other florists is the fact that I am using my own homegrown flowers and I like to really get creative with my arrangements. I love the freedom of flower arranging, it really is an art form and I have always considered myself an artist at heart! My customers seem to love the arrangements that I come up with, and that just encourages me to keep doing it!
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
I have so many people that deserve credit and thanks for the success that I have had with my business. I think my Mom and Dad deserve a lot of credit. They really cared for my siblings and I and taught us the importance of hard work. They have always been there for me and have helped in so many ways! I really can’t thank them enough for investing in me through the years! I am also so grateful to my husband and children. They have done a lot of hands-on help, planting and weeding, my husband helped me install the drip line irrigation, helped build the flower stand, repair picnic tables, and has helped me financially.
My brother and brother-in-law helped build my flower stand and helped me get my yard cleaned up. It is an old farmstead and there was all sorts of junk laying around that needed to be removed! All of my family has also been verbally supportive and encouraging which is so wonderful! Many friends and family members gifted vases to me and some even sent me flower seeds! I also had friends and family come out to the farm and help me with cutting flowers. I just can’t believe how blessed I am to have so many kind and helpful people in my life!
I also really appreciate the other female flower farmers that share their knowledge and experience on social media and are always willing to answer my questions! There are too many to mention!
I also feel very grateful to my customers! They are so supportive, grateful, and encouraging! They leave kind reviews and share pictures of their flower arrangements on social media. That positive feedback and word of mouth help me tremendously!
I was raised in a Christian home and my faith in God has helped me so much. I pray a lot and always ask God to help guide me in life, including in my business. I do believe that God has been with me on this flower growing journey! For that, I am so thankful.
Contact Info:
- Website: Oldsiloflowerfarm.com
- Instagram: @OldSiloFlowerFarm
- Facebook: Old Silo Flower Farm
Image Credits
Melissa Hartner
