Paula, Carol and Claire in warmer days, in the polytunnel at Mill Pond Flower Farm
It’s midwinter and there are no flowers (well, maybe the occasional hellebore). People who don’t grow flowers often assume it’s a quiet time of year and the pace is definitely different, but January and February is a busy time for The Business of Selling Flowers team.
So far this week we’ve done a live Zoom on Pricings and Costings, chatted to flower farmers on the Floral Business Activator in New Zealand about Perennials as Cut Flowers, covered Business Finance Planning with a group of our students on Zoom. We have an online discussion on Record Keeping as part of The Business of Growing Flowers online course scheduled on Thursday.
On Saturday, it’s the highlight of our flower farming year! The Flowers from the Farm annual conference is being held in Bristol and we’re presenting on stage together - talking about 10 Ways to make your Business More Profitable
Our presentation is planned & ready & we’re all doing the last jobs before we head off to the city for the weekend. Very exciting!
We’re all longstanding members of Flowers from the Farm and have played an active part in its development from the early days. Paula was Scottish Co-ordinator for 5 years, then the first Co-chair after founder Gill Hodgson. Claire has been SE England Co-ordinator twice and helped to develop the 2nd website. Carol is currently NW England Co-ordinator. It’s a big part of our business lives and we’re absolutely delighted to be presenting to around 300 fellow members. A hall full of flower growers is a great place to be (if a little noisy!).
If you’re thinking about flower growing as a career, make sure you join, it’s been the best single investment we’ve made in our businesses. And if you’re going to be at the conference, come and say hello!