Jenny (00:28)
Have you ever wanted to take a peek at other flower farmer systems or maybe you've wondered about how a profitable small scale flower farm utilizes efficiencies to get their time and money back? Well, here's your chance. I'm inviting you to my farm for a one of a kind workshop. And in today's episode, I am going over what we do in that workshop and why lean systems are vital to a profitable flower farm.
So I'm gonna be pulling back the curtain on our growing techniques, our business systems, and overall management of the flower farm. But full disclosure, I will be talking about profitability and efficiency a little bit in this episode, but I'm mostly gonna be talking about how I'm inviting you to my farm this summer and going over what's included in my on-farm workshops. So if that's not something that interests you, you may wanna come back.
next week for episode number 40, where I'll be diving into implementing systems on your farm in order to get your time back. But I decided to do a podcast on our workshops because I always get so many questions about them. And I thought that this would just be a really easy way to answer those questions and tell you a little bit about them. But I've been teaching this one particular intensive
two-day on-farm workshop for a few years now and every year I have been tweaking it just a little bit. So when I first started it, it was basically the first version of our online course that's now called Six Figure Flower Farming. But then I turned the in-person workshop into an online course. So more people would have access to that. And I turned our in-person workshop into an advanced kind of grower school, which we had a really big focus on.
profitability and systems, but I've tweaked it again. And now its main focus is on systems and efficiencies for a profit driven flower farm business. So the workshop has a new title. It is called lean flower farming systems and efficiencies for a profit driven business. And I love how this workshop has evolved over time because I think I've landed on something super important and wildly valuable because all profitability starts with being efficient.
especially on a farm. And I know we may not want to think of our flower farms as things that have to be like super efficient and like mechanized and it doesn't have to be that way. But in order to earn the profitability we want and not work, you know, a million hours a week, we have to find ways to be efficient. And so I feel like most of what I do is really focus on the business side of flower farming, you know, the numbers, marketing and sales. And while that's all very important,
There's this other huge piece to it, which is being efficient with everything that you do. And so that's really what I focus on, on my in-person workshops on my flower farm. Being efficient is how you widen the gap between being a not profitable and being very profitable. And everything on my farm and everything in this workshop is viewed through that lens of profitability and efficiency. And here's the problem that I have.
With most flower farming workshops, both online and in person and why I started doing what I do. It seems like they teach a very basic way of doing things like here's how you do seed starting. Here's how you grow flowers. But you know, most of them really don't go into depth about doing things in a specific way that gets you your time back that allows for work life balance. And in a way that squeezes more profits out of your farm without having to work harder, work a lot more hours.
And so in this lean flower farming workshop, we go through all of the systems and efficiencies that we utilize on our flower farm to achieve that. And here is just a really good example of why and how efficiency can make a huge difference in your bottom line. And I'm going to talk about dahlias. I feel like I talk about dahlias a lot. like to pick on them, but as I've said before in the podcast,
By the square foot, like dahlias for me are not particularly lucrative just because there's so much work. Like they take a lot of labor inputs to produce. but the technique and the way that you farm them makes a huge difference in how profitable they are. So we dig our dahlias rows with a middle buster. This is a cheap implement. We use a cheap tractor and a middle buster plow is also known as a potato plow.
so it is a mechanized task on our farm, even though our farm is small, less than an acre, we do utilize mechanization, but it takes me and one other person, like 10 to 15 minutes to dig a 100 foot bed of dahlias. So let's just say our labor is $25 an hour. That means it costs me about $12 and 50 cents in labor just to dig one bed and the middle buster plow that cost me about $200 brand new. got it from tractor supply, I think.
But the cost of that implement was literally made back in just the first few rows of dahlias that we dug. And I've been using it for, I don't know, maybe five years now. And it's honestly probably going to last the lifetime of the farm. So let's just say 25 years. So $200 initial cost over 25 years means that it only costs me $8 per year. Plus the cost of the tractor per use is about $15.
And so if you're wondering about how to calculate all these things, that's something I go over in six figure flower farming. But anyways, that means in total between the labor and the equipment for me to dig one bed of dahlias that comes out to just over $35. Okay. Now looking at somebody else, or maybe how we used to do it, we used to dig our dahlias by hand when we first started and many people still dig their dahlias by hand, but
For someone to come to my farm and dig that same bed of dahlias by hand, it's probably gonna take them, I don't know, a couple of hours of time. So let's say that your labor rate is the same, $25 an hour, that is gonna cost $50 in labor alone. So automatically, digging your dahlias by hand is going to be about 30 % more expensive than my way of digging dahlias with a middle buster plow.
So it may not seem like that much of a difference to you in this example, but if you multiply this over everything you do on your farm, every single task, every single job, if you apply this idea of efficiency, the savings, I mean, it's like tens of thousands of dollars, truly. And so I apply this method of thinking to everything that we do.
Everything. And we're not perfect. And we're not like this, like robotic farm that we're like, you know, everything has to be absolutely perfect. And, we strive for that, but we just try to make things like go faster. We try to eliminate steps that aren't necessary so we can get our time back and be more efficient and more profitable. And so the whole basis of this on-farm workshop is I break this down over everything we do on our farm.
And so the workshop is really, really intensive. It's two full days on our flower farm. go through like everything that we do. And there's also an additional optional third day where we talk about hoop house growing, but I'll talk about that in a second. So when you come to the workshop, I'm just going to take you through what it looks like. We start with welcoming you. like say hello, and we do introductions with everyone, which is super fun because we all get to know each other.
And then we do a tour of the whole farm. So I show you around and you could see the layout of everything. We talk about how we decided on the layout, you know, decisions that went into that. And then we have a whole session on just lean farming one-on-one. like principles about efficiency and that goes into like your business model, what you grow. And then of course, the actual growing techniques as well. And then we kind of go through all the different facets of
farming, like kind of one at a time. So we go through efficiency and systems with propagation. So seed starting, our greenhouse setup, tools that we use, like how we actually do our seed starting in terms of like batching tasks and our schedules and all that kind of stuff. And then we do pests and disease. So looking at how we do scouting, how we preventatively do things on the farm. So prevent
pest and disease, how we treat pests and disease. So we talk about organically, non-organically. We really look at things through a lens of IPM or integrated pest management. So we have a whole session on that. And we also go through bed preparation and soil management, how to do that efficiently. And just after that, we really look at transplanting and direct seeding technique.
So a lot of places will tell you like, yeah, we direct seed our flowers, but like, how do they do that? And we do a lot of transplanting on our farm and we show you how we do that. Like specifically the technique that we use to hand transplant and which ways we have found are the fastest. And you'll get to practice it with us. So you can actually practice your transplanting technique or your direct seeding technique to get really fast and efficient at it.
So walking you through all those steps through that lens of efficiency. We also have a really big focus on weed and water management. So weed management is a huge cost on flower farms. would say it's up there as like one of the biggest costs on the flower farm. so talking through different.
ways that we approach weed management, both in the field and in the hoop houses, how we manage that, and then water management as well. And that can get kind of tricky depending on where you are and your climate, but for the most part, pretty much all of the stuff in this workshop is applicable to pretty much all climates. I don't want to say like every single climate out there, but pretty much most climates because
We're not talking about specific flowers and how you grow very specific flowers in different climates, but we're talking about actual farming techniques, which can be applied to all different climates, if that makes sense. And so also on the first day, we have a big party in the afternoon, which is the most fun thing. So we just like kind of get to hang out and eat pizza together in the shade under the trees and...
get to know each other. It's been super fun to do that. And it's one of my favorite parts of the workshop. So that's pretty much what we do on the first day here on the farm. So a pretty long day, we squeeze a lot in. I show you all of our systems and all of our techniques that we do with that stuff. And then day two, we're really focusing more on post or like harvesting and post harvesting of flowers. And then business.
systems and techniques. So like actually running the business. So we start the day off with talking about our harvest lists and recipes and efficient harvesting. So different harvesting techniques and like setting up your harvest in the morning to get it done really efficiently. We also talk about post-harvest and a big part of it is bouquet making and sleeving. So I'll show you how we set up all of our bouquet making, how we make our bouquets.
how we do our sleeving and how it goes really, really fast. I'll show you some of our recipes and how we're able to make all of our bouquets on average between 45 seconds to 60 seconds. And you can even practice it so you can get a feel for how we're doing it. And we get really nitty gritty with this, like how we hold the bouquet and where we place our hands and in what order we place different kinds of flowers that are coming up in the recipe and all that stuff.
And then also sleeping because we saw a lot of just straight bunches of flowers. so just sleeping things and not actually making mixed bouquets is a big part of what we talk about as well. And then just after we do all of the fun bouquet making and playing with flowers, except not really playing with flowers. We're like doing business, you know, we talk about cooler management. So inventory, you know, how we track our buckets and what day they were harvested and, know, all that fun stuff.
And then in the afternoon on the second day, we kind of get into systems with managing the farm. So we're going to be talking about SOPs or standard operating procedures, record keeping, our harvest yield system, task management, team and task management. So we talk a little bit about employee management. It's not a huge part of it, but we do touch on it for those of you who have employees.
We talk about crop planning and then a little bit on pricing and marketing. So it's a small piece of it in the afternoon, but we do touch on it because I think that systems and efficiency can be applied to that stuff as well. And then that's sort of the end of the day for day two. So as you can see this, the whole first two days on the farm, it's pretty long days. I wouldn't say long days like they're long and boring, but
They're really intensive. we go over a ton of stuff. I'm literally walking you through all the systems on our farm.
And then there is an optional third day. It's actually a half a day where we talk all about high tunnel growing. So we go over high tunnel structures, their costs, considerations when buying one and building one, high tunnel management. So we talk about ventilation and humidity management, pests and disease management, no till soil management. Cause we kind of do like a, I don't know if I could say no till, but like a low till system in our high tunnels that has really worked for us. We talk about weed management.
money making crops to plant in there. You know, we'll be talking about ranunculus along with crop timing and scheduling overwintering and frost cloth management, equipment add-ons, like, you know, things like exhaust fans and automatic roll upsides and a bunch of other stuff. And again, this is all through the lens of efficiency and profitability. And the reason why we have this optional third day add-on with high tunnels
Is because I believe season extension is super important in building a money making farm for the majority of cases, like not everyone, but for the majority of people, I think it's really important. It's the cornerstone of why our farm has been so successful. mentioned in a previous recent podcast episode that 60 % of our revenue comes from the quote unquote shoulder season. So early spring and late fall, anytime that's.
that falls outside of our frost free growing season. But achieving success with season extension takes a lot. Like it's not like growing in the field during your regular season. There's a lot more to it. Learning how to grow in a high tunnel, how to manage the humidity, the pests and diseases, the crop timing, crop timing is a huge one. It's wildly different than just regular field growing. And so I just think it's wildly important to offer this. And the last and probably
Most important piece of this whole workshop experience is the friendships and relationships and connections we all make with each other. This workshop is so much fun because it's a really small group of people on purpose. keep this like a really small group, you know, like about 15 people, and we all get to know each other and hang out with each other. We've had people from this workshop form lifelong friendships. And honestly, I've made.
some of my best flower friends through this workshop, which has been awesome for me. Last summer, one of our cohorts from 2023 had a little reunion with each other, which was so cool and so fun to see. And one of my frustrations with a lot of these flower conferences that we go to a lot is that there's not enough time built in to actually make real connections with other flower farmers and
I find that one of the most valuable things I get from those conferences and getting together with other flower farmers is that you have these, you just pick up these little tidbits of information that you glean from basic conversations with other people. Like it's really amazing. Like just little aha moments that you get just from having conversations with other people. And so I'm really proud that our workshop allows time for that. And even if you're introverted, we've had lots of introverts come like.
You don't have to, you're not being forced to talk to other people, but it's nice to just have quiet conversations. And so just getting to talk shop with other flower farmers, I think it's just so wildly valuable. Plus it's validating and comforting because a lot of people just don't really get it. Like they don't get, they don't understand why we want to be flower farmers or why we do this. And it's just lovely to make friends.
that we get to rely on and we get to like kind of vent to and that people will really understand. And we purposefully have a little bit of like a longest longish lunch at the workshops and dinner together the first night. Cause those regular conversations are just fun and valuable. So like I said, in my online courses and other presentations and stuff that I do, I really focus on teaching the business side of flower farming, but here on these on farm in-person workshops, I really focus on the
farming aspect of it. But flower farming through the lens of efficiency and profitability, because I think that's the missing piece for a lot of people. I know that there's other like flower farming online courses and stuff out there, but I just really think that they're missing this piece of you have to be efficient in order to be profitable so you can have a flower business that is sustainable and lasts for a long time and that you can do it for the long haul.
And I've just seen so many flower farmers like start flower farming and then get burnt out because they weren't taught that from the very beginning. And we've had people from all over the country in the U S come to this workshop. We've had people from Alabama, Oregon, Virginia, South Carolina, all everywhere in new England. So Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, a bunch of people from New York.
We've had people from, I don't know, just all over, all over the U.S. come out to it. And so it's been super fun to talk about our different growing climates and different things that we do. It's just so much fun. So if you're interested in the Lean Flower Farming Workshop or the High Earning High Tunnels Workshop, they are taking place on Monday, July 28th and Tuesday, July 29th, 2025.
And again, that optional half day add-on workshop, I'm calling it high earning high tunnels. That's on Wednesday, the 30th. So July 28th, 29th, an optional day on the 30th and 2025 on my farm and Clifton Springs, New York. So you can check out more details and sign up on our website at trademarkfarmer.com forward slash lean. That's L E A N. And for those of you who are maybe just getting started with flower farming,
We're also offering a brand new workshop this year called flower farming foundations. And that is going to be held on Saturday, July 2nd, 2025. So again, find out more at trademark farmer.com forward slash lean. And if you're not sure which workshop might be right for you, just email me at info at trademark farmer.com and I can help you figure that out.
But registration for the workshops is open now and we only allow just a handful of people to come. So like I said before, a very small group. And because of that, tickets do tend to sell out quickly. So if you want to come hang out with me on my farm this summer, go to trademarkfarmer.com forward slash lean. That's L E A N to register.
So thanks for being here for this episode. If you're not able to come hang out with me this summer, I am totally bummed, but I hope this episode just gave you a little bit of an idea or insight as to how you can look at your own farm to get your time back and to save money and keep more profit in your pocket. So thanks again for listening to this episode of the Six Figure Flower Farming Podcast. I'm releasing new episodes every Monday, so I will see you next week, same time, same place.
