Jenny (00:29)
Today I'm chatting with Leanne, the owner of Whiffle and Hum Flower Farm, who turned a New Year's resolution for just having fresh flowers on her table into a thriving and growing flower farm. In this episode, we're digging into Leanne's early challenges, like turning a old hay field into a flower farm. I'm sure some of you can relate to that. And the reality of wearing two hats, both grower and CEO.
and how hiring the right help plus simple SOPs can change everything. Leanne also shares the biggest unlock for her from the six-figure flower farming business course, which is knowing her true costs. And she talks about how that's driving smirter decisions for her from markets and weddings to workshops and even email.
It's a pretty candid, like in the trenches conversation about efficiency, resilience, and narrowing crops down to what actually sells and what works for you and your unique business. So if you're looking for practical, real world encouragement to build a profitable and sustainable flower farm you love, I think this episode is for you. So without further ado, let's jump into the conversation with Leanne.
Jenny (01:44)
thanks for coming on today.
Lee Anne (01:44)
Hi.
I'm excited. Thank you for having me.
Jenny (01:49)
I'm so excited to talk to you. So I, we met through six figure flower farming and I've just been so impressed with your attitude and your approach to things. And I'm really excited to talk to you about all the things you've been doing on your farm, how you're looking at your farm. And I know we're going to talk a little bit about employees because we were just talking about that before we jumped on. But before we get started, can you just give us a quick little synopsis about you and your farm, like your sales outlets and what you do?
Lee Anne (02:20)
I have two farms. One I live on and it is my animal farm. I started growing flowers on that farm and very quickly ran out of space when my chickens kept turning over my dahlia tubers. So I thought, if I want to turn this into a business, I can't really be doing it here. So I would luckily found a little five acre piece of property down the road. It's a five minute drive from my house and it had an old house on it that we renovated. So my daughter moved in there and she pays my rent.
and I just sectioned off 4.2 acres of the five acres and have that allocated for flower farming. At this point I have about β somewhere between 1.75 maybe two acres under production, but it's a lot of weed production more than anything. β It was a hay field, so that's my battle right now. Two years in, we're still trying to get rid of some of the hay.
Jenny (03:06)
That's a diss for a lot of us.
Lee Anne (03:17)
We're using more plastic than I'd like just to cover things and try to kill things off. But at the same time, we're just trying not to kill off all our valuable ladybugs. We have so many beneficial insects, so we're trying not to kill off all our surrounding stuff. But I guess a few years ago, I thought, not try growing some flowers? And so I started growing flowers. I made a New Year's resolution that I was going to have fresh flowers on my table every day for a year. And it turned into a two-year thing. And then when I got the farm, I thought, I'm just going to
grow my own flowers to have on my table and from there it's just grown into a five acre piece of property that I'm trying to turn into a flower farming business. I kind of jump in with both feet and take something small and make it way bigger than it needs to be.
Jenny (04:02)
That's such a cool story though, like what a cool, I've never heard of anybody starting their flower farm like that way, like that's so cool.
Lee Anne (04:09)
no, no, I don't do
anything normal. I'm going to find the most difficult way around doing something if it's there. It's like, let's take the longest, hardest route possible.
Jenny (04:19)
You sound like me, except I try really hard to make things easier now instead of harder, but, but you have to do it the hard way sometimes to learn that. Right.
Lee Anne (04:30)
That's how I learn. Generally, that's how I learn. School of hard knocks.
Jenny (04:32)
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, exactly. So you have been flower farming for just a few years now. And I know that you, when you started, one of these big frustrations was the hay field and trying to grow on that. What were some of your other big challenges and frustrations that you were dealing with in the very beginning?
Lee Anne (04:56)
I would say for me the biggest challenge was I had to figure out how to sell what I was growing. That's the hardest part for people that haven't really thought about that. You get a notion that growing is easy and the growing part can be really easy. The seeds, if they germinate, will actually grow into flowers and then all of sudden you're looking at 200 feet of dahlias going, oh no, what am going to do with them before I have to compost them?
Jenny (05:04)
Yeah.
Lee Anne (05:25)
I think for me, just because I am so, I tend to be impulsive. I tend to just kind of jump in and figure it out after I've messed everything up, which is not what anybody should be doing. That's not my word of advice. β I needed to kind of bring my brain in and start to focus on, I've got these challenges. I need to approach them one at a time, try to figure out how to get over those hurdles and figure out how to become productive.
That was the challenge for me.
Jenny (05:59)
Yeah, and how do you feel like you're dealing with that now?
Lee Anne (06:02)
I'm getting better. I definitely have a long list of things I need to tweak. I approach it with a five-year plan. I remember I watched that Biggest Little Farm. I don't know if you guys have seen that documentary. And I just love the way the guy that they brought in had said, it's not going to happen overnight. You're building a whole entire ecosystem. And even with flower farming, it is an ecosystem because as I'm pulling grass out, I'm losing something and it's creating another problem.
Jenny (06:16)
I've seen it, yeah.
Lee Anne (06:32)
with the business, I'll tweak one thing and then it kind of leads me to another, β okay, now I got to fix this. So I'm really focusing on not beating myself up when I mess things up. I'm focusing on, okay, I've messed up. How do I fix this? What's the next step? it's, being a new flower farmer, you're torn between the business side and the planting side. It's two businesses within itself. So yeah, it's a challenge every day and I love it. I wouldn't change it.
Jenny (07:03)
It's really interesting that you say that it's sort of like two businesses learning the business side and then also the growing side. And I've never heard anybody describe it like that before, but that's like, feels really true because whenever I'm, whenever I'm like teaching stuff or thinking about teaching or helping other flower farmers, it does feel like there's just these two very separate buckets of like learning.
to grow and farming and then learning to sell and manage the business. And it is a lot, it's a big learning curve, right?
Lee Anne (07:40)
Absolutely.
Yeah, I really feel it is two different things because I wear two hats every day. They don't intermingle. β I have to leave my house to go to the flower farm and I had to set up an office inside one of the shops there because I was busy going back and forth between my house for admin. I luckily was able to create a little space in there. I had to bring in Wi-Fi because there's no cell service so I couldn't even access internet or anything for the beginning.
Jenny (07:47)
Mm-hmm.
Lee Anne (08:06)
and I'm learning so I need to be able to, what's this pest or what's going on with my Dahlia tuber. Yeah, I really feel I wear two hats and it is really about for me right now being new, balancing both and that's where the employees come in.
Jenny (08:24)
yeah. So,
yeah, why don't we jump into that? We were, before we started recording, we were kind of talking about employees and you were saying that you found a really, really good one. So can you tell us a little bit about that experience?
Lee Anne (08:38)
The year that I was starting my flower farm, went into the local nursery in town and I was loading up. had a cart full of Dahlia tubers. I had not set up wholesale accounts with anybody at that point. And I'm like, I'm going to get some Dahlia tubers. And I had like a shopping cart full at this nursery. And this girl was working at the counter and she's so sweet. She's like, my gosh, what are you doing with all these Dahlia tubers? I'm like, I'm starting a flower farm. And she's like, β well.
Jenny (08:54)
You
Lee Anne (09:08)
Do you need help? And I said, I probably will, but I don't right now because I'm just starting. She goes, well, can I give you my name and number? And I said, absolutely, because at some point I'm definitely going to need some help. So I took her name and number and we kind of chatted as she was checking me out. And we just we just connected right there and then. And so I did the farm that year. That year I just grew a handful of dahlia tubers because it literally was a hay field. I cleared like a path. I grew some sunflowers, some zinnias and some dahlias and and I just kind of.
sold them to friends. There was no sales. Who am I kidding? There was no sales that year. It was more just a hobby at that point. And she never, I didn't reach out to her that year because β I just didn't need help at that point. It's starting out. You just don't need help. And then the next year came around. like, I'm going to need some help getting these beds turned and this field turned. So I had allocated some funding for staff because I knew I couldn't, I couldn't do that by myself. It was, it was just too big.
I guess that's what I do. I just go way too big too fast. And so I reached out to her and she said, absolutely. I was hoping you'd call. And so that was in 2023. She came and worked for me and β came, helped me turn some fields over. She comes with a farming background so she can change any implement on a tractor way faster than I can. β I found a legit winner like this girl.
Jenny (10:29)
my gosh, okay, you found a legit winner.
Lee Anne (10:35)
She
knows her business and she is one of those people that just when she gets information in her brain, she has this memory capacity. It's insane. Like I said to her one day, I needed some β Madrona. I don't know what you call it. Madrona. We call it. It's a greenery around here β on the west coast of Canada. So you might not have it there. And I had mentioned to her that I bought some for a wedding and I said, β gosh, I wish we could find this around here. And she goes,
Yeah, I was walking down a path one day and I remember seeing that on the path. Let me go see if I can find it. And she randomly was walking down a path and just remembered seeing this in the bush. And as soon as I mentioned it, she's like, I know where to go and find that. That's what her brain is like. Like she just doesn't, she sees something and it goes in her brain. She knows pests. She knows how to deal with pests. She knows how to grow things. She knows about fertilizing. She knows about.
injecting fertilizer into your water systems. I know nothing like this. She is like amazing.
Jenny (11:37)
All right,
so basically we all need to go to the garden center that you found this woman and try to find more of her, right? I mean, that is amazing. And so she's still working for you now.
Lee Anne (11:46)
She is just the best. I know.
She is and I will give a kidney to keep her, honest to God. She is not going anywhere and she's young so β I'm not as... She's young. Let's just say she's a lot more physical and active than I am. Her unfortunate curse is that she's a redhead and a very, very fair redhead. So at this time of the year I feel very bad for her because I look out in the field and she's got huge big hats on.
and sun shirts and black leggings and none of her skin is exposed to the sunshine. She's just...
Jenny (12:23)
Dude, I feel that pain. I feel like I was
born like in the wrong, like my, have super fair skin and I sunburn super easily, but I'm like my whole life I've just wanted to work outside. And I'm like, it's like this awful curse.
Lee Anne (12:34)
It is and that's how she feels
like she is just the poor thing. She is such a trooper.
Jenny (12:43)
So how has having really good help affected you growing your business?
Lee Anne (12:49)
The best thing about having her is that I know I can leave so many tasks to her to manage on the farm for me. I got into the farming because I love the whole farming aspect. I love being outside. I love that satisfaction of starting a seed and cutting the bloom, like seeing it beginning to end. That for me is the most important part of this business. Like I just, it's that touch with nature, but realizing two years in there is also the business side, the second half. And because I have her,
I can step away on any given day and just go into my office and crunch numbers and look at different resources and β source things that would keep me up until two in the morning if I had to do both in one day. But because I can give her a list in the morning and it's not, I can just say, can you make sure you do this and this and this and this, she makes a note and off she goes. And it just frees me up to do the business side, which once you start flower farming, you realize the business side is.
as important if not more than the growing. Sadly, but it's true.
Jenny (13:51)
Absolutely. Yeah.
So I think what you just said is so important for people to hear is that when you have help on the farm, it frees you up as the business owner to go do some of those real like needle moving activities, like doing the high, you know, like visionary style work of doing the research, number crunching, all that kind of stuff. Now, a lot of people listening to this are probably thinking, like
lucky Leanne got a really nice employee, but like what about me? Like I don't have employees or I don't know how to find people or I have employees but they're not that good. Like what would you say to somebody like that?
Lee Anne (14:36)
First of all, I'd say, yeah, I'm really lucky that I found her. Really lucky that I found her. I think, like I have another employee that works in the field and she's a young girl. I had her come and just help pull weeds and the stuff that I don't want to actually pay Jen to do because Jen's so much more valuable than weed pulling. β They're out there. Employees are out there. I think the key to utilizing an employee if they're not a Jen
Jenny (14:38)
Hahaha!
Lee Anne (15:06)
is operating procedures. I think if you have them set up and in place and hopefully your employees can follow step-by-step instructions, then you can take a lot of people and have them just take a manual and follow along and say, okay, this is what I need to do next. So that for me, I've done it in reverse because Jen has known so much already, but that's my goal this year is I'm really working on standard operating procedures because if I ever have to bring somebody onto the farm,
Other than Jen, it will free Jen up so she doesn't have to micromanage somebody and we can just pass that information on. β I think information is the key thing and collecting data is key just because it allows you to structure your business so people can follow a business plan that you want. β And then you still have to manage it all. What I was doing before was I do admin in the morning.
I get up first thing while I'm doing my coffee and kind of go over my admin for the day and answer emails. Then I go and farm during the daytime. And then in the evening I come back and kind of answer more emails and come up with a plan. β So I think it is definitely doable for anybody. It is hard finding an employee. I just, I got so lucky. I just got so lucky. β But anybody is capable of following a plan. I think if you have an operating procedure set in place.
that will really help you. And as long as you know what it takes to make your farm function, you can pass that information on.
Jenny (16:40)
Yeah, I agree 100%. There's lots of people out there and it is frustrating sometimes to try to find people, but they are out there and they are people who really want to work and who love it. There are people who really want this lifestyle and they don't want to just like sit behind a desk in a cubicle all day. And we've had a lot of people that have come, this has just sort of been like a...
a career change for them to try to do something that they love. And it sounds like that Jen is really into it. She really loves it.
Lee Anne (17:09)
Yeah. Yes.
And Jen
was in retail, so she was doing retail in this nursery and she's, I mean, she's a great people person, but she didn't like it. Like she just did not enjoy her job. And again, I'm super lucky because she does this because it is a choice she makes. She makes a choice every day to come and do something she loves doing because that's the lifestyle she wants to live. It's not a great rich program for her. I can't pay a lot of money. Like we don't have excess money to.
What her worth is and what I can pay her are two very different things. Like if I had all the money in the world, I'd pay her to never leave me and make sure she has a great life living at home when she gets home, but that's just not realistic. And I love the fact that she is willing to do this as a lifestyle because it benefits me. Not that I'm taking advantage of her.
Jenny (18:05)
Well, it benefits her too, as the, like, this is a lifestyle that she's choosing as well, right? Yeah, for sure.
Lee Anne (18:09)
Yes, yeah, yeah. And I
think we do that as, I don't think any one of us really get into this thinking, this is a quick get rich scheme. I think if you get into it with that notion, you're really off base. We get into it because it brings something to us. It it feeds us in a way that a nine to five job necessarily can't. I do it because I love it. I could be retired traveling all over the world right now. I started my flower farm at
Jenny (18:18)
Yeah, cause that's definitely not. Yes. A hundred percent.
Lee Anne (18:38)
56 years old. So anybody can do it. If I can do it at 56, anybody can do it. It's just, it's sacrifice, it's hard work, and you have to have a passion for what you're doing.
Jenny (18:50)
Yeah, hundred percent. think that's one thing about flower farming that sets it apart from so many other different careers is that you can be so passionate about it. So what have been some of your biggest like aha moments learning and growing your business over the past few years?
Lee Anne (18:57)
Mm-hmm.
I would say my biggest aha moment was, and it really is, it's that moment when you realize, β I really have to know my costs because we went over that in the course and yeah, got to know my costs, got to know my costs, got to figure out my costs. But then when you actually start to know your costs and you kind of go, β okay, from here I can build this business. Understanding your costs allow you to build because if not, you're basically lighting money on fire.
Jenny (19:18)
Hmm.
Lee Anne (19:38)
You might as well take it out in the backyard, start a bonfire with it because you just throw money out the window. You do in little ways in time management, in record keeping, in flower losses, in not knowing your market. So it's really hard. It's probably the hardest thing I've done in this business. Again, the growing, if you can grow a plant, it's not necessarily the hardest. You'll have loss and it's crushing, but
The actual understanding the numbers that is absolutely the most key thing. And it is the hardest thing, but when you figure it out and you start to get your finger on it, you're like, okay, yes, I see now how to turn this into a money-making venture. Am I there yet? No, but I'm getting there. It does, it's my five-year plan. And I tend to tell people when I talk about flower farming, I say,
Jenny (20:26)
It takes time.
Lee Anne (20:35)
We didn't go to university. We're not going to university to get an education where we're going to come out after five years and paying tuition and walk into a flower farming job. We pay our tuition by our mistakes and we learn from our mistakes and that is our university education. It's hands on. It's in the field. So prepare to pay tuition for five years in loss and learning. And then after that, hopefully it works out and you have a career that's successful.
Jenny (21:04)
I think it could probably happen a little sooner than five years too, but yes. So would you say that's like the biggest thing that you learned from taking the six figure flower farming course is understanding the true costs of production and like everything that goes into running the flower farm.
Lee Anne (21:22)
Absolutely. I had never even given that a thought before I took the course. Again, I took it my first year. thought, β I better figure out how to do this on the back end on the actual business side. And I found your course. And when we started diving into the numbers and production and record keeping, it was like, β boy, this is a big part and this is key. This is what's going to separate me from failing and succeeding.
The numbers are key. I'm not a numbers person. I can appreciate numbers and I like when I look at the numbers at the end, but collecting the data I struggle with, I tend to be scatterbrained. I like to note take physically with a notebook and paper and I probably have 50 notebooks with random notes that can be found anywhere on my farm because I put one down, pick it up. β But when I do sit and compile all that information, taking notes is my
biggest challenge. I've got to figure a system that works for me and I'm struggling with that. But getting those numbers, taking that course, taking your course and understanding how to use those numbers is what's going to set you apart and make sure that you see profits at the end.
Jenny (22:40)
I'm really glad to hear you say this actually, because I just went through and I redid the entire course. I refilmed everything. We added a new module. It's all the, there's a whole new program basically coming in. we're opening registration in November, but when I was in the crop costing module, I had heard this advice from like other people who teach or like create programs and they're like, you gotta make it simple. And.
you got to make it so they feel like it's really easy for them. And as I was redoing the course, was like, I feel like I'm taking these concepts and I'm making them simple, but like, maybe I should just take this whole thing out. And I really considered taking the whole thing out for a minute. And then I was like, no, this is so important for people to understand, to really grasp like the real costs of doing things. And so
I just wanted to thank you for saying that because you have just basically validated my decision in keeping that a big part of the course. understanding those numbers is really.
Lee Anne (23:45)
I would
definitely not take that out. And the thing when I took the course at the time, because I didn't have numbers at my fingertips, it was the beginning. I didn't have a lot of numbers to work with. So it was a lot of, I got to make sure I do this as I'm gathering information. I got to make sure I keep a record of this and understand this. And it was, I have to say it was, it was kind of scary because it's a lot of information. But then I just kind of sat back and went, okay, I don't have that information right now. Let's keep that in the back pocket.
And as I'm gathering information, like it taught me how to gather the information to use those numbers to my advantage, which is so good right from the get go. If you can start tracking your numbers and understanding your numbers on the onset of your business, in five years, you haven't wasted time because that information is there and you can start using that information to build a really good business plan. So I don't think that's something that should come out of the program.
It might be intimidating for some people. It was like for me, it was, was kind like, wow, that's a lot. But keep all that information in your back pocket. You don't have to know it year one. You're gonna learn it year one, year two, year three. And you've got the base to use those numbers and build your business. So yeah, it's definitely an asset. That is a big part of the business. Numbers are a big part of the business. End of story.
Jenny (24:44)
I it in there.
Yeah,
for sure. And coming back to your taking notes struggles, I used to be just like you, Leanne, where I would, I'm very much like pen and paper. I'm very tactile. I love to write things down physically. And I would have like a thousand notebooks scattered all over the place while these notes and I would write something down and then I wouldn't remember like which notebook it was in or where I put that notebook. And I would like lose things all the time. And so over, know, over time we've gotten our systems in place and
We basically have like one crop journal that is in a bright red folder that stays on the farm. So like any notes, I try to make in that one thing, but I also earlier this year, or I guess it was last year, I invested in one of those, β like writable tablets. bought a Kindle scribe. There's another one called remarkable. It's literally like a digital notebook.
where it's just like this little tablet that you can take notes on and you can organize your notes into folders like on it. And it actually feels like you're writing pen to paper. I mean, like not exactly, but it's really close. And that has been huge for me. So I can like let all my thoughts out and like physically write, but then organize my notes in folders. And then you can also export them into text. So it will like read your handwriting and put it into a text document.
that you can just like forward to your computer. It's wild. So just throwing it out there as a, like an option that maybe you want to try. was like, I think I spent like $300 on it. So like, it was not a cheap toy to buy, but I use it all the time.
Lee Anne (26:38)
You
I just bought a system called XNote, which is very similar, except that you're actually writing in a notebook and the pen has some connection to the notebook. So it's actually pen and paper. And I can draw diagrams and everything and then it hooks to my phone and throws it into my phone as I'm writing. I can watch it in real time. And it was about $300. But the only thing I like better about yours at this point, because I just got this.
Jenny (26:53)
Okay, I don't know what that is.
Lee Anne (27:18)
is that it's a notebook that I have to replace because as it feels, can't just use any notebook, I don't think. I'm just figuring it out. I just got it. So I tried writing in a regular notebook and I think there's some kind of connection between the notebook and the pen itself, which allows it to carry over. But I love it because like you probably do a lot of schematic drawing too. Like I'll draw a plot like a plot and write in there. OK, I need to put my roses here, my dolly is here or whatever.
and it puts that right into my phone as a diagram as well. But we'll see. I like yours better just because it's, because it isn't paper, which is weird because I like pen and paper. if I have to.
Jenny (27:59)
Well, I really like
pen and paper too, but that was my whole thing is like, I'm going to like, you know, fill this up and then have to like get a new one. But if you can send it to your computer, see the problem is I will never go back and organize them afterwards. So that's why I like my, this Kindle scribe that I have, but X no is what it, X no. Okay. Interesting.
Lee Anne (28:18)
Well, does that too. puts it in, yeah, it's called XNote. XNote. it is,
and it organizes it for you. It's just like that, except the only difference between yours and mine is that I have to buy notebooks continually, because it is an actual notebook. But it's, I know, right? I'm like, this is genius. When I got it, I thought I could just write in a regular notebook with it, but I couldn't get it to work. However,
Jenny (28:26)
β all right.
probably the smarter business model, if they keep you coming back to buy more.
Lee Anne (28:46)
I've had it for like two days and I haven't really had time to play with it.
Jenny (28:49)
Well, that is really cool. It's something I'm, I just wrote it down. I'm going to check it out later, but yeah, keeping those records can be a little challenging if you don't have a system in place, but that's the cool thing about owning your own business is that.
Lee Anne (28:55)
For those note takers, yeah.
Jenny (29:02)
you can put your own systems in place so you can try those different things and try out different systems, test them. And then when you find something that works and is easy for you to do, like then you can stick with it you can always change it later. So. Love that.
Lee Anne (29:17)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, I
wish I was just one of those people that was very good at just using a notebook and keeping it in one place that would require organization or one of those that was really good at just having my phone, typing it in and going back to it. I just, I'm a disaster with note taking. That is seriously my biggest hurdle. That's my biggest hurdle is note taking, record keeping.
Jenny (29:26)
You
It could be something
that you could delegate a lot of things to, to like your employee. You could ask her to, you know, track how long it takes her to, you know, weed a bed or transplant or whatever. Cause like a lot of the note taking that, or a lot of the data you want to collect for those costs, those cost calculations is like the labor and materials you're using in doing the actual production. if someone else is doing the production for you, you can just have them track it. You know what I mean?
Lee Anne (30:09)
And she's really good
at that. I remember in the course, I think it was in the beginning we were talking about keeping records and you were talking about figuring out your productivity. So how long does it take to plant 128 cells of β Snapdragon seeds? And you would do it and see if you could beat that number. really is incentive when you give a little challenge and they don't even realize you're giving them a challenge.
Jenny (30:10)
Okay.
Lee Anne (30:34)
It's like, okay, like we need to get this time down because time is money. So how can we speed this up? And it's like, I can do it in two minutes now instead of two and a half minutes. Like, yeah, productivity just went up.
Jenny (30:47)
Yeah, exactly. And that efficiency and productivity is so important to your bottom line. And, and I feel like a lot of times when people hear me talk about being efficient and productive and like, you know, lean principles and stuff like that, they think that we're like robots on the farm that just like work super fast and hard all day long. But like, that's really not the case. It's more that.
Lee Anne (30:51)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Jenny (31:09)
The more efficient you can do something, the easier it's going to be, the faster it's going to go. And that's going to leave you time. So you can actually like have a lunch break and like be done with work at a reasonable hour. And so we're not just like, you know, trying to push people to be so fast that you know, you're pushing hard all day. It's more so you can enjoy the work too.
Lee Anne (31:18)
Yeah.
And there are parts of this job that I don't necessarily want to rush through every time. β I know that it's super important when you're building your bouquets to do them fast and efficiently for market because time is money. But sometimes on a Friday when I'm getting ready for market on Saturday, I'm tired. I've worked all week. We've done big harvests. And I just tell everybody to just leave me be. And I go into my shop and I take my time.
Jenny (31:37)
Right?
Lee Anne (31:59)
And I know I'm sitting there going, this is not cost productive, but this is still something I really love about my business. And I don't want it to always be about the bottom line. don't ever want to lose that love for what I'm doing. So if today my bouquets cost $400 each because it took me two hours to build one, so be it. This is my time. This is how I'm decompressing at the end of the week. I don't do that often, but there are days where it's just like,
Jenny (32:10)
Yeah, and it shouldn't be.
Lee Anne (32:28)
I don't want to be in a rush today. I don't. just want to play with my flowers and build these beautiful bouquets and feel a connection to them. And then I go to market the next day and there is a difference. Like I think those days where I go slow and I build these bouquets, I'll get so many people that come up and just say, wow, these are amazing because they're just not cookie cutter. Like everyone has had some thought put into it and I can kind of relax going, yeah, I still have that creative side that I can put into this and yeah, I'm not making money, but.
I love what I did yesterday. Well, it's not that I'm not making money, it's just I'm not making as much money. But β I need that outlet. I need to just have that downtime. And if the downtime for me is still being used for the farm, great.
Jenny (33:04)
Yeah, but you f-
I love that outlook. think that's so important. It's so important to love what you're doing and to keep that like, sounds weird, but like keep the spark alive, I guess, like use that creativity because I think of a lot of what we do is an art, like growing flowers and farming and design work, making bouquets. Like there is this artful component to it that we have to honor and allow ourselves space to
Lee Anne (33:23)
Mm-hmm.
Jenny (33:41)
like really pour ourselves into and that's what makes the difference, right? Yeah.
Lee Anne (33:45)
It is. We do it because we love it and really
flowers are beautiful and when people come to your stall at the market and they tell you that what you're doing is beautiful, I'm not doing it for that reason. not doing it, well yeah I guess I am doing it for sales but really on those moments where I'm just spending the time to create these bouquets, it is strictly about me just having a moment doing what I love doing.
And I'm really lucky. I'm lucky in the sense that, you know, because I'm 55, because I'm reach... Well, I'm older than 55. I started when I was 55. No, we won't tell you what. Because I'm just that little bit older than probably a lot of people starting out in this business, you know, my life is set. I have a house. You know, my children are grown. I am not having to do this as a means to put food on the table. I do this. I want it to pay for itself, make some money so I can travel and do the things I love to do.
Jenny (34:20)
We won't tell anyone. β
Lee Anne (34:41)
But I don't have that huge pressure hanging over my head, which I'm not bragging. I'm just very fortunate. I'm fortunate that way that I can do this because I absolutely love what I'm doing. I love it. Every day I get up and I think I've got the best job in the world. Maybe not every day. The day the roses all died was not a good day, but most days. No, that was not. And that was year one. β
Jenny (35:00)
Most days. Yeah, that does not sound like a good day.
I remember you telling
me about it.
Lee Anne (35:10)
190 rosebushes dead overnight in a freeze. I just sat there watching them die. just like in the field. I hate Mother Nature. I hate you. I hate you.
Jenny (35:13)
I would have
Yeah,
we've all been there. And if you're somebody who's listening who hasn't been there yet, there's probably a moment coming for you. But you learn so much in those moments too.
Lee Anne (35:27)
β yeah.
And that's the university education. That's where I just sat there went, okay, okay, well, I can't control Mother Nature. So how do I start looking at ways to predict her worst case scenario and prevent this from happening again? So I looked at that freeze and what it did to my roses, and I was able to take that freeze to every aspect of my farm. So even my... β
Jenny (35:33)
Mm-hmm.
Lee Anne (35:57)
cool hardy annuals that I planned. It's like, I need a plan that if I see that the temperature is going to drop way lower than normal here, what's my plan? I need a plan in place. Everything's ready to have frostclaw thrown over it. So you learn. was a very expensive lesson and it was really heartbreaking and it sets you back because these were two year mature rose bushes that I lost. So I had to start all over again. β But you learn and you learn how to take that loss and that little bit of information and
put it back into your farm and prevent something else from happening. It's mother nature. She does what she wants. She doesn't ask first.
Jenny (36:29)
Yeah.
She, no, she doesn't. Chirk.
So what's something that you believed about running your farm before taking six figure flower farming that you see completely different now?
Lee Anne (36:47)
β I just believed it was all just going to happen. I just believed that I was going to grow flowers and they were just magically going to sell themselves. I hadn't really given it thought. And then I realized, β boy, yeah, you can grow, but you have to sell and you have to know how much things cost. I would say to anybody, anybody out there, it is kind of silly to not take a business course in flower farming.
You need to take a business course. You absolutely have to take a business course because it's very different than any other business course you'll take. You're dealing with a live commodity that has a very short window of life and you can grow it and if you can't sell it, you're losing money. You're just losing money. So the course just gave me the information I need to build a business. Build a business from the backside. Again, the two hats.
The two hats, you need to know how to run it from the backside as well as the growing. The back end is probably more important.
Jenny (37:51)
I've talked about it before on the podcast, like I was the same way when I started my business. I was like, I'm just going to grow these things and like thought that they would just like magically sell themselves. And then it's like, β
No, that's not how it works. I have to figure out ways to sell these. need to learn like strategies and techniques to do it. And I know that you have adjusted for that for like your farmers markets that you do and your weddings that you've been doing, which have been beautiful, by the way, I've seen some of the pictures and, it's just really exciting to see you kind of make those shifts and keep growing within your business.
Lee Anne (38:09)
Mm-hmm.
thank you.
Well, I
think you can have an intention set when you start and you think, okay, I'm going to grow these flowers and then I'm going to go to a farmer's market and I'm going to sell these flowers. That farmer's market, like I go to my farmer's market every weekend. It's a beautiful farmer's market, but it's not a huge sales outlet. Like I way outgrow for what I can sell there, which is great. β Because then it says to me, you need to look at another outlet. So what are you going to do?
However, I would not give up that farmer's market because that farmer's market for anybody that's just starting out, that farmer's market holds its weight in gold for networking. It is absolutely, you get to talk to people and lots of times you'll talk to people that won't buy your flowers, but they're gonna remember you. If you engage with them and if you talk to them and you just like, I could talk about flowers all day long to anybody that will listen.
And it's weird because I've never been a salesperson. I've always said, I can't sell. It stresses me out to try and push a product on somebody. just I'm not a salesperson. But give me bouquets and somebody that wants to talk about flowers. Hello. How long do you want to talk? β And you network. It's it's I've gotten my weddings from the farmers market. That's where I've gotten my wedding bookings, the first ones, because I didn't advertise them. I get people that come up and say, I love what you're doing with your flowers. Do you do weddings?
Jenny (39:36)
You
Lee Anne (39:52)
Sure, here's my card, reach out. We're just starting to do them this year. And yeah, and that's how I've started. So a farmer's market for a beginner flower farmer, if you can get into one, it's just networking options left, right and center. just, it's gold for me. Every week I get a new customer. Email newsletters, that's my other weakness. It's on my list.
Jenny (40:18)
You're at the farmers market talking to people every week.
Lee Anne (40:19)
I know it's terrible. I start talking
and I just every week I'm like, man, I forgot to bring my sign up sheet. man. So that's my other thing I really got to work on is my email newsletter because it is so advantageous. It is like I know how beneficial it is. β Way more than Instagram. Yeah, I've got I'm building followers every week. I'm building followers on Instagram. But can I can I convert them into sales? And yeah, sometimes. But email.
Focus on your email. That's my other tidbit of advice from somebody that's not doing it.
Jenny (40:50)
You
We got an average of like, I would say like 10 to 15 people that sign up for our email list every single farmer's market. it's, and then we send them like a little nurture sequence to tell all of them like about us and say hello. And we talk about all this stuff in the course by the way as well. But you know, if you got just 10 people a week and you go to your farmer's market for 35 weeks a year, that's 350 people that you could reach out to at any point.
Lee Anne (41:19)
Mm-hmm.
Jenny (41:21)
and be like, Hey, we have this like bumper crop of dahlias or zinnias like come to the farm stand, come to the farmer's market. And like, they'll come if you do it right. So.
Lee Anne (41:31)
Yeah, and
I am getting better even though I have been forgetting to take my sign up sheet with me. I'm getting really good at putting my business card in people's hands. And you know, I'm just like follow me on Instagram and sign up for my email newsletter. kind of, there's perks often, you know, when I do my workshops in my new farm workshop space, my email subscribers get first admission and first sign up rights to the workshops. So it is beneficial.
Jenny (41:35)
That's okay.
Yeah.
Are you doing a lot of
workshops?
Lee Anne (41:59)
β I've only done two this year, but I'm going to grow them. I love doing workshops. I love that people engagement.
Jenny (42:04)
Yeah,
I think it is a really underrated sales outlet. So many people want that experience on the farm. And if you can give that to them, like it's so rewarding too.
Lee Anne (42:16)
And that's
the one thing I learned was people want the, it's the experience. That's what they want. β Last year through the business, I did wreaths at Christmas time and I did them all up and had them ready to go. was like a pickup, pick your design. I had three different designs or four different designs and it didn't go over well, but everybody was messaging me going, are you going to do a workshop? Will you do a wreath workshop? So this year I'm just going to flip it around and say, yeah, I'm not selling pre-made.
come to the workshop and we'll do wreaths that way. And even though it's a downtime of year in the flower business, if I can, I have greenery, I mean I live on the west coast of Canada, greenery is everywhere. β My ex-husband owns a Christmas tree farm so I just go and steal all his cuttings. I know it's great. So I get all this free stuff β from him and then I can do these workshops and build a client base even in my off season and get them in there like, wow, we can do wreaths.
Jenny (43:03)
Perfect.
Lee Anne (43:15)
in the winter, what is she going to do in the spring? And they are a very good way at making money, a workshop. If you've got the space and you've got the flowers, people will pay for the experience. You're basically giving them the ingredients to build a bouquet, you know, anywhere between $35 and $50 for the bouquet, but you can charge $125 for the workshop. I can do it in two hours is plenty of time. And I do it by myself, so I'm not paying staff.
It's yeah, workshops are great. And one of the other things I'm really fortunate about is where my house is located. I have a farm stand on the property and this whole area, it's agricultural land. It's been in the ALR, but they have rezoned most of the area that I'm in right now for a new development around a new hospital building in our area. all this agricultural land has been pulled out and it's now commercial residential.
which kind of breaks my heart because I'm on the lakeside that state ALR. can't do any of that. I can't sell my property for agricultural land reserve. Yeah. Okay, yep, sorry. What do they call it in the states?
Jenny (44:20)
Is ALR for, okay, got it. Sorry, American asking a stupid question over here.
I don't know. I don't know the equivalent. I mean, we have protected lands. β
Lee Anne (44:32)
Do you have like a Latin?
Okay, yeah, so this is protected
for farm farming only and it has to be taken out of farm land and put into municipal development property. So which is what they've done for this new hospital, which is the hospital is literally a stone throw from my house. And in that they're doing all this commercial residential. So it's going to be commercial basement floor and then residential above because we have a housing crisis on the island.
Jenny (44:40)
Okay.
Lee Anne (45:01)
which really kind of freaked me out at first because I'm like I lost this beautiful feeling of country that I'm living in and I don't know how safe it's going to be you know my property am I going to start dealing with theft in my farm stand and but what I'm really hoping is I can turn this into a venture in itself because with a hospital going in just down the street I'm thinking that's going to be an avenue for flower sales
Jenny (45:23)
Heck
yeah! That could be a huge opportunity.
Lee Anne (45:27)
Yeah, yeah.
with it, they're growing it into a small community and there's no like I live in a tiny town. It's not a big city and we have one flower shop in this town. One. Plus a grocery store that sells flowers. We don't have a Trader Joe's. We have a grocery store that sells flowers and one flower shop. And that flower shop is closed on Saturdays and Sundays. Like go figure, why would you be closed on a Saturday? It's like people are going for dinner and birthday parties. So if I can establish my farm stand.
kind of like a flower shop. I think it'll be a win-win, but that's two years down the road still, it's under construction. So that is sitting on my horizon. That's coming up as future potential for me. And we'll see, we'll see. I might just be doing all weddings or maybe not doing weddings at all. I don't know.
Jenny (46:14)
You'll figure it out as you go.
Lee Anne (46:15)
And that's what it is. I don't think anybody getting into this should have a concrete plan. I think it's to be concrete and be holding yourself accountable to one idea is going to limit you. I think you have to you have to try, get your feet wet, try a few things because the things you think are going to work might not work. And then you need to roll with it and find another avenue. And I kind of, you know, like like I always do, it's like I'm going to try 15 at one time and see what works.
β I'm narrowing it down now. I'm doing weddings, I do the farmers market, and I do online sales. And I just sell extras out of my farm stand right now. And I like that. I can do that right now.
Jenny (46:53)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, that seems really reasonable. I also think it's important to have, I think it is really important to have a goal and have a plan, but to be super flexible with how you achieve that goal. Cause like you have a goal, you have things that you're going to achieve, but having the flexibility and being able to pivot when things don't go the way that you think that, that you're going to like that, I think is the important skill that you have to take away from that for sure.
Lee Anne (47:08)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Yeah,
definitely. Because the farmers market, as much as I love it, it is more about marketing for me. It's not heavy sales. Like I don't, it's not big enough for me. There's no way I could run a farm on the market sales. There's just no way. But at this, absolutely. Yeah. I, I work it myself because I can. It's not busy enough that I need more than one person. It's from nine till two. So what is that? Five hours of marketing and it's worth it for me.
Jenny (47:38)
Right, but you use it as a marketing tool.
Lee Anne (47:53)
So I will keep doing that until I get the business to a point where I don't need to necessarily go there and market. And if my farm stand turns into a flower shop, turns into a business that runs and I can make my money there, a lot of the customers are going to come from the people I've networked with at that farmer's market. But I know the farmer's market right now is not going to be how I'm going to succeed in this business. Like it's not the moneymaker that I need. It just isn't. But.
Jenny (47:53)
Thank
Mm-hmm.
Lee Anne (48:20)
The payoff right now is worth it. It is worth my five hours to go down there and network and talk to people and get my name out there. My designs are very different. I've never taken a flower design course. I've watched tutorials online. The first wedding I did, was literally watching a YouTube video on how to do a spiral bouquet the night before the wedding. I'm like, well, this is what she gets. And it was somebody I knew.
was lucky. She was like, I don't care. I'm getting my flowers for free, which I did because it was β the daughter of a friend. I'm like, yeah, and this gives me a chance to actually do a wedding and see what it feels like. And β yeah, I lost lots of money on that. But at the same time, I know it's something I really like doing. I like that creative process. So I know that going forward, the market is leading me to sales in weddings and
If about five hours I get a $10,000 wedding, definitely worth it for me. You just have to pivot. You have to pivot. You have to be able to say, this was my goal and it's not working. So what can I do? What information can I take from this and what can I do? And just not give up. There's always going to be an outlet. Just don't give up. There are going to be days where you just like, why am I doing this? You want to cry.
Jenny (49:20)
heck yeah.
Lee Anne (49:40)
You just don't. You get up the next day, you put your big girl panties on and say, okay, yeah, I got this. And what am I going to do to change this? And what am I going to do to turn this around? I can do this. Believe in yourself.
Jenny (49:51)
Yes. Everyone listen to Leanne for sure. So Leanne, I, I just feel like you have done so much and you've accomplished so much in just a few short years. And I feel like you're very humble when you talk about your farm and the things that you've accomplished because you've really done a lot and it's just been really exciting to watch you grow and grow your business.
Lee Anne (49:55)
Yeah.
Jenny (50:16)
I think it's about time that we wrap this up, but is there one last thing, your number one piece of advice for flower farmers trying to grow their business that you want to leave us with?
Lee Anne (50:27)
Yeah, yeah, the one bit of advice that I will give to anybody is, well two, I'm gonna give two. Take Jenny's course because you will learn so much. It is so valuable. And the second thing is take notes. Take notes, collect data, because that is how you're gonna be successful.
You can love flowers as much as you want. You can grow the prettiest flowers in the world. But you need to collect data. You need to know what works for you. You need to know what's going to sell. β One of the things I'm focusing on that Jenny really, well, that you really taught us in the course is you can't do everything. You can't grow every crop. I am really, really focusing on narrowing my crop production down, picking the things that sell, selecting the things that...
going to give me most bang for my buck per stem. I love growing Lysianthus because it's been a challenge for me. They're finicky and we finally were able to grow them this year and I'm creating all these beautiful market bouquets with them thinking, my gosh, this bouquet should be selling for $60 and I can't because that's not what the market's going to grow. So do I continue to grow Lysianthus? My market doesn't hold the value of a Lysianthus. I'd be just as good doing a bouquet of zinnias.
I'd sell them and it's a lower cost productive crop. So numbers, numbers, numbers, know your numbers, know it's productive for you, narrow things down, become efficient, which is key to what you've taught us, become efficient, grow a few things well. As much as I hated hearing that, is the truth. I want to grow everything because I think everything's beautiful and I want to have this buffet of flowers when I'm doing bouquets because I want to just create different things.
Jenny (52:06)
Ha ha!
Lee Anne (52:17)
But focus on the few things that are going to make you money. Narrow your crop down. Have a couple of beds with the extra little sparkles in it. But get good at doing a few things. Key, key, key. And keep records. Just keep records. Keep lots of records. Look at your numbers.
Jenny (52:31)
Okay,
so to sum up, your last two pieces of advice were one, take the course and two, record your data so you can make better business decisions.
Lee Anne (52:43)
Absolutely, that's it. In my long ramble sentence, that's exactly what I was saying.
Jenny (52:48)
I was
Well, Leanne, thank you so much for taking the time to come on and for sharing your advice from the point of view of somebody like you, who you're like in the thick of it right now. You're building your business. You're just a few years in and you are making it work and you're doing an amazing job. You're not afraid to get the help that you need and you're
working on all those foundational pieces. And I just want to say, I'm really proud of you and it's been so great to watch you and become friends with you through the course. So thanks so much for taking the time to come on the podcast today. Can you just tell people where they can find you and follow you online if they want to connect?
Lee Anne (53:12)
Yeah.
My flower farm name is Whiffle and Hum. W-H-I-S-S-L-E and Hum, H-U-M. And it's a whole llama thing. It's llamas. And it's a story for another day.
Jenny (53:40)
β man, I wish we had more
time. I want to hear the story.
Lee Anne (53:43)
It's a great, I love when
I get to tell that story at the farmer's market when people come up and go, okay, what's the deal with the name? I'm like, it's a story. Do you want to hear this? And they're like, yeah. And they walk away and they're like, this is the best. I'm never going to forget that farm name.
Jenny (53:57)
So that is such a cool piece about your brand that makes you unforgettable. I love that. You're so authentic. You're so original. And so I'm glad that you said that here at the end, but β thank you, Leanne, for being here and thank you. Yeah, of course. And thanks everybody for listening. We'll catch you next time on the next episode.
Lee Anne (54:07)
Yeah.
Well, thanks for having me.
Bye!
Jenny (54:19)
Bye bye.
Jenny (54:21)
Now, if you're a flower farmer who wants to work less in the business while putting more profit in your pocket, like Karen or Krissa and Bill or Leanne or any of the students that I've had in the podcast lately, registration opens up for the six-figure flower farming business program on November 4th, 2025. That's a Tuesday, November 4th, 2025. Sign up for the waitlist at trademarkfarmer.com forward slash waitlist to be the first to know about it.
and also get an extra special bonus when enrollment opens. That's trademarkfarmer.com forward slash waitlist. There's also a link in the show notes that'll bring you to that page. I would love to see you there. So go ahead and sign up for the waitlist now and I'll see you in the next episode of the Six Figure Flower Farming Podcast.
