Jenny (00:29)
If you are a small scale flower grower and you are interested in wholesaling, so selling wholesale or selling direct to florists, this episode is for you. I'm sitting down to talk with Sarah head from Etta Creek farm, and she's from Oregon city, Oregon. And we are talking all about wholesaling on small scale acreage. This is a really fun conversation for me because I don't sell wholesale anymore. And so I actually love talking to people who are doing this.
Plus a lot of you listeners told me you were very interested in learning more about selling wholesale. And so that is exactly what I'm trying to do. But ⁓ Sarah's awesome. She's a super knowledgeable grower. And even though she's in zone nine, which is like crazy to me, cause I'm in zone six, ⁓ she has so many good tips and tricks in this episode. She's a member of the Oregon Flower Growers Association in Portland, Oregon.
And she has the privilege to sell alongside many other talented producers. So we also talk a little bit about selling alongside lots of other flower farmers in the competition. And so she is ⁓ in her seventh year in business, I think, and ⁓ talks a little bit about bringing new varietals to the market and expanding her farmer to florist relationship. So I think you're going to like this episode. Let's jump in.
Jenny (01:49)
Welcome, Sarah. I'm really excited to talk to you today.
Sarah Head (01:52)
Thanks so much. It's great to be here.
Jenny (01:54)
Yeah. So can you just start off and I started to ask you this before we hit record, but I was like, wait, we need to pause on it. what percentage do you sell wholesale?
Sarah Head (02:07)
I would say it's about 95%. I do a CSA still because I still feel like I need to be getting flowers to people direct, ⁓ but it's not a big moneymaker. ⁓ And then a little bit of my own events. ⁓ I took a pause last year, but I'm getting back into it. But to some degree, I mean, that's still a little bit wholesale. I'm just wholesaling to myself. So yeah, about all of it.
Jenny (02:33)
You
Sarah Head (02:36)
⁓ No grocery, not a lot to the big floral houses. Most of it's direct to florists.
Jenny (02:44)
So do you sell through an association or a program? Tell us more about how you're actually getting those flowers to forests. Are you selling just directly to forests?
Sarah Head (02:55)
Yeah, no, I'm super lucky. I am a member at the Oregon Flower Growers Association, which is in the Portland Flower Market. The Portland Flower Market has some of the big houses, Mayesh is there, and then some local wholesalers, Frank Adams, and a couple others. And then there's this middle market. And in middle market, there's booths that we rent out. So I have a
Double booth and peak season, probably three cooler carts are full and they roll it out for me every morning and the floor is shopped. So I don't even really have to be there, which is great, you know, having kids and a farm and a family, it can be hard to, because they open at 5.30 in the morning. So most of the time I deliver, I deliver on Sunday nights, Tuesday nights and Thursday nights. And then the floor is show up in the morning and shop my booth.
and they handle all the charges and we get paid by monthly. We're really lucky to have it and there's a ton of excellent growers there. So the florists are ⁓ very excited to shop.
Jenny (04:11)
That's so cool. So are they open seven days a week then?
Sarah Head (04:14)
Nope, just Monday through Friday.
Jenny (04:17)
Monday through Friday.
I know on the West Coast, it seems to be more of like a thing than it is on the East Coast. And I've been seeing here on the East Coast where I am that there's been a lot more like collectives popping up. And I'm always like so hopeful, like I'm probably not going to have any involvement with it. But like I'm really hopeful to see those kind of like expand in a way to maybe kind of model something like the Portland flower market or some of those other markets, because it does seem like it's really, really good for
Sarah Head (04:29)
Okay.
Jenny (04:46)
local cut flower farms. ⁓ Yeah.
Sarah Head (04:48)
It's great.
It really is. And so there's the Seattle wholesale market has a similar model, ⁓ different, but similar. And again, so people are part of that collective and they just drop their product off and then staff handles the selling of it. We're not a collective and the Portland flower market has been around since, I could be wrong. I want to say the early 50s, but it might be the late 40s.
So it's been there a long time. And we have one of the oldest last remaining rose growers that are still growing roses. Peter Court roses is there. And so yeah, it's a pretty neat, it feels a little old school, you know, that we're all kind of like doing our own thing. We're just all there doing it together. But it's great. It really is.
Jenny (05:30)
So cool.
I think it's so cool. It's an awesome opportunity.
So how many growers are there selling?
Sarah Head (05:47)
It's split between plants and flower growers. I won't have the exact numbers, but I would guess as far as flower farms, there's 15, 20 maybe, quite a few, and they're all different sizes. Some are still pretty small, some are really big. Some you probably know, like Raindrop is there, Aaron, and then there's everything in between.
Jenny (06:14)
Love, Erin.
Sarah Head (06:16)
So ⁓ yeah, it's interesting, but we all are able to compete because the florists are all looking for interesting products. So even when I was small and I just had one full cooler cart and maybe it wasn't full all the time, if I had product that was attractive, they were gonna buy it.
Jenny (06:34)
That's awesome. So how do you get into a market like this? Like, did you have to apply? Is there a process for it? Can you take us through that?
Sarah Head (06:46)
Yeah, so it's an application process and there's a waiting list. And I was in, I was just looking at my dates. So 2020, I was involved with some other growers in a growing project over in some greenhouses that I rent and they were both members at this market and really encouraged me to join.
Being on such a small scale, know, I was only growing, I don't even think I was on a half an acre at that point. I think I was smaller. I didn't feel like wholesale was really like accessible to me or like how would this work? ⁓ But I was teaching part-time through COVID. So my prior career was in education. And so I was side hustling, flower farming for about four years before this.
And I said, okay, if I apply to the market and I get in, I'll go all in. I'll figure out how to make it work. I'll quit my job. And I did. So I think for the first...
Yeah, I don't even think I think I might have quit like after Christmas break and then went into the following season.
Jenny (07:58)
Wow, so at the time
you were only growing on a half an acre, decided to go all in on wholesale. So how much acreage are you growing on now?
Sarah Head (08:09)
Still a half an acre. Yeah.
Jenny (08:10)
That's so
cool. So this is, I was really excited to talk to you because I think this is really unique or a lot of people think it is unique because on small acreage, a lot of people think, I have to sell direct to consumer. have to get the highest prices possible, do weddings or whatever. But that's not always necessarily true if you have an opportunity ⁓ like you had selling wholesale. So can you tell us like a little bit more about
your approach with selling wholesale on such, I don't want to say such small acreage, but on small acreage. Yeah. Yeah. It's pretty small.
Sarah Head (08:47)
It's pretty small. It's pretty small. Yeah.
And I should add, I do rent greenhouses too that are off property. So, and that's really helpful. ⁓ And increases my dollar amount, you know, that I can bring in, but I do that as a shared partnership. Yeah. So I'm just at half an acre and I really focus on, I think two areas.
around shoulder seasons and having flowers when other people don't. ⁓ Not necessarily flowers in general, but different crops. So trying to figure out how I time different crops, knowing the other growers at the market who are so good. ⁓ And so trying to kind of either get in early or get in late. And then I do at least two secessions. I try to get three out of the high tunnel.
The third one is usually that kind of overwintered, ranunculus or whatever, ⁓ try to be pretty intensive. Every square footed foot counts, you know, that, and if something's not performing or selling, it's out pretty quickly. So I think that's, and kind of just hustling and trying, like it's a puzzle, right? And so what's the puzzle and how does it go together? A lot of stuff under cover.
I have a very big high tunnel. got a very big NRCS equipped high tunnel really early on when I didn't know a lot, ⁓ which was great because it forced me, you know, when you're growing in a high tunnel, you have to figure it out pretty quick. So ⁓ that high tunnel has been excellent. ⁓ And then I also invest in kind of some of the more spendy varietals that I think will be attractive to florists. So kind of the higher end, ranunculus, I grow a lot.
Elysianthus in the summer, ⁓ perennial lilies, things that where I try to find these spots ⁓ where other people don't have a lot of product that I know that there's a need. And then I would say the other piece is like small things that I can get a dollar stem on. So like agrostemma, you know, and it needs to be cut like.
almost every single day, but if I can do it and if I can cut every day and hold it in the cooler one day and then deliver the next, you you bring in a bucket with 18 bunches in it and that's $180 in that bucket. So, and then some kind of little things I can tuck away. So, hooker is one that I'm really excited about right now. Yeah. It's a shade landscape plant.
Jenny (11:34)
I don't think I even know what that is. What is that?
⁓ know what like, ⁓ bell, the little bell, what are they called bells? Yes. Okay. No, exactly what that is. Sorry. ⁓
Sarah Head (11:39)
It's like not... Yeah. Choral balance.
Yeah, Coral Bells and Terra
Nova out of Oregon, who also is wholesaling through some other people. They're developing, doing a ton of plant breeding in some really cool ⁓ types, including one that they've started that's specifically for cut stems. ⁓ And it's the flowers that sell the best, you know, and they just bloom all summer long.
They're kind of out of the way, but I can rely on them. skinny things that you can fit a lot in the bucket and then unique and fancy things.
Jenny (12:25)
Yeah,
that's so cool. I was actually recently talking to students of mine who were getting more into selling wholesale the florist in the New York City market. And they were doing all the same things as you, growing these super unique things. They were actually getting really into bearded irises because no one else was growing them, trying to get.
in really early, really late, all the same kind of strategies you're using to fit into a little niche inside of that market, which is, love hearing that. think it's so creative and cool. I also just think it's really great that, of course, you're competing with other flower farms, but also not, because you're all kind of doing something a little bit different, right? How does that feel in being a market like that?
Sarah Head (12:52)
Yep.
Yeah.
I would say, you know, I'm so lucky and have been so impressed. The growers that I've met in this area and the community that has really come about is, I don't know that I'd be doing it if it wasn't for these other growers. So like one of the people I grow with, Lindsay, from Fawn Lily Farm, also grows on a half an acre, but somewhere else. But then we share this project in the greenhouses together.
So we're direct competitors. I mean, we could show up with the exact same flowers at the dock and be like, look at yours, look at mine. ⁓ But we also grow things together and sell them together. And so it's just, and everyone's trying to get better. We know, you know, kind of that like rising tides. The better that we all are, the more we'll get shopped.
If the quality is high across the board, the florists really recognize that. ⁓ You know, I've had florists say, like, your guys' quality expectations are higher than ours are. Like, what's wrong with that flower? Why couldn't you sell me that one? ⁓ But there is a really high bar, which enables us to charge a high price.
Jenny (14:30)
Yeah, and I feel like and compete on like the global scale. Yeah.
Sarah Head (14:35)
Yeah, we
are. do. think the quality of the flowers being produced ⁓ and sold through the Portland market are excellent.
Jenny (14:46)
So would you say that is, like if somebody is listening to this and they are growing on small acreage and they want to consider selling wholesale, like maybe they don't have an opportunity like the Portland flower market, but they could sell direct to forests, what would you say are the most important things that they focus on? Guessing quality, what else do you think?
Sarah Head (14:57)
again.
Yeah,
I think quality and consistency. So that the quality is excellent and that goes for, you know, whether it's damage or stem length, you know, bloom size, whether there's bugs in it, those kinds of things. And then that it's consistent.
that the florist knows that if they order something from you one week and two weeks, it's probably gonna be the same. And if it's not, you're gonna let them know. know, mine is a little bit different. I don't have to do a lot of pre-orders because ⁓ my cart is there. And there's times where I'll show up and I find, you know, like, my gosh, this bucket of whatever crashed or there was some quality issue around this. So that happens. And they just overlook it. They don't buy it.
But as far as building your business as somebody who's not in a market, I think those two things are super important. And that for me includes ⁓ like bunching. Whenever I train people to bunch flowers, I want the rubber band to be a certain tightness. I want it to be wrapped a certain way. You know, there's a whole piece around there. I want the bunch to look a certain way, that it's even and nice. And so when they pick that up, ⁓
it says quality before they even inspect it.
Jenny (16:34)
Yeah, and I have found that that can be difficult to train sometimes. I found just being there and correcting in the moment as we go along and just being very consistent with that training is the only way to help train somebody to understand that. But do you have any tips for people with that kind of stuff?
Sarah Head (16:39)
huh.
the training
part.
Jenny (17:02)
Yeah,
like training them. What does a good full bunch look like? How they know if the rubber band is the right tightness. Obviously, there's obvious things like if you're crushing the stems, it's too tight. And if they're falling out, it's too loose. But sometimes there's these very small little things like ⁓ cutting all the stem ends so they're even, stuff like that, where it's all these little details that.
Sarah Head (17:17)
Bye.
Jenny (17:27)
somebody coming in may have never even considered before. And I know that's an interesting part of it.
Sarah Head (17:34)
It is, it really is. I've been super lucky. The people who I've had cut, ⁓ helped me cut have had experience in ⁓ florals or on flower farms. Though last year I did have ⁓ someone who's been working for me a long time outside of the farming industry, but she works two days a week. It's a good old friend, my friend Jen, and she started helping me cut. And so I had to, and my daughter too, my teenage daughter has started to help.
Jenny (18:04)
Aw.
Sarah Head (18:04)
I've
⁓ been thinking a lot more about those things. Like the rubber band tightness one, that's a huge one. I mean, it just, and it's hard to catch. ⁓ So just kind of repeating that it needs to slip off, can a florist slip it off that they don't have to cut the end off the flowers to get the rubber band or slice the rubber band. I mean, that being said, I buy florals from other people and those rubber bands are tight. ⁓
I like it a little bit looser. And then the turning of the bunch to make it symmetrical all the way around. That's a really tough one. ⁓ One thing that I, because now I'm pretty fast, so what I will do is, ⁓ sometimes we tag in the field and sometimes we don't. But if I have somebody who's new cutting, I will cut and... ⁓
I will have them tag and count bunches. And so every bunch, well, you don't need to see it because we're on audio, but every bunch has a tag with my information on it. So it's a little plastic tag that has to be on it to go to market. But it's super important. It's amazing. There'll be a whole bucket with prices in it. And if there's one without a price, they just won't buy it.
Jenny (19:05)
What do you mean by tag?
Got it, okay.
Like, I don't know what this is, I'm leaving it. I mean, makes sense.
Sarah Head (19:33)
Yeah, they don't know. mean, it's, uh-huh. Yeah.
So price tags are super important. ⁓ And that's been a really good way to teach. So like during Lizzy Anthus season, ⁓ my friend Jen got really good at knowing what a full bunch of Lizzy Anthus look like, how it should be ⁓ formed, know, how symmetrical, weight, sometimes using weight as a...
qualifier of what a good bunch looks like, especially with Lysianthus. know, five stems of one and 12 stems of another can weigh the same. ⁓ And so she, and then learning to handle the product that without bruising stems or without bruising petals, all that kind of thing. ⁓ So yeah, a lot of touching. ⁓
Jenny (20:06)
you
Mm-hmm.
Sarah Head (20:28)
but we also try not to touch them as much, making sure that they have a touch on it so they kind of get to know what ⁓ quality bunches look like.
Jenny (20:30)
Yeah
I think Lysianthus for me personally is the hardest flower that I deal with on my farm because there's so much variation between the different varieties and between the different stems. like we, like right now we like don't really have a good system for it. We like count the open blooms, but then that's, it's such a freaking pain. And like, I feel like I can eyeball it, but I can't, you can't train eyeballing it.
And so there has to be a system. So I really struggle with liceanthus. I'm just selling it to people at the farmers market and my CSA who they don't know anything about it really. But ⁓ yeah, I find lice very difficult sometimes. Yeah.
Sarah Head (21:05)
Yeah.
Right.
They are. They
are really difficult. And every year I get very excited and very stressed as how's it going to go? Because I do have the most expensive lisianthus at market. ⁓ Buy anywhere from... So that's one thing about our market. There's no set prices. Every farmer decides what price they want to put on everything, which works most of the time. And we spend a lot of time consulting with each other. So...
But I'm selling my top quality blooms, not the browns, those are more expensive, just like Bay, like Voyage Champagnes, $22 a bunch. But they gotta be tall, the big, you know, kind of what you would expect from a professionally grown Lysianthus. And I do count blooms. So I was trying to remember, because we also grow Lysianthus together in this greenhouse, so it's really important that.
if I cut them or my growing partner, Lindsay, cut them, that they're the same bunch. So we really had to spend a lot of time thinking about like, okay, what does this actually look like? So we count blooms and I can't remember, what is it? Three to five, so about per bunch, I think we're looking for 15 open blooms about, but that's only if they're tall. If they're not tall, so like sometimes they feel grown.
Well, they'll drop to $18 a bunch, which most of the market is at 18. I try not to go below that, but they might have 10 stems, right? Because they're little. Also, if they are not a hot seller, some new varieties as I try all things, they're not that exciting, and so we'll kind of bulk them up. But it is, it's a tricky, and it always feels a little bit like a leap of faith.
⁓ But at this point, I also know I have some florists who, they're gonna buy them all. I have a florist who will buy all the voyage champagnes and all the fluffy ones. ⁓ So this dress is a little less. But you do drop them off at market and cross your fingers. And I do a lot of pre-orders too, especially around the Lizzy Anthus.
Jenny (23:27)
Yeah. Yeah.
Okay.
Do you, when you do pre-orders, like how far out are people putting those orders in for like Lysianthus? Is it just like the week before they're like, next week I need like 10 bunches or?
Sarah Head (23:48)
I I wish. A lot of times it is. A lot
of times it is. I just got an email from a florist that asked to reserve all our calla lilies for a wedding the second week of June. But ⁓ it's a new crop for us. So I was like, I don't know, maybe? Like get back to me. ⁓ And getting more comfortable with that. I had another florist who wants all our Campanula for Mother's Day. And I said, I don't even know if we'll,
Jenny (24:07)
Yeah.
Sarah Head (24:17)
have it because it's been so warm and timing. So I'm getting more comfortable responding with, don't know, get in touch in two weeks, get in touch in a month and being willing to kind of have that ⁓ open conversation. think florists, I know for myself, I found can be kind of intimidating to start working with because you feel like you're having to sell yourself to them and sell your product to them.
⁓ But I think when the quality is good, it's important to remember that they want to buy from, like, we have a lot of power in that situation because we have really good product. And so the power balance doesn't have to feel like we are just kind of responding to the whim of the florist and not that we're withholding or, you know, anything like that, but that it's a reciprocal relationship.
that we can just be honest in. Like, sorry, I don't have that. That being said, it does, I really try when we're, let's say, two weeks out to get dialed in and know exactly what I'll have. And that's, I would say, just comes with more and more work and experience. I don't think I would have said the same thing last year even.
I've been doing pre-sale, I guess three years. So I'm going in my fifth year wholesale and probably three years, a lot of pre-sale ⁓ and still kind of trying to figure out those systems. I joined Rooted this year and I hired an admin person to handle the pre-sales and she comes from floral design and she's also been a farmer. she, yeah, it's.
Jenny (26:11)
Great.
Sarah Head (26:14)
She knows what she, know, when a florist asks something, she'll, she has experience with it. So I'm really looking forward to that partnership.
Jenny (26:23)
That's amazing. This, what you're talking about is one of the main reasons why I decided to stop selling to Florist is because I felt like I was always, I don't want to say disappointing people, but kind of. And I also was getting so frustrated with so many of my Florist clients because they would email me and ask like for you, I want all your Lysianthus, you know, the third week in July. And I always just had to be like,
Sarah Head (26:24)
Yeah.
Jenny (26:52)
I can't commit to that, I'm sorry. But a couple of weeks out, we can get in touch. And they would be like, well, why can't you? Why don't you just know? And it was just a really hard dynamic for me. And at one point, I was just like, I just don't want to do this anymore. Yeah. But also really rewarding when you do form those relationships. And it can be really fun to work with people who
Sarah Head (26:56)
Yeah.
Yeah, it can be really tough.
Okay.
Jenny (27:21)
You know, you can work with and have conversations with about product availability and stuff. I don't.
Sarah Head (27:25)
Yeah,
there's also, I mean, we also, and we all share kind of this informal list, you know, behavior is important. And so if people want access to pre-orders, they also need to, you know, like be respectful of our time and be thoughtful and all that too. And there's some crops that get easier and easier. So like I can look through my photos now and I know.
almost exactly when certain like lisianthus are gonna start blooming. Or, you know, I can look at my ranunculus crop and say, okay, I think three weeks from now, I'll have harvestable, I'll be like in the thick of harvesting and be able to fill pre-orders versus, you know, the dribble that comes before the rush. So that's good. And yeah, the relationships.
Jenny (28:17)
Yeah.
Sarah Head (28:23)
The relationships are great. And I think, you know, one thing when you were talking about that summer piece and, and you probably know this because they ordered them from the wholesale houses that far out, right? So they can put in their wedding order two months in advance and the wholesale house is like, great, you got it. But I think what we have over that is the quality, you know, what they're getting shipped in just isn't, it's not the same. And so for those florists that are willing to,
Jenny (28:45)
Yeah. It's crap.
Sarah Head (28:53)
Be flexible,
they know they're going to get better product and then the special, like the special things that, that they can't get from a wholesaler. because yeah, doing wedding design, I'm glad that I do wedding and event design because I think it gives me good perspective on the high stakes and high stress of it.
Jenny (29:00)
Yeah.
Hmm.
Sarah Head (29:18)
But it also gives me good perspective on the flexibility that florists who use local product have. Like you just got to be flexible because you know things happen all the time.
Jenny (29:30)
Yeah, for sure. So what would you say is a big myth that people think about wholesaling when you are on small acreage?
Sarah Head (29:41)
I think that you can't do it. I think that you can't produce enough stems to make six figures. That you have to engage with either the big floral houses or...
I think another myth is that the, well I don't know if this is a myth, here we can get a really good price per stem. So I'm able to get a dollar a stem, almost minimum, for anything. And that's, it's pretty good if I can hustle and just cut a lot of stems.
Jenny (30:28)
Yeah, I think that people also forget just how many flowers you can actually grow on a half an acre. You can pack so many flowers into a half an acre. It's not even funny.
Sarah Head (30:35)
Thank you.
down.
And we
grow in crates, we grow in weird little margins. grew, ⁓ so one thing I like growing in every year, I'm like, why do I keep growing this, is the cup and saucer vine. ⁓ What is this? Yeah, not useful to anyone but florists. ⁓ And I just cut the stems. I don't cut vine or anything. So the stems are only like six inches long. They get longer as the season goes on.
Jenny (30:57)
⁓ yeah. I grew that for like one or two years and I was like, Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
Sarah Head (31:14)
but we grew them in crates along the fence that is next to the high tunnel. So it was because it's vertical and but it's an extra, you know, almost a hundred feet of space ⁓ of unused space that wasn't being used. So I'm constantly trying to look at like where, where I can make a little bit. ⁓ I also do a lot of foraging ⁓ and have some main crops that ⁓ I can make some good money on.
There's a ⁓ oat that the freeway crews use that they seed along the freeways ⁓ and it dries beautifully. Last year I missed it, they mowed it. So that happens too. ⁓ You know, you're like, okay, I $3,000 worth of grass out there I'm gonna get and then they mow it down. But when I hit it...
Jenny (32:01)
Dang it. Town.
Sarah Head (32:13)
I can store it and I cut, put it in big trash cans and keep it with my drives and dole it out. And I'm selling that for $12 a bunch. And it's a thick bunch, you know, I may try to make it like girthy, but it's on the side of the freeway. So field daisies, you know, in May when the field daisies come on, if the thrips aren't that bad.
Jenny (32:24)
That's great.
Sarah Head (32:39)
But for that, you know, meadow design, there's no other flower really that captures that feel. You know, commercial daisies don't have the same look. So those sell really well. Rooting branches. So, you know, I run into a little bit of trouble because getting everything cut here and then also getting out to do foraging can be tough.
Jenny (32:54)
That's such a cool thought.
Sarah Head (33:07)
One that's coming up soon, I just saw Max Gill had a post about it, I really appreciate it, is the wild radish. And they bloom in really beautiful pinks and whites and yellows, ⁓ lavenders. So the May weddings, florists eat that up for the wildflower look, and they're tall too. They're a lot taller and more delicate than a lot of those early spring flowers. Most of us have a lot of kind of clunky,
They're not clunky, know, ranunculus, anemone, those big focals, and then so they're looking for bits to kind of fill it out. So yes, I try to make some money on the stuff around me as well.
Jenny (33:50)
I love that so much. I always stay away from that because to me, I'm like, that's a weed. We have this Goldenrod Solidago that grows everywhere around here. And I'm like, that's a weed. The field daisies, I'm like, that's a weed. But maybe I should consider ⁓ picking it and selling it. That's really creative.
Sarah Head (34:07)
Yeah. They can be beautiful.
They can be really beautiful and that the our design, you know, and it's about the designers. If you're selling to florists, what are the designers in the area looking for? And then sometimes they're looking for anything, you know, Mother's Day. We all know, like anything you can get, they'll buy. ⁓
So we live next to another farm that left a bunch of cabbage overwintered and it all bolted and it bolted for Mother's Day.
And I think I sold me $500, $700 worth of bolted cabbage rabe, which the veg farm thought was awesome. They really got a, you know, they're old timers. They got such a kick out of it. You're doing what with that? But I just kept bringing in buckets and they kept buying it because it was a filler. It was airy. It looked sweet. And it's Mother's Day and everyone needs as many flowers as they can get.
Jenny (35:12)
That's hilarious. I love that so much.
Sarah Head (35:16)
Yeah, so I would say, you know, that's a small scale wholesale, you know, you gotta get your hustle, hustle on.
Jenny (35:23)
Heck, yeah. I mean, I think no matter what you get your hustle on, but that is especially in your situation 100%. ⁓ I love all of this. This is so cool. So yeah, if I was going to go back to selling wholesale or selling to florists, I would definitely be scavenging the woods for things. If I had to go back to that, sell my.
Sarah Head (35:27)
Yeah.
Yeah, they love it. I brought in a
bunch of lichen last week and I don't know that it's selling and it will take or it will take a long time to sell, but it's there and I know people need lichen sometimes. And we had a tree fall and so I took it off the tree and I try, you know, I don't try, I make sure that everything I'm harvesting is like sustainably harvested. Safety is also a concern. I finally got myself a vest.
Jenny (35:56)
That's a great idea. Yeah.
Mm.
Sarah Head (36:14)
like
high vis vest, Bracken Fern in the fall. And then in the winter I do around the holidays, I try to do a bunch of like holiday greenery and things like that for them to sell. So I try to have something in my booth from, I think I started bringing the end of January and I try to stay there till just before Christmas.
Jenny (36:43)
Wow, that's a really long growing season. And now you said you're in zone nine, right? Yeah.
Sarah Head (36:47)
Yeah,
we just got moved to ⁓ 9A. the forage is what really makes it, and drieds, I do a lot of drieds. So ⁓ I start bringing in drieds in the fall and then forage. And this year I ran into some stuff, so I didn't have as much in December, but I try to have it till like that week before Christmas. And then the greenhouses started producing. ⁓
Jenny (37:12)
That's awesome.
Sarah Head (37:17)
We started getting poppies out, I think the end of January. And it's not much, know, I think right now we're getting about anywhere from like 10 to 20 bunches a week, but it's paying the rent.
Jenny (37:22)
That's great.
Yeah, that's great.
Sarah Head (37:36)
Uh-huh.
Jenny (37:38)
So with wholesale, obviously you're not getting the top dollar because you're not selling direct to consumer or retail or whatever. And every
sales outlet, there's sort of like hidden, I don't want to say hidden costs, but maybe costs that people don't consider, they don't think about. Is there any kind of costs that you think get overlooked by growers who are new to wholesale or who are on small acreage selling to wholesale that they should be aware of or think about?
Sarah Head (38:07)
Yeah, think the, I mean, and this is something that everyone who sells has to deal with, but the fees, you know, the fees for however you're getting your flowers out there. So for me, the market charges a fee and then I have my credit card fees on top of that. If you're doing a bucket run direct to florists, that travel and that time that it takes to sell the flowers. ⁓
It's a lot. I think in general, and you know this, but just the cutting of flowers is so expensive. The amount of labor that goes into cutting I think is often over or underestimated. It really is. And then...
Other than that, I don't think there's anything too major. We have some infrastructure things that I have to pay attention to, like our flower carts and things like that. Gas money, but however you're selling it, whether driving to farmer's markets or doing bucket runs. But other than that, not too much, a lot of rubber bands. A lot of rubber bands. ⁓ But because it's pretty streamlined.
Jenny (39:19)
Yeah.
Sarah Head (39:26)
You know, it's just buckets filled with bunches. ⁓ It's pretty much it. flour, you know, flour food, things like that. no, don't, my overhead and for that, I feel like is pretty low compared to other revenue streams.
Jenny (39:43)
Yeah, because that's the thing is when you do start selling retail and like you go to a farmer's market, you drive there and you sit there for eight hours and drive home and you got to have like all the pretty things like make your booth look cutesy or whatever. And it's like the costs really start adding up, which is why you have to charge more so you can actually make a margin. So.
Sarah Head (40:02)
Yeah, exactly,
exactly. And that was a lot of the reason why, well, our farmers markets are pretty robust. There's established, a lot of established sellers. But starting out and having kids at home, I knew I didn't want to be gone on the weekends. And I just didn't want to be gone a lot, and nor could I be gone a lot. My husband, he's a contractor, he works a lot. ⁓
wholesale was perfect. This opportunity was perfect because I don't have to sell, I don't have to sit there. So my time can really be focused on growing and harvesting and the house and the family and the farm and all that stuff.
Jenny (40:44)
Yeah.
Yeah, no, it seems like such a streamlined way to move flowers and like really appealing, I think for a lot of people who are in our position, have kids and families and other things that going on and may not be at the point yet where they can like delegate some of that stuff yet, because that takes a long time to get there. So.
Sarah Head (40:59)
Yeah.
And I would say, know, and there's most people don't have a market like the port and flower market, but they do have florists and, know, and there's been articles in ASCFG and people are talking about it, but I would just echo that kind of the repetition, like keep going back eventually, you know, finding the people that want your product. And it might not be the brick and mortar florist who's used to having all their product delivered. ⁓
but the designers and people who want to play with flowers too. So one thing, ⁓ I do DIY buckets. ⁓ friend of mine who grows Indigo Garden, Leah, she does like a growers bucket for florists. So if designers just kind of want to play with something or they're ⁓ doing a photo shoot or something like that, she makes selections for them.
and her product is beautiful and she has a great eye so they know they can trust it. So that's another fun way to get them flowers.
Jenny (42:16)
Yeah, that's a really great idea. love that. We even have some, I don't know what to call them, hobbyist florists that buy from us. It's not their full time thing, but they just love playing with flowers. And they will spend more than anybody just buying flowers to play with. And it's a really cool kind of customer that we have that we really like working with. So yeah.
Sarah Head (42:24)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah!
Definitely and that
is and I think back to that kind of the relationship We have what they need to do the beautiful things they do
Jenny (42:45)
Yeah, exactly. OK, I have one more question for you, maybe two. But ⁓ you mentioned, well, I guess I won't say that. ⁓ Are there any tools or technology or systems that you have found have really helped with just wholesale operations in general?
Sarah Head (43:07)
So yeah, some systems that have helped really dialing in my pre-order system. I wouldn't say that I've developed, I'm there yet, but that is, I know that's what I really need to feel confident in. ⁓
Jenny (43:13)
⁓ So.
Sarah Head (43:24)
So yeah, I'm hoping Rooted will help with that and the admin support.
Jenny (43:30)
Yeah. I think having that help in like an actual, yeah, just like a system is so helpful.
Sarah Head (43:37)
⁓ And one thing, and I don't know if this will work to put it in when you were talking about ⁓ consistently overlooked costs, time for communication with florists. So, you know, if we value our time and we put a dollar amount on our time, all those text messages are, you know, they cost us. And that's when figuring out streamlining how they access you, I think is important. So I do have a few florists.
Jenny (44:04)
Mm.
Sarah Head (44:07)
who can really ask me for anything, any way they want, it's fine. ⁓ But everyone else, clear, like order it on Rooted, send me an email. I don't take orders on Instagram, that kind of thing. But it takes a lot of discipline because I do take orders on Instagram in the past. ⁓ But knowing that it helps me get them the product they want helps me put up some boundaries.
Because what happens, you know our brains in August, they're absolutely fried. And so if I don't have a system and if they don't follow it, things fall off. And I really, really hate making mistakes.
Jenny (44:51)
Yeah. It's, like setting boundaries with like that communication and making sure that you have like a real system in place for people to communicate with you because I know.
Sarah Head (45:00)
Yeah,
they're gonna wanna ask you in all different ways and just reminding yourself this is for them as much as it is for you so you can get the product that they want for that event or that day.
Jenny (45:15)
Yeah. Love that. Well, is there anything else that you would tell a grower who is on the small scale who wants to sell wholesale? Do you have any other advice or anything you'd want to share with them?
Sarah Head (45:28)
⁓ I think one, ⁓ watching the trends, you know, and seeing how far in front of the trends you can look. If you see a florist you follow that is mentioning something you've never heard of. So I know like Clematis, there's been like rumblings about Clematis the last couple of years in design and I think
more and more in the coming year, we're gonna be seeing a lot of clematis. So kind of keeping your eye out for that. On the flip side of that, not being afraid to rip out something after that trend kind of has passed. So I grow a lot of baby's breath and I love growing it. It grows fantastic here. It's really easy. And I kind of kept adding because it kept selling well.
Last year not so much and I think maybe we'll be like pulling back on that. So I ripped out, you know, not a ton, but I still have half of it, but I'm like, I don't need all of this. So just being willing to be flexible, ⁓ I think is important. And looking ahead, trying to figure out what the florists want. If you have an eye for design, that really helps.
I think also don't feel like you have to go through the, there's different types of wholesale, right? There's the wholesale through the floral houses where they're gonna give you, if you're lucky, 50 % of what they're selling that for. So you could be making $3 a bunch on the small scale that just doesn't work. You know, I have other friends at the market who do a great job and they sell a lot of product.
at the market at a high price, but then they do grocery to the houses at a much lower price. And I just don't have that flexibility, because I don't have enough space. And if I have a glut of something that's not selling, I'm not opposed to doing that, it's better than it ended up in the compost.
Jenny (47:32)
Yeah. Yeah. Better something than nothing.
Sarah Head (47:36)
Yeah, well sometimes unless it takes you, you know, four hours to cut it and you're only going to make a hundred dollars off of everything you cut, well maybe you just mow it down and leave it in the field and move on to the next thing. So I think also cutting your losses, knowing when to cut your losses. ⁓ If something's not selling to florists, if they don't like it, well that's okay. Plant something else there, you know, and cut it off the list for the next year.
Jenny (47:50)
Yeah.
you
Yeah, great advice, Sarah. Thank you so much. Can you just tell everyone where they can find you or follow you online and maybe learn more about what you do?
Sarah Head (48:13)
Yeah,
yeah, I have ⁓ mainly my Instagram. It's just Ada Creek Farm, EDA Creek Farm. And I try to post on there. You can watch some exciting ⁓ steaming, soil steaming content. And then I have a website ⁓ and that's pretty much it.
Jenny (48:37)
I will link your Instagram and website in the show notes of this episode if anyone wants to grab it, but ⁓ Let's wrap up. I just love talking to you today about wholesale I just think it's so fascinating because it's not something that I focus on and so I'm really interested in it and Thanks for taking the time to come and chat with me today, Sarah
Sarah Head (48:56)
Yeah, thanks for having me a lot. It's great to talk about it. ⁓ And it is, it's fun to talk about it because you do start to realize what a funny little niche it is.
Jenny (49:06)
It really is too.
Jenny (49:09)
Real quick, if you've got 17 tabs open in your brain right now, just trying to figure out your next move, please do yourself a favor and close them and go grab your personalized profit roadmap instead. It's just a short assessment that will tell you what stage your farm is in and what actually deserves your attention right now to move forward quickly. Because more information isn't usually the answer.
focusing on the real problem that's holding you back is. It's free, it's fast, and it's probably more helpful than scrolling Instagram for another hour. So go grab it at trademarkfarmer.com forward slash roadmap. That's trademarkfarmer.com forward slash roadmap. You can also grab this link in the show notes.
Jenny (49:56)
So
thanks everyone for being here for another episode. Don't forget we have new episodes that publish every Monday. So we'll see you next week. Same time, same place. Bye for now.
