Jenny (00:28)
Today I'm chatting with Sarah from Bloom and Grey from the UK. And Sarah is a flower farmer, content creator and educator who is super passionate about regenerative growing. And Sarah is in a really unique position because she is a experienced flower farmer.
who's actually starting over this year in a brand new field. So she's building a new flower farm from scratch in 2026. And she also develops tools designed to help support growers and small scale flower farmers. So in this interview today, we are talking about mistakes she made in the past that she's avoiding now with her new flower farm, how she's getting her new flower field going super cost effectively and cost efficiently.
and how she's balancing her flower farm business with her love of travel and content creation, which she's amazing at by the way, she has a great YouTube channel. And so Sarah is probably not a typical guest that I would have on this episode because she does earn a bit of her income from content creation rather than flower farming now, but she has been a professional flower farmer for a lot of years and I wanted to get her perspective on how she's starting her flower farm from scratch again in this new field.
and how she's balancing that with her love of traveling and campervan life. So if you're somebody who's interested in balancing your farm with something else in your life, whether it's family or travel or some other passion, or if you're starting from scratch, or if you're really interested in soil blocking, because we kind of dive into that as well, I think that you'll enjoy this interview episode with the lovely Sarah from Bloom and Gray.
Jenny (02:04)
welcome to the show, Sarah.
Sarah (02:06)
Thank you so much for having me.
Jenny (02:08)
I'm so thrilled to talk to you today because you are such an experienced cut flower girl or you've been flower farming for what like 10 years or something.
Sarah (02:17)
Almost, yeah.
Jenny (02:18)
Yeah, but.
Your situation is really unique because you're starting over in a new field from scratch this year. And I think that's just a really unique situation that you're in that could help a lot of people listening to hear like, what are you intentionally doing differently from what you've done before? So would you mind just telling us like a little bit about that situation and like how you're approaching things differently than you did when you very first started?
Sarah (02:47)
Yeah, so I started flower farming in 2017 and I have been sort of doing all sorts over the years, like selling at farmers markets, doing weddings, selling from a shed that I had at the end of my driveway. Then I got into YouTube, which is kind of a whole different story, but I've mainly been growing flowers for the last nine years.
And then last year kind of had a change of circumstances and I left the farm that I'd been growing on. And I wasn't really sure what I was going to do next. And everything was kind of up in the air. I moved into a camper van. So that's where I live now. And luckily I had a friend that stepped in and who lived locally, who's a flower farmer. And she said, I've got a few spare beds if you want to grow on them.
just while you figure out what you're going to do next. I still had a few weddings booked in for DIY flower buckets and that kind of thing. So it allowed me to kind of have a break and reset and think about what I wanted to do next. I kind of at the time I posted about it on YouTube and lots of people were very encouraging and supportive and said, I really think you should carry on flower farming. We've really enjoyed seeing you over the years growing flowers. And I really missed it too.
I really like being outdoors and that's basically why I got into flower farming because I wanted to do physical work that was outside and it was tangible and I was putting seeds in the ground and I was able to harvest them. so I grew for a few months on my friend's farm and I was thinking about what to do next. And I decided at the end of the summer that I was going to have a look for a plot to rent. So I put a
shout out on social media and somebody reached out and said we've got a plot that we think would be good for you so I came to see it. It was actually the first and the only plot that I came to look at because it was really ideal. It was a good size, it's two thirds of an acre. It was fenced already so that I could just put some mesh on it and protect it from the rabbits and things. I had access to water and it was local to where I was so
I signed a contract with them in October and I wanted to get cracking on it straight away but the field just got really wet over winter so I wasn't able to work on it at all over winter and I've just started working on it now in spring. I've just got the beds prepared and yeah, I mean over the years I made so many mistakes at my old place and I think now I feel like I'm just going straight for it. I know exactly
how I want to do it and it's nice to be able to do that without all of the worry of wondering whether I'm doing the right thing or not.
Jenny (05:49)
Yeah, I feel like if I were to start over again from scratch right now, I would do a lot of things differently, but that's how that's how everything goes, right? Like you can't avoid the mistakes. So first of all, I want to say I am like a little jealous of your camper van life because I love to travel. like I, before I started my flower farm, I was like jet setting all across the world. I mean, not really, but I love to travel and go places. So I just think that's so
Amazing. And it's really inspiring to hear because I think when people start their own businesses, even a flower farm business, like there's no rules, right? Like you can make, build this business around your ideal lifestyle. So like, if you want to take off part of the year to go travel and then also flower farm part of the year, like you could do that. And it sounds like that's
pretty much what you're doing, which is just so cool.
Sarah (06:44)
Yeah, last year I started a YouTube series where I went and visited, well, sort of in the middle period where I didn't know what I was going to do next, but I was kind of making more money from YouTube at the time and I kind of wanted to build my audience on there. I decided to go and travel the UK and visit different flower farmers and market gardeners and soil health specialists and I...
went and interviewed them just to find out how other people were doing it and different routes to market and that kind of thing. And it was really, really good to be travelling around and doing that and seeing different parts of the world.
Jenny (07:26)
What did you learn from other flower farmers? Like what were some of the biggest takeaways that you learned from when you were traveling, visiting those other farms?
Sarah (07:35)
think a lot of the people I went to visit were people that I really looked up to even from the beginning of when I started my flower farm. They were the people who you kind of put them on a pedestal and you think these people have got it nailed. They know exactly what they're doing. And when you go and visit them, you realize that, I mean, they've definitely honed in their practices of how they do things, but...
everybody's kind of muddling through and finding out what's gonna be the next big thing and what's gonna work well for them next in their circumstances and their personal situations. So although we kind of put these people on a pedestal thinking they've got it all figured out, it's all kind of constantly moving and the girl posts are shifting all of the time. So it's not that anybody has it figured out.
Jenny (08:28)
No, I think everybody is just constantly figuring things out all the time. someone, one of like my business mentors that I looked up to, they told me once, they're like, no one actually knows what they're doing. Even though the people who are like way ahead of you and you think that they know what they're doing, like they're dealing with something right now that they have no idea how to deal with it. It's so true. And
Sarah (08:49)
Yeah. Yeah.
Jenny (08:51)
it's always evolving.
Sarah (08:53)
Yeah. And I think as well with the challenges of the weather, the variability and the kind of unpredictability of that, a lot of people were kind of trying to figure out how to get around that and be more resilient.
Jenny (09:08)
Yeah, that's actually something we're, I mean, obviously everybody's dealing with, but I heard you say that your farm was super, super wet. And that's what we're dealing with right now is that we're recording this in the middle of May and our fields are literally just standing water everywhere. We've never had that before. We're not going to be able to plant our field dahlias. Like we're scrambling to like make plant, like change everything to try to find space to plant. Well, we need to, and it's just like this.
There's just always something, right? Even if you have
Sarah (09:40)
Yeah.
Jenny (09:41)
like this established business, like there's just always curve balls being thrown at you.
Sarah (09:46)
Yeah, definitely.
Jenny (09:48)
Yeah. So back to your new flower farm that you're starting from scratch. think, correct me if I'm wrong, but before you used to do like a lot of like no dig, no till, are you still doing that on your farm? And if you are, how are you doing that differently with this new field you're starting from scratch?
Sarah (10:07)
Yeah, I used to do a lot of no dig. Now I haven't set up my field in a no dig way. There's a couple of reasons for that. The first one is that I kind of don't trust the quality of the bulk composts that you can buy in that you would use for no dig. I'm starting again on a large area and I would have to find cardboard or organic matter to go underneath.
the compost and I just think that I would rather use, I mean, when I first put the polytunnel up on site, I bought in some mushroom, some spent mushroom compost to just do no digging there. Cause I just wanted to quickly kind of get planted up in there and I had some hardy annuals that I wanted to overwinter and it's just been really terrible stuff. The plants haven't thrived in it at all. And
My plan was I've got kind of like three big bays of beds that which I've got like 10 beds and then another set of 10 beds and then another set of 10 beds. And my plan was to kind of set each set of beds up in a different way, just for a bit of experimentation, because that's one of the things that I want to do here on the new farm. And one of them was going to be no dig, but I just decided against it because of the whole unpredictability of the compost quality and
not really being sure what's in it. I think a lot of bulk composts that are from green waste is often unfinished. It's still composting when you get it, it's still really hot and you just don't know what's in it. So I'm staying clear of that. And actually this year what I've done instead is on two of the beds I've used a turf cutter to remove all of the turf and then I've rotivated it afterwards and it
And it looks great. mean, this, the soil that I'm on in this field is lighter than it was in my old field. I was on clay soil before and now it's quite silty. So it's nice to kind of work with something that's a little bit lighter and it's rotavated up really nicely. Then I've got a third set of beds that I covered over with a black plastic sheet and that's been covered over for seven weeks. So I didn't have to remove the turf off.
of that one which I was grateful for because it's such difficult job to do. But I have just gone in and rotivated that once the grass was killed off and that looks great as well. So my next plan is to kind of stay one step ahead of the weeds because I know that now I've removed the turf and rotivated it, I'm expecting a flush of weeds to kind of come up and try and repair the soil. So I'm just coming up with ways of
trying to prevent that by putting mulches down and keeping the soil covered. And planting cover crops in places where I know that I'm not going to be planting for a while.
Jenny (13:07)
Yeah, so basically you had, it was like all grass or turf or sod, and you bought a cutter to basically cut away that top layer of sod, removed that so you're able to plant right under it. Whereas
Sarah (13:20)
Yeah. Yeah.
Jenny (13:23)
the tarp you put down, weigh it down in some way, that's gonna occultation through occultation, it will kill the grass underneath. So you'll
Sarah (13:32)
Yes.
Jenny (13:32)
have that spot as well. All right.
Sarah (13:34)
Yeah,
in the past I've set up fields in a way where when I've got more time to set up and I can do it in a kind of a more soil health minded way, I have covered it with tarpaulins, then rotivated it and then sown a cover crop and then killed it off and then taken the sheets off after a few weeks and then planted into it again. in an ideal world I would
do something like that but because I'm short on time I just don't have time to put those cover crops in but yeah.
Jenny (14:10)
I think this is a really valuable
conversation because like you said, there's an ideal way to do things, but the reality is it can't always happen that way, especially when you're short on time.
Sarah (14:21)
Yeah and I think the
other thing is that with the nerd dig is if I was setting up for the long term nerd dig maybe wouldn't be so much of an issue for me because the compo- I could allow the compost to mature, I could maybe put it down and then sow a cover crop on it which would help to kind of like break down the compost and and kind of mix it in with the native soil but because I'm short on time I just want to get it right.
the first time because a lot hinges on it being a successful year.
Jenny (14:55)
Yeah. I think that a lot of flower farmers who are maybe just starting out or are starting out in a new field or new location like you are could take a lot from this. like sometimes you just have to get things going just
Sarah (15:07)
Yeah.
Jenny (15:08)
to make it work. And like, that's okay. And another thing, I want to go back to what you're saying about the compost quality, because I think this is a really big pain point for a lot of people. I know it has been for me in the past. We...
We used to get this great compost from some companies, and then we got a few really bad loads. We've had compost that's killed our flowers before. And now we've really stepped away from using it for that reason.
Sarah (15:35)
Thank you.
Jenny (15:35)
It's really unpredictable. But also the cost of it, there's a really high cost of buying in that compost, which
Like I think there's a time and a place for using it for sure, but we are also very heavily just focused on cover cropping as much as possible now because it's so much cheaper to do as well. So.
Sarah (15:55)
Yeah, yeah. I
read a book recently by Elliot Coleman, The Self-Fed Farm. It's a new book that he's just released and I think it's a really great way to kind of think about producing everything that you need on site rather than bringing stuff in that you don't know the quality of. And I think
Jenny (16:18)
Yeah, Elliot.
Sarah (16:19)
he said in the book that he builds organic matter.
year on year and he does still till the soil but because of the organic matter that he's putting in in terms of cover crops it still it still builds the organic matter even though he's losing some through tillage.
Jenny (16:37)
yeah, for sure. think that I've definitely never been dogmatic about no till, no dig. But we use it on our farm, but we also till in certain situations. And so I think that the more tools you have in your tool belt or options you have, think the better. And Elliot Coleman shout out to OG market gardener, right?
Sarah (17:01)
Yeah, I think there's a
lot we can learn from market gardeners because they're kind of like turning over beds very quickly and trying to build fertility for the crops. So yeah, I like to kind of dip into that kind of thing and learn from them too.
Jenny (17:16)
Yeah, same here. So is there anything that you're prioritizing in this new space that maybe you didn't like your first year in flower farming way back in 2017?
Sarah (17:30)
I'm definitely, I mean, to begin with, I'm just prioritizing doing the bare minimum. Like, I just want to get the bare bones of what I need to have a productive flower farm. like, I started off with fencing the field so that rabbits and hares couldn't get in because I've had so many problems with pests in the past. I've planted out thousands of plants and then
you come in a couple of days later and they're all gone.
Jenny (18:03)
that's heartbreaking.
Sarah (18:04)
So I was like, the first thing that I need to do is just make the field secure. So I did that and I had a polytunnel put up so that I could get my seeds started and grown on and then got the beds prepped. So it was just about having the basics really to begin with.
it's all about kind of saving money for me as well. So I've got very basic equipment. I don't need a lot to be able to grow flowers. It's really hasn't cost me a lot to set up this new field, which has been great. So yeah, because I mean, before I was kind of in a really different situation and my overheads weren't very big. Like the house that I lived in was paid for, the car that I drove was paid for. And now I'm having to kind of
go it alone and try and make as much money as I can in one season. So I'm trying to keep my costs down by keeping the production pretty primitive. And then just starting everything from seed, I'm just growing annuals really this year. So yeah, but it's nice because I mean, like we said earlier, I've had all of those mistakes that I've learned in the past and I'm just trying to...
go straight towards the goal of just having productive flower beds on the go.
Jenny (19:31)
I think that's super smart. And I think that a lot of people over complicate starting their flower farm businesses. Yeah, it's nice to have brand new equipment, like tractors and infrastructure and everything like that. they feel like they need.
all to invest all these things. like the reality is you need like some basic prepared beds. Like you can rent equipment to do that even without even buying it. And maybe you can get like a used greenhouse or polytunnel and then
Like, yeah, just seed starting supplies and like you can get started growing and selling flowers with just that. You don't need like all this equipment that's like sure nice to have and maybe you can invest in that in the future. But I think that's actually super smart to keep your costs low so you can have a bigger margin this year.
Sarah (20:24)
Yeah,
yeah and I think, I mean one thing that has been a problem is that I have been buying stuff, some stuff cheap and secondhand which has meant that it's broken down or
Jenny (20:38)
Hahaha
Sarah (20:39)
hasn't really been effective, but for the most part, flower farming isn't very technical. mean, all you need is kind of hand tools really and equipment. So, it's been pretty low cost to set up. The one thing that I have done differently actually this time that has really made differences that I've been using a grow tent instead of growing in greenhouses that I used to do before. I had just had like an oil-filled
radiator and grow lights and shelving and then I've started everything in soil blocks this year and the consistency of germination has just been really great compared to starting things in greenhouses and polytunnels before so that's something new to me this year and if I was going at this for the long run I would definitely continue to use a grow tent to
to get things started or a grow room.
Jenny (21:40)
So is it acting more of like a germination chamber where the humidity is a little bit more, it's warm in there, so you're getting better results with your germination compared to just in a greenhouse without a heat mat or anything like that?
Sarah (21:53)
Yeah, yeah,
yeah, so the whole room is heated to like 20 degrees. I think what's that like 68 degrees Fahrenheit or something like that.
Jenny (22:03)
I'd have to do the math.
Here, let me do it real quick. 20 Celsius to Fahrenheit. Thank God for the internet. Yeah, 68. Wow, you're good. I don't think I ever would have been able to do that. OK, great.
Sarah (22:19)
I
always convert it on my YouTube channel so I've
Jenny (22:22)
Hahaha
Sarah (22:23)
got to know what it is.
Jenny (22:25)
smart.
Sarah (22:26)
So yeah, it's got a little bit of a higher humidity, it's got grow lights in there so that the plants have got even light all the time and then the warmth. So it's really helped with consistent germination and good results with germination. So I've been really impressed with that technique.
Jenny (22:47)
cool. That's good to know. I actually bought, so we start everything in a greenhouse, but I bought a used germination chamber.
recently, but it's used. There's a couple of things broken on it that I have to fix and I haven't like gotten around to fixing it yet. It's been low priority and I feel like I really need to because I think it's going to like speed up our germination and will help with just getting things like going faster, especially because this year has been super cold and cloudy. Like even though our seedlings are in a heated greenhouse, like when it's super cold and cloudy all the time, like it's still affects your seedlings.
Sarah (23:24)
.
Jenny (23:26)
Like they've been growing super
slow this year. So that's a great tip for everybody.
Sarah (23:33)
Is the germination chamber like a dark one that you've got and then you just let it germinate for a couple of days and then pull it out or does it have lights in it?
Jenny (23:42)
No, there's no lights in it. It's just like a, so yeah, it's not like a grow tent where there's lights. It's just like a temperature and humidity controlled. So it just like perfect temperature and humidity. So they can just pop up and then you take, you got to take them out and put them somewhere else. Otherwise they'll fry. I
So speaking of starting things in soil blocks, let's talk about soil blocking. Cause I know that you actually manufacture soil blocking stuff, which I really want to talk about that. That's super cool. And, you're
like a diehard soil blocker have great results from it. And I really want to talk about it because I have never been a soil blocker. I've always started thinking in seed trays. I don't know if I don't think I'm ever going to not do that simply because it's worked fine for me and it's been really efficient. But I want to learn about your systems with it. And so just tell me a little bit more about your soil blocking process and the equipment that you use.
Sarah (24:38)
Yeah, so I have switched basically 100 % to soil blocking this year and I have dabbled with it a bit in the past and I think really with soil blocking is you have to fully commit to switching over to it otherwise it sort of becomes a little bit of a... You kind of have to use different management techniques with soil blocking and I think you have to kind of, like I said, commit to doing it.
I use soil blocks with aluminium trays underneath. So I'm kind of eliminating plastic from the farm this year. And I started about four or 5,000 seeds this year in soil blocks. So I make them and I sow them and I put them in the grow tent to germinate. And then once they're kind of got maybe
one or two sets of true leaves, I'll move them out to the polytunnel because one thing I've noticed with the grotten is that I should have put fans in there to kind of help with stem strength and plant strength. So if I let them grow any bigger, they kind of look a bit weak when I put them out in the polytunnel. Yeah, so then I bring them out into the polytunnel and then I continue to kind of water and feed them.
And some cut flower varieties can just stay in the soil blocks and they grow big enough for you to just plant them straight out into the field. And it's really kind of easy to just pick up a block from the tray, put it straight into the ground. You don't have to faff around with popping them out of the cell trays or taking them out of the plastic pots. And then if you've got a windy day, your pots are flying all around the
the field. So I've really enjoyed kind of just growing them in the blocks and just popping them straight out in the ground. But yeah, the benefits of soil blocking is that A, you're reducing plastic, B, it's much more space efficient. So I've been able to cram so many seedlings into the grow tent and in the polytunnel because I'm growing 112 blocks at a time in each tray and I'm just kind of
like lining them up in the grout and in the polytonal. And then the blocks encourage something called air pruning. So the roots reach the edge of the block. They sense the air and they stop growing outwards and they start growing more fibrously inside the block instead. So it prevents any kind of root spiraling that you would get in a cell tray or a pot and
the roots are healthier because you're watering them from below and they're soaking up the water. So you're of being a bit more efficient with your water use, which results in healthier plants and healthier root systems. The transplant shock is less of an effect when you put them out in the ground as well, just because the roots can simply kind of grow outwards from the block. So yeah, I'm a big fan of.
I'm so lucky that I'm converted, so...
Jenny (28:00)
you
Yeah, everybody that I know that does soil blocking loves it. And I have heard a lot of people say that it is very space efficient if you don't have a lot of space. And obviously, the air pruning is great. just I feel like my seedlings are like good enough in a cell tray. Like we don't usually do things in pots. They're all in cell trays. And I can carry like two or four cell trays at a time. Whereas like with soil,
blocks, feel like I need both my hands to carry one tray. And the way that our farm is set up, like our greenhouse, is kind of a little ways away from our fields, which if I were to do this again, I wouldn't do that. And so
Sarah (28:45)
Thank
Jenny (28:45)
I feel like we're always carrying stuff out there. And that's the reason why we've kind of stuck with just using the cell trays. Plus, I also don't
Sarah (28:54)
Thank you.
Jenny (28:56)
want to mess with
the soil, like making the soil. So like tell us more about how you are like actually preparing the soil before and when you're making the soil blocks. Like I want to know more about that.
Sarah (29:12)
Yeah, so I actually just use the same compost that I was using before when I was using cell trays.
Sarah (29:18)
It's difficult with peat-free. I don't know how like in America, think, well, peat-based compost has been banned here in the UK. I don't know how it is over there for you. Okay,
Jenny (29:31)
We still have lots of it.
Sarah (29:34)
peat makes really good soil blocks, but we can't use that anymore in the UK.
peat-free composts are a little bit more tricky to get to stick together. But yeah, I just use my normal seed starting mix and then I sometimes mix something like worm castings in with it because they do have kind of like a sticky texture that helps to bind it together. And I'm kind of experimenting with a few other things that help to bind them together, but haven't really got good enough results to show on that yet. But...
You just wet it enough so that it sticks together and you can ball it together in your hand and then fill up the soil blocker and push out the blocks. And then when you sow the seeds on those blocks, the compost is already wet enough for at least a couple of days. And sometimes you can even just let the plants germinate and you don't need to water them until they've germinated, depending on the weather and where you're keeping your blocks and that kind of thing.
Jenny (30:36)
Yeah, and you have to bottom water all of them, obviously. Do you ever have issues with like, if you didn't soil block correctly, or if like the moisture wasn't right with the soil blocks falling apart, or is that something that doesn't really happen?
Sarah (30:52)
Sometimes the the soil blocks are more fragile if the mix isn't quite right but typically you kind of have to just leave them alone and let them grow and then the roots kind of help to bind it all together. I have had problems in the past where I've been carrying it and I've like slipped or something and the soil blocks have just moved.
with watering and things like that, you've just got to be careful with them and do not move them around too much. But I mean, the place where I start my seeds in the grow tent is like 25 minutes away from my field. So I have to bring all of my soil blocked seedlings in the car to my field and most of them survive just fine.
Jenny (31:40)
Great. So they're
much more resilient than I'm making it up in my head. Okay.
Sarah (31:45)
Yeah. Yeah.
Jenny (31:47)
Really cool. So tell us about the equipment that you use for your soil blocks.
Sarah (31:53)
Yeah, so I manufacture the soil blockers. They're made here in the UK from stainless steel, so they won't corrode or they won't get rusty. So it's an investment that will kind of last you forever if you decide to go down the soil blocking route. I do a smaller size, which I mean, I don't know how it's, I...
say how big they are in centimeters but you might have to convert that into... yeah
Jenny (32:26)
We can figure it out.
Sarah (32:29)
so those are 27 by 27 by 37 so they're kind of a relatively large block compared to the other blocks that are available here in the UK which is good for kind of moisture retention and allowing enough space for the plants to grow.
in them and then I do a larger size which is better for bigger and faster growing seeds like sunflowers and zinnias and that kind of thing. So yeah it's been a great adventure trying to get into the tool manufacturing world and it's kind of totally different to anything that I've ever experienced before but yeah it's been good.
Jenny (33:09)
I wouldn't even know where to get started with like, I mean, you'd have to like find a manufacturer like, I don't even know. I'm just glad that you're
Sarah (33:18)
I'm
Jenny (33:20)
doing it so the rest of us don't have to figure it out and we can just get stuff from you.
Sarah (33:24)
Yeah.
Jenny (33:28)
So there's other tools that you've kind of been experimenting with and everything, right? you know, earlier we kind of talked about how when you're starting,
a flower farm or you're starting a new field, you really do just need some bare bones basic things. However, the tools that we use I think are extremely important in terms of efficiency, making sure that it's all happening quickly and efficiently, and also for saving our bodies too. I am the world's biggest fan of upright weeding with a wire weeder or scuffle hose instead of just crawling around on your hands and knees grabbing things and pulling them out to help save.
our bodies because farming is so physical. And
Sarah (34:10)
Yeah.
Jenny (34:11)
I think the tools are just a huge asset when you have the right ones that makes the job so much easier. And I know that that's something that you're really involved in and you think about a lot. So what are some other tools that are your favorites or that you're looking into like developing or are interested in?
Sarah (34:31)
I love a hori hori knife for planting out. I think they're like, when I first came across hori hori knife, was like, wow, this is so, it's just so easy to plant out because you just like move in the soil, putting the plant in and it's done and dusted. So yeah, those are probably one of the most used things on the farm for planting, weeding and all sorts.
And then, I mean, the basic stuff that I have here is a wheelbarrow for moving stuff around with a rake for raking out the beds. I use a stirrup hoe to weed stuff with. I am actually, I've been trying to develop a tool over the last few months, which is like a gridding tool that you could roll over the bed, which marks out where to plant the plants.
Because I mean, when you're using weed membrane, you've got the pre-burned holes in the weed membrane, but I don't use weed membrane here on the farm. I think one of the biggest things that takes time is like measuring out the distance between the plants when you're trying to plant out. So I thought it'd be cool to have like a tool that you roll along the bed and it marks out where you need to plant. then, yeah, it's still in development, but I'm just trying to find a way for it to put quite kind of
quite definitive marks in the soil but haven't managed to achieve it yet so that one's one's still in the works. And then yeah I mean I don't think there's much else really that I use here on the farm, spade and a fork and that kind of thing so yeah pretty basic.
Jenny (36:14)
love it, love it. So how are you envisioning that you're gonna be selling flowers this season? Is it gonna be different from in the past or like relatively the same?
Sarah (36:26)
Well, to be honest, this year I haven't really thought deeply about how I'm going to sell the flowers because my income mainly comes from YouTube now. So there is a hub that's opened locally to me, which I'm thinking about selling into and it's a new hub and I'm really hoping that it's going to take off so that I can experiment with selling into that because it's not something that I've...
I've done before so it'd be good to get that experience. Because it needs to be easy for me because I have to spend a couple of days a week filming, editing and planning YouTube videos. So whichever route to market I use it has to be easy. I did farmers markets for the last few years and I did some last season as well but they're very time consuming and you have to spend a day.
preparing a day at the market and then you're of really tired the day after a market. I
Jenny (37:26)
Yes. Yeah.
Sarah (37:30)
don't think I've got time to do that unless I've got some help maybe, but I'm doing it on my own so far. So yeah, I'm hoping that selling via a hub is going to be the way to go this year. If not, I might kind of have a look at doing something different.
Jenny (37:51)
Yeah. So tell us a little bit about sort of redefining what success looks like for you right now with your business. Because I kind of want to come back to this idea that we've talked about, where you have your van, living van life, doing some traveling, that stuff that you're really passionate about. And I just really think that there is no singular
definition of success for flower farmers. Like if you just want to do this, like earn a few extra bucks on the side, doing something that you like great. If you want to do this as your career and you build this big company, like I think that's also great. And if you want to balance this with like travel, I think that's also amazing. And so.
Tell us about your perspective around moving forward with just setting up your lifestyle in a way that feels good to you and how your flower farm and your travels all fit together.
Sarah (38:51)
Yeah, so we were chatting about this before we started recording that I always liked traveling and wanted to travel. I never really got the opportunity to do it when I was younger because I went to university and then settled down and then started my flower farm. So I never really got chance to have the gap year or the travel experience that a lot of people do when they're younger. So I'm at a time in my life now where I'm kind of
at a crossroads and I've got the option to do it if I want because I don't have any ties. So I was thinking to myself that farming doesn't seem like the kind of career path that allows for traveling because it's kind of you have to be at a fixed location. But because I started the YouTube channel back in 2020, that's kind of the income from that has kind of given me the freedom to be flexible. And my farm
doesn't necessarily have to be productive for me to earn a good living. So obviously it helps. If I don't grow
Jenny (39:59)
Yeah.
Sarah (40:00)
in flowers this year, then the YouTube channel is not going to be very interesting to watch, but I'm growing the flowers just for producing the content this year. So yeah, in terms of like doing the traveling around that I did last year and visiting different flower farmers, that's kind of helped to...
add to, to, I've got to make money still, even though I live in a campervan, I've still got bills to pay. So it's, it's really good to know that just even setting up a new flower farm, I can earn money doing that and not just selling flowers. Cause if I, if I wasn't able to do the YouTube, then I would be really struggling right now. So yeah, it's been great to kind of reshape things the way that I want it to be.
So yeah, I never thought that I could combine farming and traveling, but I have managed to do it somehow. yeah.
Jenny (40:57)
I love that. Are there any places where you're really excited to go to this year?
Sarah (41:02)
This year I think I'll probably continue to travel around the UK. Last year I travelled to a lot of places that were kind of around London and around the more affluent places in the UK. So I would like to visit some farmers that are kind of living a little bit away from those affluent communities and finding out how they're making a living, how they're managing to sell their flowers and...
And I'd like to visit people who are just doing unique things like biodynamic farming and people who have got unusual crops and that kind of thing. I'm really interested to find out kind of just unusual and unique and interesting stories. That's what really is interesting to me.
Jenny (41:48)
Well, I think all of us who have watched your YouTube channel will be very interested to see where else you go and what other videos you make. Cause I think it's super valuable for people to just
get other perspectives and see what other people are doing out there. I've had quite a few students from the UK in our business program. And we always joke that we need to do a company road trip over to the UK to go visit all the farms.
Sarah (42:12)
You can just.
Jenny (42:13)
And I'm like, well, now I'm to have to just bunk with you. Tag along.
Sarah (42:16)
Yeah, yeah. That was great.
Jenny (42:20)
It would be so much fun. I would very much like to do that someday. But yeah.
We'll have to plan it, but anyhow,
Sarah (42:30)
you
Jenny (42:31)
Sarah, I just have one more question for you. If there is anything that you would tell either a flower farmer who's just kind of getting started or maybe if there's someone who's had to move their farm or their circumstances have changed or they are moving to a new place, like what would be your biggest piece of advice for anybody in that situation?
Sarah (42:57)
think that you don't necessarily need to go all in with all the expense of putting new infrastructure in. It can be done really cheaply. I think all you need is kind of an efficient layout so that you're not kind of walking around and doing too much. Like you said earlier on about looking after your body and that kind of thing. I think it's good to think about those things in terms of what you need as a
that there's basic necessities to get your farm started and not to look around too much at what other people are doing. I think it's good to take inspiration from people and look at how they're doing it and just pick up bits from all over the place, but not to look at anybody and think that they've got it nailed and you should copy what they're doing. I think that everybody's circumstances are so unique. It's good to kind of amalgamate everything and just
make it into your own thing and how it works for you. So whether it's like you said earlier on, making a full-time living from flower farming or doing it on the side, yeah, it's totally unique and just because you're doing it one way doesn't mean it's and somebody else is doing it another doesn't make anybody wrong.
Jenny (44:16)
Right. Everyone has their own unique situation and own things that they want to get out of their flower farm or their business and their life. And I don't think there's anything wrong with that. well, Sarah, I've absolutely loved hearing your perspective and your story and everything that you're doing new this year. It's been so cool to watch and follow. So can you just tell everyone that's listening where they can find you, follow you and will obviously tag or link your YouTube channel in the show notes of this episode too?
Sarah (44:46)
Yeah, so I guess if you just typed in Bloom and Grey on YouTube, you'd probably find me there. Same with Instagram, Facebook, TikTok. I'm on all of those platforms, so you'll find me there.
Jenny (45:00)
Awesome. Well, everyone should go follow Sarah because, first of all, she makes the most beautiful bouquets. the market bouquets that you make are so pretty with the white tissue paper and everything. I think they're gorgeous. And also really talented, cool flower farmer. It's got a lot going on you can learn from. So thanks so much for this conversation today, Sarah. It was such an honor to have you here.
Sarah (45:24)
Thank you Jenny and if you ever want to come and visit the UK then get in touch and we'll meet up.
Jenny (45:31)
OK, that's done. It's happening now because I want to
so bad. I'm also like a Harry Potter nerd. So I want to do like the, you know, the quintessential like go to all the Harry Potter filming places out there. want
Sarah (45:43)
Yeah.
Jenny (45:44)
to combine flower farming with that. That'd be like a dream trip for me. So I want
Sarah (45:46)
You
Jenny (45:50)
to make it happen. But thanks, everyone, for being here listening to another episode of the Six Figure Flower Farming Podcast. Don't forget, we publish new episodes every Monday. So we'll see you next week.
Same place. Bye for now.
