Flower Subscriptions; A LOVE Story
CSAs (also known as flower subscriptions) have been the backbone of my farm since 2020. I wouldn’t be the grower I am today without my loyal subscription members. The farm exists because of them and each year our subscription members continue to help it function! I have so much gratitude for all my customers, but CSA members have a little piece of my heart.
First off, let's talk about what a CSA is… CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. Investing in a CSA means you are investing in the future of a family and their farm. The purpose of a CSA is to connect the consumer to the producer. When you invest in your flower subscription during the “off season”, you are helping pay for supplies needed to grow beautiful flowers during the growing season. In return, you get a weekly or biweekly share of the harvest. As you will find out, harvests can be very different from week to week and even day to day. The variety of what is blooming and growing each week is my favorite part about being a grower.
There are a lot of expenses for most small farmers during the “off season” which runs typically from October until the spring. During this time I am purchasing loads of compost and topsoil, seeds, tubers, bulbs, corms, and paying for all our baby plants. Other expenses often pop up such as tool or lumber needs, pest management systems, and watering equipment, right on down to clippers, buckets, and labor to help plant and grow the flowers. It can be quite a lot during a time when there isn’t much blooming.
So why do we love our CSA members so much? It’s because their purchase is a belief in our farm! Paying for something that you might not receive for another 6-8 months is an amazing vote of confidence in me and my ability to grow a BEAUTIFUL product. I love that my members are along for the ride of the season too! One of my favorite elements is seeing the progression of blooms from July through September. It starts with zinnias, feverfew,and happy rudbeckia, then we see gorgeous and long lasting lisianthus, adorable blue tweedia, and spunky gomphrena, and later summer brings in boatloads of glorious dahlias and fragrant eucalyptus. My goal is to always grow something new and unexpected each season as well. We grow over 100 different cultivars of flowers and I like to give my CSA members a little taste of it all! Buying a product without knowing exactly what you’ll get is a bit different from the norm, but I hope you find it exciting and fun!!
The added bonus to purchasing subscriptions for our farm is that we have created an amazing ecosystem of native pollinator species. We don’t just love our honey bees and monarchs here! This farm supports TONS of native bees, wasps, beetles, and microbes that are so good for our gardens. We grow all of our gorgeous flowers without using chemicals, pesticides or insecticides, and we feed the soil good stuff as much as we can. Essentially, your flower purchase is just as good for the land as it is for your spirit! We hope all of the blooms you receive bring you as much joy as it does them…and me! If you are ever interested in seeing species you’ve never seen before, come out to the farm during the heat of the day and watch the native pollinators in action; it’s absolutely wild!!
CSA bouquets are the only way to ensure you will get weekly or biweekly flowers from our farm in the summers, as we pack our schedule pretty tight. They are a wonderful way to bring some joy into your home, learn and touch and smell interesting new flowers and foliage, and they also make an amazing gift to give to others. Whether you buy a subscription for yourself, to share with a family member, or to give away to clients, a bouquet of flowers is always a welcome site that is also good for the earth!
2024 Summer Flower Subscriptions are located for pick up in the following communities: Addison/Manitou Beach, Brooklyn, Morenci and Hudson. We do a weekly subscription (12 bouquets) in Addison at the Sandbar Cafe, and bi-monthly (6 bouquets) at the other locations. To check to see if flower subscriptions are something you’d be interested in purchasing, please click HERE to be redirected to our shop. Bouquet subscriptions tend to sell out and are limited to only 15 members per location, in order to insure the best bouquets for everyone!
Thank you from the bottom of my heart to former and current members and I can’t wait to show you what is in store for the 2024 flower season! It’s going to be a good one!
XO, Dana
