More Advice for First-Year Flower Farmers, Dreamers & Beyond

As the last of the evergreen sprigs are swept off the floor from holiday sales, I finally feel like I can collapse into the calmness of these quiet winter days. With daylight hours still dwindling, I find this the perfect time to reflect on the past season.

Completing our eighth season of flower farming, I feel more nostalgic than ever. Maybe it’s because my little girls are suddenly “tweens,” or perhaps it’s the satisfaction of revisiting long-abandoned projects I had almost given up hope on. Either way, I find myself revisiting the early days of my flower farming journey.

Years ago, I wrote a blog called Advice for First-Year Flower Farmers and Dreamers, sharing what I would tell my first-year self as a mom of young children diving into this world. To my surprise, it resonated with so many of you, with nearly 40,000 visits over the years. The comments and emails from fellow flower farmers and dreamers struggling to find their footing have been incredibly humbling.

Now, with even more lessons under my belt, and a growing influx of readers diving into flower farming, I felt it was time to share some new insights and encouragement for first-year farmers and beyond. Let’s dive in.

Kindness, Patience, and Embracing Your Loved Ones

I did something I usually avoid: I went back and read my old blog. For the record, I don’t enjoy reading my blogs or watching myself on video. There, I said it! But as I read through the typos and all (sorry about those…), it felt a bit like visiting an old friend.

After reading it, I realized that blog is still as relevant as ever. So, if you’re standing at an emotional fork in the road on your flower farming journey, I encourage you to take a peek.

That post emphasized three key practices:
Kindness.
Patience.
Embracing.

These are lessons I find myself revisiting often. It’s so important to be kind to yourself, patient with the process, and to embrace your loved ones. This isn’t just advice for first-year flower farmers—it’s wisdom for life.

Since writing that first blog, I’ve learned just how fleeting these moments with loved ones can be. One of my biggest supporters, who helped me plant gladiolas despite her back pain, brought me snacks during long market days, and was my shoulder to cry on, is no longer here. Not a day goes by when I wouldn’t give anything to be in her embrace again. But when I had the chance, I was too busy building my dream.

That’s a hard truth to swallow. It might not have been entirely avoidable, but it’s a reminder that this journey is as much about living as it is about farming.

Which brings me to my first piece of added advice:

Advice #1: Be the Tortoise, Not the Hare

Flower farming is a marathon, not a sprint. Take your time. Slow down.

Just because you can take something on doesn’t mean you should—and just because it worked for a time doesn’t mean you can’t let it go later. No, I’m not saying to abandon your flower farming dream, but I am talking about being intentional with your sales outlets and offerings.

For years, we hustled. You know the idea of “making hay while the sun shines”? Well, we took that to a whole new level. At one point, we were offering:

• A 24-week bouquet subscription

• A 24-week vegetable CSA with two size options, plus bouquet add-ons

• A la carte weddings

• Bulk bucket weddings

• Full-service weddings

• Dried flowers

• Forced bulb kits

• Holiday wreaths

• Workshops

• Pop-ups and farmer’s market sales

• Home deliveries and five pickup locations across four towns

• Business accounts and wholesale

• Dahlia tuber sales

On top of that, we were writing blogs, hosting livestreams, making videos, and taking photos—all while managing another full-time business that was also in growth mode.

Time was flying, and our girls were growing too fast for us to keep up. Life became entirely out of control.

We were finding success—but at what cost?

I reached a breaking point during a season when I felt like I quit flower farming at least once a week (in my head, anyway). Determination and grit were no longer enough to carry us through. Burnout had set in.

We realized we needed to slow down. Constantly playing the role of the hare was depleting us.

It’s easy to get caught in the loop of tasks, to suddenly find your dream running you. Ironically, we knew better. But in the thick of building our dream, we got sucked in.

There comes a phase in your flower farming journey when you need to figure out what products or services work best for your business and your life. This involves a period of trial and error as you test different offerings. The challenge comes when you start finding “success” in everything. How do you know what to let go of? Does it really take every piece of the puzzle to create that “success”?

You might think juggling it all is worth it. Maybe you’re finding yourself profitable and feel the need to keep every iron in the fire. But if you’re starting to burn out, it’s time to re-evaluate—and that leads to my second piece of advice.

Advice #2: Hiring Help Isn’t Always the Solution

Our business was profitable. We were doing great—but we were breaking down under the immense workload. We were ambitious. Graham still had his full-time accounting career, which carried its own demands on his time and energy.

Looking at the numbers for Sierra Flower Farm, we decided hiring an employee seemed like a viable solution.

I want to tread lightly here because we had some truly amazing employees. During a time when my spirit felt diminished, they lifted me up and helped carry us through. I’ll always think of them as adopted family. This isn’t about the people who worked shoulder-to-shoulder with us—it’s about our business not being ready for what we thought hiring would bring.

The numbers said we could afford it, but the reality was… we weren’t ready.

We had hoped hiring employees would “buy back” some of our time, but it didn’t. Instead, we found ourselves spending more time managing, training, and keeping everything on track. Adding extra hands didn’t solve the underlying problem: we needed to better focus on our most profitable offerings.

The solution wasn’t hiring more help—it was simplifying, scaling back, and letting go of the “what-ifs.” That’s what ultimately allowed us to grow profits and regain control of our time.

This realization leads me to my final piece of advice…

Advice #3: Letting Go of the “What Ifs”

At one point, our business became a runaway train. We were so focused on building a “successful” flower farm that we didn’t stop to assess if it was sustainable. When we finally hit a breaking point, we had to go back to the drawing board. Scaling back wasn’t easy—it required deep reflection, tough conversations, and a lot of hard choices—but it was necessary.

One of the first changes we made was trimming the fat in our offerings. We started growing more volume of fewer varieties, focusing on our most profitable crops: dahlias, ranunculus, and sweet peas. We also cut out vegetable shares, which were time-intensive and not as rewarding financially. For example, a single wholesale dahlia stem often made us more money than an entire bunch of radishes that required weekly sowing, harvesting, and washing.

Another big change was reducing the complexity of our pickups and deliveries. We consolidated to three pickup locations and eliminated home deliveries entirely. This allowed us to save on fuel, time, and logistics—and say goodbye to playing DoorDash driver!

We also made physical investments, like using weed cloth to tackle rampant weeds. It wasn’t a cure-all, but it drastically reduced our workload, making it a one-time expense that paid off quickly compared to the cost of hiring extra help.

On the wedding side, we limited the number of à la carte weddings we take on and removed the bulk-bucket options altogether. By focusing primarily on full-service weddings, we’re able to collaborate more deeply with brides and grooms—something Graham and I both love—while also maximizing profitability. Narrowing our focus has allowed us to balance the creative side of floristry with a more manageable workload.

Finally, we took an even bigger leap: shortening our season. Instead of starting early and stretching ourselves thin, we reduced our bouquet subscription from 24 weeks to a manageable 14 weeks. This allowed us to focus on delivering high-quality blooms and eliminated the stress of late or early frosts. The result? Our best season yet, with consistent deliveries, happier members, and less burnout.

By letting go of the “what-ifs” and scaling back, we found a way to make our business work for us—not the other way around. It gave us more time for our family, more energy to grow beautiful flowers, and the freedom to truly enjoy the journey.

Redefining Success in Flower Farming

After reading all this, you might wonder if I’ve fallen out of love with flower farming. The answer is both yes and no. I’ve moved past the puppy-love phase and into a deeper, more intentional relationship with my business. It’s not all rainbows and butterflies, but I love what I do more than ever.

At some point, my business became a living, breathing beast that needed taming. You hear people say, “Run your business, don’t let it run you,” but it’s hard to grasp until you’re in the trenches—juggling investments, customers, and your time. Business is not supposed to be personal, but when you pour your heart and soul into it, it becomes deeply personal. Its failures feel like your failures. Its successes feel like your successes.

But what does success even mean?

Many flower farmers, influencers, and courses will try to define it for you. But true success? That’s something only you can determine.

From the outside, our business looked successful—and, to be fair, it was. But it had the potential to be so much more: more manageable, more profitable, and more aligned with the life we wanted.

One thing that irks me is when people talk about profits but really mean gross revenue. (Here’s where my accounting background kicks in!) Gross revenue is simply your total sales before expenses. Saying you made $100,000 in sales doesn’t mean much without context. It doesn’t reveal what it cost—not just financially, but in terms of time, energy, and sacrifices—to achieve that number.

For example, in 2022, we had higher gross revenue than in 2023. Does that mean 2022 was more successful? Not at all. In 2023, we made less in gross revenue but were significantly more profitable. And for the first time in four years, we had both the time and resources to revisit abandoned projects we thought we’d never get back to.

Still, profitability wasn’t the only factor that improved our lives. Slowing down and reprioritizing played a huge role, too.

We snuck in multiple vacations to visit loved ones out of state. We went hiking, played miniature golf, and enjoyed slow, snuggly moments with our girls throughout the season. The guilt and panic of “not doing enough” finally began to fade.

We scaled back, stopped saying “yes” to everyone, and discovered results like no other.

For me, success isn’t about hitting an arbitrary number or working myself into the ground. It’s about doing what I love every day—being the caretaker of our fields, sharing beauty through flowers, and creating art with blooms—while still being a mom, wife, daughter, and friend. It’s about balancing dirt-stained hands with moments of self-care, like getting my hair done or painting my nails (even if the polish chips off by the end of the day). When I take better care of myself, I’m better equipped to care for the plants and people around me.

Driving yourself into the ground isn’t the path to success. It may feel rewarding in the short term, but eventually, it will wear you down. Maybe you’re there now, wondering if flower farming is the solution to your current struggles. Whether you’re looking for an outlet from a passionless job or need something just for you while raising kids, flower farming absolutely can be the answer—it was for me.

But perhaps you’re beyond the honeymoon phase and struggling to reignite your passion. Like any big endeavor, especially owning a business, flower farming has its pitfalls if you’re not careful.

Success doesn’t look the same for everyone. What I need from my flower farming business might not be what you need from yours. Our stories, circumstances, and goals are all unique. Where you are today is likely different from where you’ll be in a few years, and what feels like “success” in your first year of farming will probably evolve by year three.

The beauty of this journey is that you get to define success for yourself.

Dream Big, but Don’t Forget to Reassess

Flower farming is a path less traveled, made for adventurers, nurturers, creatives—and sometimes, for the brokenhearted. It’s a journey of twists and turns, steep inclines, and humbling declines. It changes you, evolves with you, and challenges you to grow.

Don’t give up.

Reassess, reevaluate, and adapt as needed. But if your heart belongs to flower farming, hold onto it tightly.

Take the time to pause and reflect on your definition of success—what it means for both your life and your business. If you feel like you’re drowning, it’s okay to scale back. Shorten your season if you need to. Say “no” more often. It’s not only okay; it’s essential. And if you ever feel lost, go back and reread the list of everything we were offering earlier in this blog. Let it remind you that scaling back doesn’t mean giving up—it means building a business that serves you, not the other way around.

Don’t let your dream deteriorate into a nightmare. But also, don’t let the fear of failure stop you from dreaming big.

We are looking forward to sharing more blooms with you soon.

Jessica & Graham