I live in a very rural town in Northeastern Connecticut that does not have a stop light, or a gas station. But there are plenty of small business owners like me, and we recently had three flower farms open! I may have a bit of a problem, as I cannot resist a beautiful bouquet of flowers to enjoy in my home and even possibly paint on a canvas!
Being a small business owner myself I know the importance of being seen. And since I have been lucky to have others help me, I enjoy paying it forward myself. You can help these flower farms by “liking” their pages, or better yet treating yourself to a bouquet! These flowers were painstakingly planted, watered, and nurtured by someone following a dream. They were handpicked, the stems cleaned of leaves, and then color coordinated in bouquets for you to enjoy. Can you appreciate the time it takes for them to do that? And honestly many of the flowers in these bouquets I have not seen in box stores. When is the last time you treated yourself to flowers? Or if you are married you can earn big points bringing home some of these lovely blooms to your spouse! Hint, Hint.
Worried about paying for them? Don’t! Many have cash boxes on site, or venmo accounts so you can easily pay for these lovely bouquets.
So if you are local, here are some flower farms that would be grateful for your support.
Sterling Organic Farm
Sterling Organic Farm-Owner Zoe Madden Farmstand address is 1080 Plainfield Pike, Oneco, CT.
Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/SterlingOrganic
This flower farm started out as a mostly vegetable farm. Zoe Madden bought an existing organic farm when the original owner sadly passed away. She recently added flowers to her offerings and provides pesticide free blooms for weddings of all sizes. She specializes in dahlias, zinnias and eucalyptus, but also offers tulips, ranunculus and sunflowers. As you can see in the photos, I got a lovely bouquet of ranunculus this spring! In addition to wedding flowers and bouquets, the organic farm also offers flower share subscriptions. Subscriptions are when you pre-pay and sign up to receive weekly flower bouquets. In addition to all that she also offers bouquets in her roadside farm stand on holidays such as Easter, Mother’s Day and days that she has excess flowers to sell. You can also message her to ask for a specific bouquet, which is what I did, and she will message you back when it is ready. Zoe is proud to grow plants that help bees, butterflies and other pollinators.
as well as a photo of her greenhouse.
Birch Ledge Flower Farm
Birch Ledge Flower Farm- Owners Brian and Kathryn Torrence Farmstand located at 875 Plainfield Pike, Sterling CT.
Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/birchledgefarmco/
I am trying hard not to have a favorite, but it is tough as I pass this one daily, and while I was gathering photos for this blog, I realized I may be this farm’s best customer. Honestly, they ALL offer beautiful and different flowers, it’s just I see this one as I drive by, and it draws me in like the tractor beam on a star destroyer. (That is a Star Wars reference for those of you that do not recognize it) Bouquets are wrapped in thick brown paper and stamped with their logo, I have a hard time taking them out of that paper, I love it so much.
This flower farm was founded in 2021 and at first the flowers were just grown for family and friends. However, they enjoyed it so much, as I am sure their family did as well, that they decided to expand! In 2022 they started selling to the public and taking special orders, selling wholesale to florists, while stocking their farm stand. Plans for 2023 are to do all the already mentioned and to expand to subscriptions that subscribers will pick up at their farm. (CSA) Both Brian and Kathryn love the outdoors and would love to run their business full-time one day. They love seeing the joy their flowers bring and want to bring the positive out in what can be such a negative world, and what better way to do that than with farm-fresh flowers.
Peterson Patch Cut Flowers
Peterson Patch Cut Flowers- Owner Tara Peterson
Last but definitely not least is the Peterson Patch Flower farm on Margaret Henry.
The Petersons have lived in Sterling since 2018, Tara primarily managing the farm herself, with some help from her husband. Tara works as NFA’S high school nurse but has summers off to be a full-time flower farmer. She grows everything from seed, tuber, or bulb/corms in addition to having some perennials. Her favorite flowers are dahlias, of which she grows over 150 varieties! Wow! She is planning on increasing her tulip and ranunculus varieties for spring. If that is not enough, she also grows 120 varieties of annuals. In addition to her roadside stand, she can be found at the Voluntown Farmers Market every Sunday and will take special orders as well. She grows her flowers in an environmentally friendly manner uses organic pest controls, and also makes her own compost as much as possible.
I have found this farmstand is just as beautiful as the others and is a bit different as her lovely bouquets are in glass jars. So, Tara has already arranged her stunning blooms for you, all you have to do is stop and pick a jar of loveliness to bring home!
All of the flower farms above are all a little different in their own way and are wonderful as well as their owners. All are working hard planting, nurturing, then carefully harvesting their colorful blooms in hopes that you will enjoy them as much as they enjoyed taking care of them. I tried to include photos of their actual farms so you could see the hard work they do to bring you your beautiful flowers.
All these farmers are following a dream of having their own business. Where would we be as a world without people following a dream? I know the world would be a much different place that is for sure.
It costs nothing to like their page, and share their posts, so please consider doing so to help them. And better yet, purchase some flowers to treat yourself or a loved one! I can tell you that the farmers will be very grateful, and you may be too if you have fresh, colorful flowers in your home. I know I love it!
Art and Musings by Marnie 