Not long ago, if you would have asked me about where the majority of cut flowers came from and how they were produced, I couldn’t have told you, and this is true for most people who buy flowers. This has changed in the past year, as I’ve learned much more about the commercial cut flower industry and where all of my favorite blooms start out. As it turns out, most of them make quite the journey before they end up on our dining room table!
Approximately 80-percent of the cut flowers in this country are imported. That’s quite a lot when you think about it! The majority of imported flowers travel thousands of miles before they reach our home, which means that they often arrive to the consumer a week or more after they’ve been harvested. This is sometimes evident when you purchase them. Ever go to grab a bouquet in the grocery store only to notice that the roses are starting to brown around the edges or a couple of petals have fallen off the daisies already? Because these flowers were harvested so long ago, it's difficult to maintain freshness by the time they’re picked, shipped, stored, displayed at the store, and then finally, purchased.
Unfortunately, imported flowers have a large carbon footprint as well. A good portion of them are grown in South America, so it takes a tremendous amount of resources to transport, refrigerate, and store them. Locally grown flowers often reach the customer a day or two (or less!) after they’re harvested, so in addition to having a low carbon footprint, the flowers are a whole lot more fresh and will last longer too!
Additionally, many conventionally grown, imported flowers are produced with the use of numerous pesticides and sprays, which isn’t all that good for our earth. When we decided that we were going to start a flower farm, we knew that we wanted to grow our flowers in a way that is healthy for our family and also good for the land. Our compost comes from Morgan’s Composting, a sustainable, organic, Michigan-based company. While we’re not a certified organic farm, we have adopted many organic growing practices because farming this way is important to us. And when you have children and pets, you don’t want to have to worry about them coming in contact with harmful chemicals, so it's something we obviously want to avoid. So you can feel safe about burying your face in one of our bouquets--the only thing you’ll be breathing in is the smell of fresh-cut flowers!
Perhaps one of the best things about purchasing local flowers though, is that you’re supporting a local business in your community. And we like to think that when local businesses thrive, so does the community as a whole.
We’re extremely proud to be selling locally grown, seasonal flowers and to be able to share them with you!