October 2021 News

I feel as though this newsletter should read, MISSION STATEMENT! 

It may not have appeared so over the years, but we have always had a plan here at Common Farm, and while the plan may change from time to time, we are not dawdling along being pushed wherever the weather takes us.  Oh no!  There is an objective.  And we seem to have achieved one of them!

You may remember that back in May this year we made a huge leap and stopped delivering flowers further than our local area.  This has been hugely successful as our local market for flowers is greedy for our stock, and mostly happy to collect from us here at the farm.  This means that the carbon footprint of Common Farm Flowers, both in packaging and delivery has dropped dramatically.  So thank you to all our lovely local customers for being so enthusiastic, and making the most of our freshly decorated new click and collect point, (our French blue front porch!)

Now we are leaping into another unknown and becoming something I’ve always wanted to be: between the equinox florists.  This means that we are going to supply our own flowers really only between the end of March and the end of September, when our gardens are bursting with blooms, and, again, cutting our carbon footprint further. 

Of course we will still slip in occasional floral fancies through the winter – especially for our regular locals who love a house full of flowers for the weekend, but unless it’s a special, bespoke kind of situation, we won’t be doing our regular bouquets from now until next April.

We are doing a limited number of Christmas wreaths, and in the spirit of encouraging anyone with a damp corner to grow willow, our withy bundles are now available to order, for delivery towards the end of November.  And of course, our popular wreath workshops are available to book so that I can teach you to make your own.

It is not just for ‘green’ reasons that we are stopping doing flowers in the winter. 

Common Farm Flowers is very much a ‘lifestyle’ business, and, as with all ‘lifestyle’ businesses, it’s important that the business supports the life, and that the life isn’t sacrificed to the business (yes, I do run a workshop on how to create a ‘lifestyle’ business that suits you.) 

Please do not think for a second that I plan to spend the winter lying about on a sofa being fed grapes. Bah, non!  I hope to be as productive as ever starting with a couple of big writing projects, and moving on to much in the way of updating the infrastructure on the flower farm so that we’re ready with all those thousands of stems for you next spring, whether you like to order flowers already arranged, or mixed buckets to arrange yourself, or you’d like to come on one of our many on-the-farm workshops which happen through the spring, summer and through the early autumn. 

One of the reasons I’ve been able to make the leap from supplying flowers year round to focusing on the summer months is the support we’ve had through followers on YouTube and Instagram. 

We hit the happy milestone of 30,000 followers on Instagram last weekend, and, having only really begun to play with YouTube in mid May, are already finding that YouTube is a fun and engaging place with a whole new audience we’re enjoying getting to know. 

I really appreciate that coming to in-house workshops here at Common Farm is not possible for everyone, so it’s great to be able to put some content out there which will help people on their flowery journeys, wherever they’re going.  Of course booking an online or in-person workshop here gives you step by step, detailed sessions with notes and recordings and plenty of opportunity for questions – and I don’t cover any of the information I cover in my workshops in online live sessions or YouTube clips. 

However my Instagram ‘lives,’ about a topical garden or flower farming or floristry question, a question more often than not suggested by a subscriber, and the YouTube clips about what’s going on in the garden, or what I’m creating in the studio on any given day are fun, popular, and people are being very generous supporting them by buying coffees (Not real coffees!  There’s a link through which you can make a small contribution to thank for the free tips and tricks included in the chat.).

I love that this is a way I can share so much information for free because, as you all know, my mission really is that we all save the world one flower at a time, so if I can help us do it, then I will.  Because flowers aren’t just for floristry: oh no, flowers are food, and if we look after the invertebrates, then the rest of the food chain will look after itself.

So happy gardening one and all – I’d best get on!  I’ll see you soon!  Happy digging! xxx

Of course the on-line workshops happen year round, are good value, and all of these make EXCELLENT Christmas presents.