Volunteer at this flower farm
We sadly wave goodbye to our lovely volunteer Suzy. She's been coming here once a week for a day since March, and has been a keen and enthusiastic member of the team, ready to turn her hand to any job of the day, from clearing poly tunnels, planting out seedlings, sorting the dahlias, planting gladioli bulbs, to washing buckets, harvesting flowers, and learning how to make the classic Common Farm Flowers hand tied bouquets and posies for sending by courier.
I hope she's learned a lot and is off on her next adventure filled with confidence and useful experience. She's taken a job at the Bishop's Palace Garden in Wells, an RHS affiliated garden with twelve acres of beauty needing taking care of. I know she'll be a hugely positive addition to their team and wish her all good things going forward.
But her leaving has left us with a gap. And I often get people asking if we take volunteers, so here I am saying we're ready to take on another.
Why volunteer on a flower farm? Well people come to us for all sorts of reasons: a love of gardening and being out doors is understood, but in this neck of the wilder reaches of Somerset, people generally have some outside space of their own, and there's plenty of countryside to walk in. So it's not really just the gardening and the outdoors which are the draw. Often people come to us because they're in a position to give themselves a bit of a break. They might be considering a career change, or circumstances are allowing them to do something purely for their own enjoyment for a while.
Volunteering here at Common Farm Flowers between Bruton and Wincanton in Somerset does not involve turning up when you feel like it and having a mooch. We don't have time to entertain people like that. We need people to commit to one day a week, and in return we will save for them a variety of jobs which show them really how a flower farm like this functions. They'll learn all sorts of gardening skills, from the mundane and repetitive, to the exciting (well, I'm a gardener, so there are some things I think are exciting which others might not find so thrilling... but I assume people who like to volunteer on a flower farm are a little bit like me on the excitement front.) Sooner or later you'll graduate from bucket washing to harvesting flowers and eventually a little floristry. Don't apply if you think you'll walk in and be playing with flowers all day. Do apply if you're interested in the whole process of growing flowers for pleasure and profit, and would like to know more.
Our last two volunteers then have graduated to jobs at Chalice Wells in Glastonbury and the Bishop's Palace Garden in Wells, so while we offer no formal qualification, we know that the practical work people achieve here certainly inspires them on to greater things.
Would you like to volunteer a day a week at this flower farm?
In return for giving you wide experience with all our horticultural practice as well as some floristry training, we ask you to promise us: one regular day a week, hours generally around 9 to 3pm. We save jobs for you, so we need to to turn up when you say you will. You need to live not too far away (I feel guilty about people spending money on petrol to get here,) bring your own lunch, not mind dogs, have your own wellies, sun hat, rain coat and other suitable clothing, and be in charge of your own sun cream application. We supply very high end coffee and gardening gloves and all the tools you need.
So if you think you'd like a day a week at our flower farm do give us a ring on 01963 32883, or email me, Georgie, at georgie@commonfarmflowers.com.
The picture above includes two of our most treasured volunteers, Andrew and Lorraine. They arrive from far away when we have extra big dos to create for. They have been coming for YEARS! (HURRAY!) and they make the dream team.