The Flower Farming Intensive Workshop (at the farm)

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Regular price £900.00 |  Save £-900.00 (Liquid error (sections/product-template line 176): divided by 0% off)

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Develop your flower farming skills with this intensive three day course.

If you are an experienced flower grower, perhaps already flower farming on a small scale, and want to take your flower growing and marketing to the next level then this is the workshop for you.

Spend three days with flower farmer, Georgie Newbery, at the famous Common Farm Flowers flower farm between Bruton and Wincanton in Somerset: three whole days to take a fresh look at growing, marketing, and floristry, a day devoted to each subject.

Day one is all about the flower farmer’s year. We’ll be outside in the fields most of the day, looking at how we schedule our growing, looking at soil management, bed preparation, feeding, watering. We’ll consider budgets, suppliers, when to order, when to take delivery. We’ll look at when it’s worth buying versus making. We’ll consider managing your time, your physical strength, your energy. Day one is all about growing.

Day two is all about marketing. How do you price? How do you make sure you make a profit? How do you make your financial year work? On day two we look at growing and harvesting versus sales and the time management required to make both work. If you don’t sell your flowers then what’s the point of growing them?

Day two is also about social media. There will be a whole section about how to make your social media marketing sing, how to link it up with your website, how to make your website easy for people to find, and easy for them to use. We’ll look at your blog, your newsletter, your website’s SEO and make sure everybody’s clear about how they can really transform your sales as well as your profile.

Day three is about floristry. In the morning we will all go round the garden cutting flowers from our patches. We’ll bring the flowers inside, and while they have a drink we’ll talk about conditioning, vase life, when to cut, how to look after the flowers you’ve grown, how to manage your customers’ expectations re the flowers you’ve grown. Will you use flower preserving chemicals? What kind of florist will you be or sell to? If you’re wholesaling it is very much worth working with the flowers as a designer, even if this is the only day you ever do it, because then you understand some of the challenges your customers face, and will be able to communicate much better with them, and supply them more exactly with what they’re looking for.

After three intensive days you’ll have had a serious look at what you grow, how your year works, how your cashflow and profit margins work: you’ll have a completely fresh approach to making the most of your social media, newsletter, blogging and your website itself; and you’ll have some fresh floristry skills to use in your own studio, or to help you understand how the florists you sell to work.

At the end of the third day, after we’ve dressed the barn as though for a party, we’ll have a celebration, because you’ll have worked hard, and have earned it.

This workshop is taught by Flower Farmer and Florist Georgie Newbery of Common Farm Flowers. Georgie has a very straightforward style, and after thirteen years of growing, harvesting and selling flowers for her on-line flower delivery service, supplying flowers for up to sixty weddings and events a year, and growing more for the many talks, demos and workshops she delivers, her knowledge and know how are invaluable to people who want to earn their living growing flowers for sale. In the thirteen years since Common Farm Flowers started selling sweet peas in small bunches from a barrow at the front of the house, the British flowers movement has exploded onto the scene. Georgie believes strongly in sharing all she knows because then we’ll all be better flower farmers, and the British flowers movement will go from strength to strength.

Limited spaces available - there will be a maximum of 10 people on the workshop.

The cost of the workshop includes all materials you will need to use on the day. All creations not made in vessels belonging to Common Farm can be taken home by the students at the end of each day. (You may wish to bring buckets or vases to transport your arrangements home in!) 

The workshop takes place between 10am-3pm at Common Farm, BA9 8HN.

The cost also includes lunch at a local farm shop, so please advise us of any food allergies / intolerances at the time of booking. Please bring any mid morning / afternoon snacks you might like. 

Please note that workshops at Common Farm Flowers take place in our studio barn, as well as out on the farm (where there is no cover!) Please wear clothes suitable for the weather (layers, waterproof clothes) and bring shoes / boots that are designed to walk on rough grassy paths. Even on a sunny day, flip flops and sandals aren't advised and we suggest long trousers where possible, due to the risk of ticks. A sun hat and sun protection are also advised, as we can't always stand in the shade. 

Nearby Bruton and Wincanton are full of lovely places to stay to suit every budget if you wanted to stay nearby – see our links page for good ideas

Please note: 

When booking a workshop place, our website will force you to choose a delivery date. Please choose any random date - we will know what workshop you want to join regardless of the delivery date! 

Also note that we will be in touch a few days before the workshop with your joining instructions. If you’ve not received this email 48 hours beforehand please email nicola@commonfarmflowers.com but do please first check your junk / spam items and make sure you are checking the inbox of the email address you used to book your place. 

Eco friendly flower farming at Common Farm Flowers

Eco friendly flower farming at Common Farm Flowers

Our eco-friendly ethosRead more

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Flower subscriptions from common farm flowers

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