Are you thinking of adding a farm stand to your flower farming operation? In this blog post, I’ll go through my first-year experience, including some things that went well and what I’ll change next year. But first, a little background on why I chose to start a farm stand in the first place…
I decided to add a farm stand to my flower farming operation this year because I was looking for a way to get my flowers out into the world without attending a market or doing any extra out-of-the-house work. If you’re new here, I have four kids, three of whom are five and under, so it’s a busy household. Finding daycare for four children is not economical, plus it’s just hard to find someone willing to look after four kids!
With this flower farming experiment, I felt the odds of success were good. I have a reasonable social media following, and while I do live outside of the city, it’s only 10 minutes away, largely paved, and I’m very near a small town as well. We’re also located near a greenhouse that many people are familiar with, so I thought it shouldn’t be too hard to get people to our location.
However, I faced many challenges in this first year, and it really didn’t go as smoothly as I hoped.
I sold bouquets from $15 to $45 at the stand and stocked any extra farm eggs we had after feeding our family, hand-poured beeswax candles, and physical copies of my gardening books. I used the stand as a drop-off location for brides to pick up their flowers, as well. It was also lightly used for subscriptions if subscribers missed their pickup date or needed extra time to get their bouquets.
Now, onto the lessons I learned!
5 Lessons I Learned from Operating a First-Year Farm Stand
1. I didn’t have enough flowers (again!)
Despite starting an uncomfortable number of seedlings, which I thought surely should have left me with enough flowers for the year, it was not a great gardening year. I consistently found, week after week, that I only had enough flowers for my bouquet subscribers and that week’s weddings. I often found myself making bouquets with leftovers, and I think that leftover energy translated into people not being very excited about what I’d made.
2. There is such a thing as too much sun
We chose the location of the farm stand based on the rules of our rural municipality for where we could have it, plus where we thought it was the most accessible off the driveway. Especially for people with mobility limitations, we wanted the gentlest slope for them to get down.
So, unfortunately, the stand had to be placed in a location that received full direct sun every afternoon. Also, a great wind came and blew our stand over at the beginning of the season, so my husband put supports on the stand, which were very unaesthetic (but they did keep the stand from blowing over again!).
3. An address is an asset
I’m not certain if we’ll be able to get an address, but it is a big inconvenience when you have to send a location pin to customers instead of being able to tell them, “This is where I live!” This has probably been the most significant hurdle to overcome. Our road recently got a name, though, so I do have hope. However, I don’t know for sure if the rural municipality will give us a house number.
The other frustration when people drive to our property is that something about our driveway feels a bit hidden. I often see people in their vehicles drive past our house, see the other two acreages, and back up because they realize they missed it. Seeing as the stand is a bit tucked into the trees, people either miss it or aren’t expecting it.
4. Proper signage is key!
This one, I place all the blame squarely on myself. I should have made signs. But it was just one of those things that once the season got going, it was so busy, and it never happened. I think making more signs would also help with the pin trouble and not having an address.
I’m a little bit hesitant to put a ton of signage out, though, because I don’t want people randomly showing up and asking for a tour. I’d like to avoid feeling bad that I don’t really have the time and am not prepared.
5. I need to do more marketing
The marketing I did for my stand was minimal. Early in the season, I felt like I had a more consistent thing going that was starting to gain traction, but then, as I did more weddings and the season was underway, I lost all that momentum and only posted when I had something available. A consistent posting schedule where I shared what was available each week or weekend was much better. In 2025, I will commit to a more consistent posting schedule!
tldr: Having a farm stand was a good learning experience, I’m glad I did it, and I’ll definitely be open next year!
If you want to see what it was like to restock the farm stand, check out the video below:
If you liked this blog post, find me on Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram for more cold-climate vegetable gardening tips, delicious recipes, and cut flower goodness! I also make weekly videos over on my YouTube channel. I hope to see you there!
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