Hello again,
and welcome back to the slow flowers podcast with Deborah printing.
This is episode 576.
This is the weekly podcast about slow flowers and the people who grow
and design with them.
It's all about making a conscious choice and I invite you to join the
conversation and the creative community.
As we discuss the vital topics of saving our domestic flower farms and
supporting a floral industry that relies on a safe, seasonal,
and local supply of flowers and foliage.
This show is brought to you by slow flowers.com.
The free online directory to more than 850 Flos shops and
studios who design with local seasonal and sustainable flowers and to the
farms that grow those blooms is the conscious choice for buying and sending
flowers. And thank you to our lead sponsor. Farm grow flowers,
farm grow flowers delivers iconic burlap wrap bouquets and lush abundant
arrangements to customers across the us supporting us flower farms
by purchasing more than 10 million of us grown fresh and seasonal
flowers and foliage annually. Discover more@farmgrowflowers.com.
Thank you to Longfield gardens,
which provides home gardeners with high quality flower bulbs and perennials.
Their online store offers plants for every region and every season from
tulips and daffodils to dahlias caladiums and Amarillo's check out the full
catalog@longfieldgardens.com while
today's episode has been a longtime coming.
I first met Rita and Mike Williams owners of Wilmore farms,
flowers based in meadow, Georgia.
When the low country flower growers invited me to speak at their Southern flower
symposium back in August of 2018,
the conference took place in Charleston, South Carolina and Rita,
and Mike arrived by motorcycle a more than a 150 mile trip.
So that impressed me in let me know they were the cool kids.
Theirs is a family owned agricultural enterprise rooted deep in history.
Wilmore farms is based on land that has been on Rita's side for nine
generations. You'll hear more about that in our conversation,
as well as how what's started as a hobby farm has grown into a
diversified, viable and sustainable operation day in and day out.
Wilmore farms, always tags, slow flower society on social media,
ensuring that we stop and check out their beautiful flowers that they grow and
sell. It gives me a good sense about what they're doing,
and I always feel connected to these long time slow flowers members launched in
2015.
Wilmore farms takes its name from Mike's surname Williams and Rita's
maiden name Morgan with four children.
This is truly a multi-generational project that you'll find inspiring.
We recorded this conversation in mid August,
and I loved seeing rows of all the delicious blooms on our virtual tour,
as well as some of the farming techniques and efficiencies they have developed
through trial and error.
Let's jump right in and get started and meet Rita and Mike Williams.
Hi everybody.
I am so excited to introduce Rita and Mike Williams of Wilmore
farms. And they're gonna give us a little tour today,
so I'm gonna turn it over to Rita and Mike they're in their you're in your golf
cart, right?
Yes.
Okay. Well welcome. And thanks so much for joining me.
We haven't seen each other in person since like when was I in the south 2017 or
so.
Uh, yes. Over at, um, in South Carolina at, um,
the low country growers, their symposium.
Yes. The Southern flower symposium that,
and you guys rode your MI your motorcycle bike there, right?
yes, we did. .
I was so impressed with that.
.
Okay. Well, give everyone a little introduction.
You said you had a little bit of a disclaimer,
which I think every flower farmer who's listening to this will love you more for
what you wanna say. cause you teased it.
Um, well I'm Rita Williams and my husband Mike Williams,
and along with our four children, we are Wilmore farms, flowers. Um,
and so before we start the farm tour,
I always say this when people visit the farm is no judgment.
You can't pass any judgment. Um, we, um,
have four children and life just happens to us. Um, uh,
we didn't go into any debt, um, for, with the flower farm.
So because of that, we just used what was here. This is my grandparents' farm.
And so we still use a lot of their old, um, equipment and gates and,
um, and we just make due with what we have. So, um, it's not pretty at all.
um, but it's functional and it works for us, but I just wanted to,
to throw that out there.
okay. Well, does she do that all the time, Mike?
Yes.
It's sort of the corresponding to me as a gardener, the corresponding, uh,
apology is, it looks so great last week,
but I just haven't had time to weed this week. So.
Yeah.
Well I guess like you said, everybody can say that, I.
Guess. Well, and the other thing I need to say before we start is, um,
we cut and made bouquets for whole foods today. And so the fields are, um,
are not as abundant as they were this morning. Um, but, um,
well we have got things in all different stages.
So the flower farmers that are out there will, will understand for sure.
Absolutely. We don't wanna see color in the field. We wanna see money in your,
in your wallet. That's.
Right. That's.
Right. Yes. We do have color in the cooler so we can show you.
Yeah. We'll show you the cooler.
OK. So tell me where met is,
is that how you pronounce it met Georgia where you are in Georgia?
Um, we are we're, um, uh, Southeast Georgia. Um,
we're about an hour or so from Savannah. Okay. West of Savannah.
Okay. Okay, great. Um, well,
are you gonna drive around or what can you show us from where you.
Are? Probably let, we'll probably walk.
Okay. Walk.
Think, um.
Now we recording, we're recording this at 7:00 PM your time. Correct. What,
what's the weather like right now?
So we're actually believe it or not in a, um,
a little cold spell for us, um, which is kind of ridiculous. Um,
uh, we were, um, low eighties in the, in the mornings have been sixties.
So right now thinking mid seventies, probably. Um,
so it's actually very pleasant, which is not typical for us.
It's pleasant for mid-August for sure.
Yes. And pleasant for the farmers and the flowers probably. Yeah.
So I hope I am video and I'm having kind of some issues as far as showing you
what I wanna show you. Okay. Do you see the white, um, uh.
Row cover there? Blue.
There?
Yes. Yes.
Okay. So let, let me, um, talk about this and,
and I will actually send a little video for the show notes. Um, we use, um,
uh, this, um, biodegradable mulch, um, as a weed barrier. Um,
and, um, we use it behind the tractor and, um,
it has been so wonderful for us. Um, not everything gets planted in it. Um,
but most everything does, um, um, sunflowers. Um,
a lot of times we don't just because, um,
we grow so many sunflowers and we're in a hurry,
but the things that are gonna last longer, um, not our one hit wonders,
what we call them, um, gets planted in that.
And that has really saved our labor tremendously.
I've never heard of biodegradable row cover, is it, um,
is it kind of just like a, a plastic type of material, but it, it breaks down.
It is it's corn based. And so when you get through with, um, cutting, um,
or harvesting that row, you just take the tiller and you till it into the soil.
Um, and, um, wow. It's just, it's wonderful. It,
we tried doing the landscape fabric method and, um,
we about got a divorce over it. , um, I mean,
it just really was not good for us. Um, it's so hot here and,
um, that was a problem. And then, um, uh, uh,
what was it? Fire ants were the problem and then having to, to, um, bring it up.
Um, anyway, so it did not work for us. I know a lot of farmers really like it,
but it did not work for us.
Right, right. So tell me what the one hit wonders are. Like,
what crops would go in that.
So sunflowers for instance. Um, okay. Um, we can start walking. That would,
and so great. This will be, um,
our sunflowers that we'll be cutting on in the next two to three weeks. Um,
we grow our sunflowers really close together to,
to actually keep them from getting those huge heads out.
Some sunflowers usually do mm-hmm um,
because we found in our bouquets, um,
the really big sunflowers took up the whole bouquet sleeve and
it was hard to get the other flowers that we wanted to end that. So, um,
we grown 'em very close together and we just get, um,
about three to four inch diameter, um,
faces and they just work really well in our bouquets.
So those lush green rows of the sunflowers that are like maybe 12,
15 inches tall, the, those are in the, the white mulch,
the, or the.
The, these right here are not in the mulch. Okay. But, okay.
But there.
Is an, we will show you some in a, in a little bit. Okay. We,
we are actually planting more and more, even the sunflowers in mulch, um,
wow. This summer. So these particular group is not,
but we have some more that we'll show you later that are okay.
So we're pretty much in our lower field,
which I don't know how much you can see.
I can see all of it. It's gorgeous. Okay.
Wow. I'm trying to kind of hold it up, but I'm, it's.
You're good. Sorry. Until your arm gets tired. Let's.
anyway, we'll, we'll walk down there and saying about most,
most everything we're plant and have been for the last, uh,
I don't know, month or two.
So we got like some Soia right here and it's in the white mulch.
Mm-hmm wow.
Actually we miss some Soia. Can you see that Deborah?
Yes, I can. Yeah.
You see that? See that and then poke.
Yeah. Do you just poke holes in that material and then.
Just, yeah, you can poke holes. It's very thin. So, um.
Easy to plant in then. Huh?
It's thin. It's kind of interesting because as thin as it is,
you would think that it would not be able to be pulled behind a tractor.
So like, I don't know. Can you see it up close?
Yeah. Oh, I see. So you're saying it, you,
you would think because it's thin it might tear.
Yeah. Like, do you, can you see my finger?
Yes, I can.
Yeah. You can like, like, wow. You see that? Yeah.
Just.
Pop. It's very thin when you're planting in it,
but you can pull it behind a tractor with no trouble. Wow.
That's.
Great. And it, um, it pulls real tight. Well,
like the one we just showed you mm-hmm it pulls real tight and it
makes a nice bed space.
Yeah. So keep, keep all those weeds out. That's that's truly amazing.
Can you just mention where you buy it? Is it,
is it easy to find?
Oh yeah. So you can get it. I get it from, um,
Barry hill irrigation.
Okay.
Now I don't, I think there's other suppliers of it,
but that's where I get it from. And it's just, um,
you have to buy it as a what's the actual, I wanna say biotech,
but I don't know if, I don't know if it's bio or not. I wanna say it's biotech,
but it's black on the bottom and white on the top.
Mm-hmm you can buy it solid black if you wish as well.
But obviously for warmer climates,
it's better to the white on the top. Yeah.
Maybe I'll, I'll get the, I'll get the link from, from you.
And we'll add it to the show notes.
Too. Just yes. And you can get it like in three foot,
four foot and five foot widths, I think.
Like how much acreage do you guys have?
Yeah. About an acre and a half. It looks not much really. It.
Looks so much, it looks so vast.
um, I'm.
Sure you're like, no, no more an acre and a half.
Is enough. We are kinda at that point for sure. Well, so this is just a row.
Let's see. I can't tell if I'm showing you,
so we've got a row of cosmos mm-hmm that we're just starting to
cut on again, we cut so much today for whole foods that, um.
That's amazing.
Am I showing it to you? Yes.
I see that pretty cosmos. Yeah. And like Salia, we're gorgeous. And then, uh,
what do you have behind there? Is that, um.
Um, so that's AUM. Oh.
AUM. Okay.
And that's just getting started for us. Um, in the past,
we haven't had a whole lot of luck Withum um, but um,
this year, are you seeing it?
Yes. It's such a vivid beautiful, like lavender blue. I love it.
It is. And you know, you have so few lavender colors, um,
of flowers that it's just nice when you have it.
Um, so what do you think is your,
what do you think it's the secret to maybe having success this year?
Well, we planted it in the, the biodegradable, um, fabric. Um,
mm-hmm and so I think that helped.
And then we planted a little later. A lot of times we would normally plant it,
um, like in April and this time we planted it, um, a little later.
So I think that helped. Mm. Um,
we have some more Soia this is probably one of my favorite.
This is the Kramer's burgundy. Oh, wow. It has such a nice color to it.
And you're getting such long stems on it. Geez.
Yeah. They, they, they kind of get crazy for sure.
yeah, that.
One. Yeah. Which sets up feather.
And so this role is the mirror goals that we hammered today. Um,
we grow a lot of mirror goals.
They're great for the grocery store bouquets sunflowers me gold
and, um, Soia are our big, big three for the market or the,
the grocery store bouquets. And Zia's we grow a lot of Xenias too.
Yeah. And, you know, um,
there's something I learned from you when we met at the, uh,
Southern flower symposium. I don't know what the context was, but I've,
I've never forgotten it. And you were talking about Rebecca,
a tri Loba being a great flower because it,
it allows you to, or kind of, it kind of becomes the matrix for,
for a bouquet.
Yes. Yes. And actually you're seeing our trio, but right now,
and it is on its way out. Um, we've been what a great,
so for about a month now, and, um,
we probably have maybe two more weeks left that we can harvest some from,
but it is, so it is so great. It's my favorite filler for the summer, for sure.
So, so far we've seen all your lot,
all annual field crops, right. Is.
That that's the.
Core of.
Of Wilmar besides Sal lo um, it's a perennial for us. Oh.
It is.
Oh, it is. Yep. It is. Um, and I'll have to say that is one mistake.
And so any flower farmer that's out there and you're just starting make sure to
get onto the perennial game early. Um,
had we known that we would be where we're at when we started we
would've invested, um, in, in perennials a lot earlier,
so that's something that I regret. Um, but I hope that each year we can add,
um, more and more, um, to our perennials mm-hmm.
well, yeah. I mean, it's just like your labor, uh,
you know, you save your labor savings to have perennials.
Oh, yes, yes, definitely. Mm-hmm um, show 'em our.
Phones.
Yes. So let's see, we'll come here to the deer fence. Um, so when we,
so, you know, when we first started out, um, we were a hobby farm. It,
we truly were, were,
we wanted our children to learn how to work and how to go to market and talk to
adults and make change and that sort of thing. Um,
we had no idea that this would actually become a source of revenue and actually
one of our children wants to do this for a living. Um,
so we had no idea how that was gonna happen. Um, but when we started, um,
getting kind of serious about it,
we knew we needed to protect things a little better. So we put up a deer fence.
This is from deer busters. Um, uh, wow. I'll let me,
let Mike talk about it, cuz he knows I'll I'll record you.
Just, well it's I mean like she says from deer busters, the,
the particular one we have is a seven and a half foot,
which is kind of the minimum for deer protection. Um, but you can get,
'em an eight foot, you can get 'em shorter than seven and a half two. Sure.
But it's seven and a half is probably as low as you'd want to go.
And we've got almost our entire
operation surrounded with the deer fence. We do have one,
we call it our top field and it's not fenced currently, but it will be fenced.
I hope this winter. Um, so that's a big investment.
I mean, it was pretty easy to put up and it's been durable.
Um.
And, and, and then the grand scheme of pricing, it was relatively cheap.
Yes. For high fence. It's, it's very cheap compared to other high fence methods.
Mm-hmm.
so is it, um, the, is the post metal and then the, the mesh, it.
Is the post, the post actually, um, fits into a sleeve.
So you actually pound sleeves into the ground and then you put the post into the
sleeve. So you actually could pull this post out.
I could pull this post outta the ground if I wanted to. Right.
But it sits down in a two foot sleeve.
So you,
you put all those sleeves in the perimeter line that you wanted first.
Yeah. So you, everything else. So put the sleeves in with, uh, sledgehammer.
That's really the hardest part of it is putting the sleeves in. Yeah.
So you put the sleeve in and then you just put the feed,
the post and then the fence,
I mean a good portion of this I did on my own, but wow.
Um, but you can, with two people, you can do a,
you can do a pretty big section in a pretty short period of time. It's,
it's pretty easy to put up.
So when you mentioned wanting to kind of making that transition from hobby to
Sirius, when was that? Like, how, how did that, what inspired that to happen?
Uh, I mean, obviously your flowers are beautiful,
so people responded positively, but how long ago did that? Well.
I think it was just more of like the, like she said,
we kind of did it the really honest, honestly, the first year it was literally,
we threw seed in the ground. like, it was really that, like,
I think we tore up the ground a little bit,
but we threw seed in the ground and then yeah.
Technical. Right. .
Right.
And then a couple months later we had flowers and we were kinda like, okay,
what do we do now?
We didn't have anything else playing behind it cuz we didn't even, you know,
we weren't thinking that far ahead. Mm-hmm so we,
I called a florist friend of mine and said, Hey, we have flowers,
you'd be interested, buy him. And she said, yes. And we thankfully and.
We, and actually, you know, her Deborah, um,
Christy Halsey with colonial house of flowers.
Oh yeah.
Christy actually bought actually, uh, bought our very first flowers we ever did.
Yeah. So anyway, so that was, oh.
Wow.
And then the next year it was kind of like, okay,
let's see what we can do. Um, we still didn't.
So like we didn't have a cooler, we didn't have, um,
we didn't really have anything mm-hmm I mean,
so we were just like, what section do we wanna try to do?
And what flowers do we wanna try to grow?
We still didn't really know about se succession planning.
So we still were kind of like, you know, we just learning as we go sort of sure.
Yeah. Hands on. Like you created your own system to teach yourself.
Basically doing, basically we had been to a couple of the, the as, uh,
as CFG conferences mm-hmm um,
and so that, and with some help from some other people, we just,
it kind of, so it literally we've grown from a land perspective.
We've actually, I think we've gone. I think we've increased.
I think now five times, I think this winter,
I think was our fifth time mm-hmm wow.
So we've just added on and added on and added on we've added irrigation,
added irrigation added, you know, we got off, we finally got a,
well just for our irrigation. Um,
we've added some tunnels and, and it's just kind of grown and grown.
I mean, we took into,
we got into whole foods that was kind of a process to get into whole foods,
but we did that, uh, what, three years ago?
19.
And.
Before, before COVID then yes.
Yes. Right. But I will tell you COVID actually helped us.
Um, our sales went through the roof, um, and I think it was because,
or at least my take on it,
flowers were a fairly inexpensive way for people to feel good. Yeah.
And they were stuck in their homes and they needed something to make them feel
good. Mm-hmm um,
and so we really saw a huge increase in ourselves, um,
during the two years of COVID.
Well, I've heard that from other people too. And it's, it seems like it hasn't.
I mean, I guessing that it hasn't slumped off since.
No, not no, no, not.
Really. Mm-hmm and the, as far as like the stores are concerned,
we could do more stores right now. We're, we're actually in the,
we're sort of in the process right now of just there she is out like.
How problem to.
Expand, how big we want it to be.
Well.
Cause we don't know, um.
It's a risk. We.
All know where to go right now because the, the whole foods, again,
for where we're at, we've got a good opportunity to, to do as kind of,
as much as we wanna bite off. And we're just trying to decide what it,
what that actually is.
Mike, what, what market is that? That, I mean,
or is there a distribution center near you? How, how are you?
There is a, well, there is a distribution center. So, um,
we currently are delivering to Savannah that's our store.
Okay.
But we are going to,
I think test the waters with a couple,
another couple stores coming up actually this month.
Wow.
And so again, we have to decide if, if we get,
I think if we go beyond like three or four stores,
we will just go to the distribution center. So the cause otherwise is about,
it's about three hours from us.
And, um, cause otherwise you're, you're individually delivering too. We're.
Just delivering right now. Correct. We're just delivering to the store. Yeah.
And then if we, these other stores we're gonna do,
we're gonna deliver straight to the store.
It's great that you can take 10 stores of material to it,
but there's also, you gotta worry about the packaging.
There's there's other things involved with it. Mm-hmm and,
and I'm, and I'm not saying we're not gonna do that. We just haven't decided
we've kind of crossed a lot of barriers this year with,
with kind of the labor thing. And we've figured out some more stuff,
I think this year. Um,
but we still don't really know what we want our next step
to be, I guess mm-hmm .
Mm-hmm.
and I really like the fact that we can have a relationship with
the stores when you deliver to the stores. Um, uh,
we just have we've we've met the staff there and they are really champion
supporters, cheerleaders for our product.
And if we went to the distribution center, then we would,
we would lose a little of that. Um, mm-hmm.
, you'd be more like just a, another commodity.
Yeah. Yeah. And, uh, so again, it,
one day it might be the best bet just for, from a,
a business decision. But for right now, I just really like being able to,
to, uh, to have that one on one with the store.
So, um,
let's just talk about how that happened because prior to branching out
into wholesale, you were primarily selling at your local farmer's market,
is that correct?
Correct. So, um, so again, I'll have to brag on, um,
we get a better something to look at in the back um,
we're walking around.
I.
Love it. Um, uh, so this, this is a row of, um,
of, uh, Flamingo, feather, um.
Oh.
Wow. Um, we use this, um, as our, um, um, kind of our,
it just adds such, um, interest to bouquets, um.
The dark, the dark stem. Yeah. It's gorgeous.
To it. Um.
It looks tropical in a way, you know, it has exotic mind. Yeah.
Um, but back to what you were asking. So, um, David Gerald,
he is the flower guy at whole foods in Savannah.
And he had seen us at precise farmer's market,
which is the farmer's market in Savannah. And he reached out and said,
I really would like to have your flowers in our store. And, um,
I'll be honest had da David not been such a supporter and pushing us
through the process we may have given up. Um, um,
it just, it's just, it's just a lot, um,
which is which now looking back, it makes me feel good, um,
about our product, the fact that it could meet all of their requirements.
Um, right. And, um,
it also makes me feel good about the food that I buy when I go to whole foods,
because I know what that pro what those products have had to go through, um,
to be allowed to be sold in their store. Mm-hmm um,
so for anybody.
So, yeah. So for anybody who's interested, like,
what were the biggest hurdles that you had to, uh.
Um, it is just a paperwork nightmare, um, and, um, just stay the course,
just stay with it. Um, I've heard there's a,
a flower farmer in Atlanta that's reached out to me and it sounds like the
processes has gotten better that it streamlined some. Um,
so I do hope that that's the case. Um, yeah,
we actually did it before Amazon bought 'em so maybe, yeah, we,
we did it before Amazon, um, bought whole foods. So, um, so anyway,
I hear that it's better, but my advice to anybody is it's worth it. Um,
you know, just hang in there and, um, you know, just keep trudging along and,
and really make a, uh, a, um, a contact at the store. Um,
again, you know, David was just such a cheerleader for us and, um, you know,
he just made sure that we, um, you know, stayed, um, on task,
you know, and got in there.
Well sort of like everything, it boils down to relationships and yeah.
Yeah. You know, and you know, that's live right. You know?
Yeah. Yeah. Um,
so are you are still selling at farmer's market then for like closer to home?
We, every week we do states for farmers' market. Um,
let me get to a different section. Uh,
every week we do state states for farmers' market, um,
which is about 30 miles per month. That's our closest market. Okay.
And then we try two to three times a month to go down to fury and Savannah.
Um, we've just got such a good customer base down there.
I hate not to go down there to, um, we just made some good relationships. Um,
and so.
They're wait, they're waiting for you. And if you don't come,
they start messaging you, right?
Yes, they do. They do. And faithfully, I can say, Hey,
I just delivered the whole foods swing by there. .
Mm-hmm , mm-hmm, , isn't that amazing.
But it's still not the same.
No, but that's so interesting that like, they,
the fact that you're at whole foods is not taking away from the customers who
wanna come buy it.
Be it not, not be it. Um, and I think people, you know,
you've got your market people who like going to the market, um, you know,
that's just a whole different kind of subculture of Firo mm-hmm .
Um, and, um, and, you know, I think they, like just, it's a,
I mean, they love our product, but it is more an experience, you know,
that's what they do on Saturday mornings, you know? Yeah. Um,
and which I think's wonderful. You know?
So how many of your children are now involved? Um,
I know you've told me that one of your, I think your daughters does all,
all your social media, so well.
She did.
Congratulations to that.
Well, well, unfortunately I've lost her.
We actually just took her to university of Georgia on Friday. Oh, wow. And so,
so she is, she has spread her wings and she has flown. Okay.
And, uh, so I'm, I'm pretty devastated over that. Um, happy for her sad for me.
Um, and so it will be me again on social media. So you will see,
there'll probably be a drop off .
We'll share the love back.
When it comes to social media. Um, uh, so I had, so Mary Jen's gone,
um, and, um, and she did my market. She did one of my markets for me too.
So that's another kind of hole that I've happened to try to fill. Right. Um,
and then we have another daughter, Josie who's 16 and Josie who Josie is,
who will take over the flowers. Um, that's what she wants to do for her, um,
for her living, um, and, um, in her, in adulthood. And, um,
I wish she could be here with us today. Um, but, um,
as children are busy with school and activities, she's not here. Um, but, um,
she knows so much, it's amazing that a 16 year old, I mean, she runs it like,
I mean, I mean, she truly can, she knows when to plant where to plant,
when to harvest what to harvest, what bouquets need to be made.
Like she can run it from start to finish.
Sounds like she kind of learned it along with you and Mike, like, you.
Know, she did, she did. Um, she, um, she's been with it every step of the way.
Um, and then our son is 14 and, um, he, he,
him and his dad are kind of the muscle mm-hmm . Um,
they do the tractor work and, um,
driving tea post and putting up fence and all the things that I just don't wanna
do. , that's great. Um, and, uh,
Mason doesn't, he does it, him and Morgan. Um, who's my baby, she's 12.
Um, they, they work because they want to earn some money. Yeah. They,
they don't do it because they, they have no desire to, to,
to be flower farmers mm-hmm , but, um,
it's a good way for them to earn money. Um, sure.
It kind of achieved what your original goal was, was to create a family.
Business. Yep, yep. It, it actually has. Yes. Um, so we're very blessed.
Um, and then this year I found two Hispanic ladies, um,
that are helping me that, um, have just been wonderful. Um,
we really had some, um, some labor issues and, um,
it was never stable. Um, and this year, um, it is stable and,
um, they've learned so much and they enjoy the flowers.
And so I've been real blessed. Um,
it really is our first year of having stable labor help.
And, wow, that's amazing. And is that, is that also because,
um, do one of you work off farm? I can't remember exactly.
Um, yes. Um, Mike, um,
has a landscape company and so he really is, um,
just after evenings and weekends, um, help, um,
cuz he's full time and um, I'm, I'm a nurse by education and stopped nursing,
um, uh, a year and a half ago. Um wow. And, um,
that has been nice to be able to focus because I've never really been able to
focus on the flowers prior to that. Oh.
I had no.
Idea even with that, I, I still needed more help .
So, so I'm just curious, you mentioned this was at your grandparents' farm. How,
how long have you lived there? Did you, um,
was this sort of something that you ha you lived,
you lived there before you had kids or did the,
having a growing family kind of prompt you to move there?
Well, when we got married, we knew we wanted to move here. Um,
and so this land's real special. So my ancestor, um,
John Deel, he re uh,
acquired this land and our piece of land is part of his original, um,
that he secured as a land grant from the queen of England in the early 17
hundreds.
Wow.
And, um, it has, um, the land has continued in our family. Um,
and my children are the ninth generation, um, from him, um, on land.
Oh, oh my goodness.
That's and so that's really, really special to me, um, that, um, um,
we've been able to maintain the, it in the family for that long.
And other people, other people have other generations that have farmed,
it sounds like, uh, at the, on the land,
was it mainly to just feed their, their families or was it.
More well, my, my grandfather prior to that, yes. Um, and then my grandfather,
um, he earned his living as a farmer.
He grew tobacco and cotton and soybeans and peanuts. Wow. Um, and then, um,
once he passed away, um, um,
we've continued to rent out the farmland to a local farmer. Um,
and so the bulk of our land is, um, in traditional row crops. Wow. Um, and,
um, we have cut out this, I don't know, probably all of this together.
They were not growing on all of it,
but this little area where we could grow on it is probably three acres. Yeah.
Um, and, uh, for us, you know, for the flowers.
Wow. Well, so interesting that, that you have, um, well,
obviously Mike's skills at a,
as a landscape designer or a landscape installer in that business probably
came in quite handy. You can grow anything too, Mike, right.
He, well, he has a degree in horticulture from the university of Georgia. So,
um, he already knew like, like he had,
he had some knowledge coming into it and then especially his knowledge of
irrigation, um, and tractor, we had a tractor, which is huge.
A lot of people don't have tractors when they start off.
So we had equipment already. And so all of those were just kind of bonuses,
you know? Oh my goodness.
Get started. Oh my gosh. And, and then, uh,
the design that you do with the,
the floral design does, do you think that that's like your inner creative,
uh, tapping your inner creative artists that you hadn't been able to do when you
were nursing? Or is it just something that, you know,
you guys figured out together?
Well, I'll be honest with you. The bouquets are assembly line bouquets.
I am not a designer. I have no desire to be a designer. Um,
my love is growing flowers. Mm-hmm um, and, um,
so our bouquets are not, um,
there's not mean like it's about a minute that a bouquet, you know,
from start to finish. And what I have found is if you have good flowers,
it really doesn't matter, you know? Um,
and either the person's gonna buy your bouquet and they're just gonna flop it in
a base because they don't care or they're gonna spend their time themselves
designing how they want the bouquet to look at home.
Mm-hmm mm-hmm . And so we have found that, um,
we just end up getting frustrated at ourselves and each other, if,
if we really try to design anything. Um, and so interesting.
So definitely that, that is different for us,
cuz I know a lot of flower farmers are, you know, they,
they have the design element, they do weddings, they, um, do events.
And at this point I have no desire to, to expand that way.
Mm. That is so interesting Rita because, uh, you know,
that saying like the flower's so beautiful, it arranges itself, you're kind of,
you're kind of proving that like yeah, yeah. You come up with us. It's true.
It really is. And you know,
for the longest time our children made the bouquets mm-hmm um, uh,
Josie still makes the bouquets now,
but the other ones have gotten so busy that they're not able to help me. Um,
but you know, years ago, I mean there was little kids making those bouquets,
you know, so it really is all about the flowers.
Oh my goodness. I love it.
So that means your recipe is constantly changing because.
It is so.
What's available. Right.
Right. Like for instance, this morning when we made for whole foods, you know,
after we finished cutting, I looked in the cooler and what we had.
And so then it was three of this, two of this, you know, it is,
it changes from the volume of what we have, um, and,
and somewhat the colors, but, you know, our bouquets are just really,
really colorful and they always have been, um, and full of sunflowers.
We've become, become known for that. Um, so, um, you know, yeah,
it does change based on the volume of, of flour that I have. Um,
but we really don't,
don't do a lot in regards to certain pallets and that sort of thing.
Well, it, I think think vivid is, is definitely your palette because yeah.
, you know,
you know what people are drawn to and if you're going more retail yep.
Then pastels kind of don't have a, I suppose you have a few pastels tucked in.
I.
Do, especially in the spring, um, the spring,
we definitely have the lighter colors, but summer is just full of color.
And then as we go into the fall,
we'll have a lot of just the oranges and rust and burgundies, mm-hmm,
that just, you know, mm-hmm, just, you know, um,
it's nice to see how the season changed naturally.
Yeah. Now, do you, are you guys growing Dalia at all?
.
Or is that a, a, a bad question? .
So I'll tell you that is that's my nemesis. Um.
No, really guilt. Right? We said that no guilt.
Um, every year we try. Okay. Um,
and I can get a hundred or so nice blooms, but I want like thousands.
Yes.
And, um, I have not found the recipe yet for us here.
Okay. Um, I have tried to do it counter seasonal, like a lot of people do.
Um, and that did not work because we still do get cold here, you know? Yeah.
And I didn't have a way to protect them. We've tried growing them under lights.
Um, we've tried growing 'em with shade cloth. Um,
this year we are just growing 'em out in the full sun and just trying to keep
them alive through our heat and see what happens. Come, come, um,
fall.
When things maybe cool off a little bit.
Yep. Yeah. But they hate our heat. They hate it. Mm.
Yeah. And I remember that when, when we were at that conference, um,
our mutual friend, uh,
Rita and Andrews came from cuts of color and we were all blown away about how
she's growing winter dahs, but she has.
She's amazing.
She has the structures. She's got, um, a different setup than you.
Yep. Yep. And she's amazing. Like Rita's my life goal, you know? Um,
and whenever we get together, we laugh, we call each other. We're do Rita's. Um,
and, um, I remember that she, she has been such a mentor to me. Um,
especially in the beginning, like she would text me and say, Reed,
I'm doing this today. Are you doing this today? Um, that's.
Lovely.
She, um, she, she,
what you see today really is on the back of R Anders.
Ah, well, we had, we had her, um, guest, uh,
present at the SL flowers member meetup, um, this past spring.
And it was specifically to tell people about her winter growing processes.
So I'll just send you a link to that.
Oh, that would be great. That would be great.
I know you never have time to get on those meetings with us, but uh, .
This is I'm going, I'm gonna.
. No, no, this is, this is the next best thing. Well, um, what,
the reason I brought up the Dahlia is I was just kind of curious what your end
of season crops are. Is it,
is it just that the sunflowers and solo just, uh,
keep going until we do we get, have a frost?
We, we do. We, we, we keep planting. Um, we try to make it to Thanksgiving.
Sometimes a frost will get us prior to some Thanksgiving.
Sometimes a hurricane will get us prior to Thanksgiving. Um, but we do plant,
um, with that, with the end goal of Thanksgiving.
And it really is just our summer. We, um, sunflowers, we do switch. Um,
actually we can show you these right here.
So this is our first group that will be the pro cut reds. Okay.
And then the ones behind it will be the Mullan rouges. Um, so.
You're kind going into the darker colors. Yeah.
Now our customers love those. You put a couple of those in,
with the nice Vincents choice and that is some kind of bouquet. Um,
and then of course we'll still have Zia's, we'll have gunna, um,
we'll have basil, we'll have mahogany hibiscus. Um, I've got it started, um,
up in the upper field right now. It's a great filler and our bouquets. Um,
so it's just, we shift it's essentially the same flower.
We just shift to darker colors.
Mm-hmm and these sunflowers are planted in the fabric.
Can you see that?
Yes. Oh, it's.
Yes. It's and actually most, most everything in this lower section.
Um, that's great. Almost everything is planted in the fabric.
So, um, when you talked about the close, uh,
placement of the seeds or of the, of the flowers,
how, how many inches apart are the sunflowers?
So right now we've got all of our sunflowers on, uh,
six inch spacing.
Okay. Wow.
And, and like, so like these are Xena and they've been chopped off.
Like we've already pruned them.
Mm-hmm but these will be really pushing strong here in the next
couple weeks.
So we got, so you'll get the next flush then.
The next flush we've been cutting on an area in the top field,
which we might make it up there, but, um, the top field we've been,
we've been working on it now for about a month.
So here's some gum Freea now this is not in fabric, but it's,
it is weeded pretty well. Um, it's great. Can you see it? Okay.
Yeah. It's beautiful. That's a great color too. So that,
is it still on a six inch grid, even though you, you don't, these.
Are all six inch. Yep. We pretty much have everything. Um, that's love.
I mean, that's worked pretty good for us, uh, so far, so yeah, it's kind of the,
if it's not broke, you don't fix it kind of thing.
So I noticed that you have some structures way in the distance.
Are those just hoop houses or high tunnels?
Uh, yeah, so up there. Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
can you see those?
I can. Yeah.
So we've got three smaller ones and one big one and the big
one right now is kind of our main area for our, we call 'em our babies,
but all of our transplants. Okay. So we see them and then they go in there.
So that we'll go up there in a second, but it's full of,
of stuff that needs to be planted.
Yeah. That be.
The other three are just kind of a mess right now.
We've gotta get 'em cleaned up for fall mm-hmm . Cause we,
we use our tunnels BA mainly just for season extension.
Got.
It. So, um, we're not really.
You'll.
We have grown in them in the summer, but.
Probably gets too hot. Right.
It's mainly the, it's mainly the season extension stuff.
Ah, that's great. Well, before we wrap up, why don't you hop in your, um,
in your cart and take us over there or if,
if you don't have time that's okay too. Yeah.
Yeah, no, we can walk up there.
Sure. That, oh, so this is another, um, this one actually is, um,
Flamingo, feather. It's another Salia instead of having the purple tips,
it has the white and then as it gets older, it, um, goes to like a blush color.
Yes. Um, another really good, um, filler for, or accent flower for us.
I'm, I'm shocked at how tall those stems are or that is amazing.
Yeah. They, they, those feathers get, they, they, when we're cutting them,
they're usually in the four foot range or,
or better be four to five foot probably.
And these were sunflowers we planted last week.
Yeah. Those would be last week sunflowers.
And then just other areas that we're about to turn up or we've turned up and we
gotta keep working on them.
Wow. So Mike,
you come home from landscaping and put in a couple extra hours. Uh .
And read, it keeps right up with you. .
Yeah. I mean, usually in the evenings, I, I just do whatever I gotta do,
you know, mm-hmm sometimes it's what, whatever. I mean,
sometimes I help withou. Okay.
Sometimes it's tractor work sometimes it's like spreading compost.
We're about to walk up to a big pile of compost right now. .
So that's something else that some people may want to know. So, um,
every bed before we pull the plastic on, or before we plan in it, it gets, um,
a layer of compost. Um, and then, um, a, um,
a fertilizer, just a, just an application of a general fertilizer.
Okay. So.
And then after that, we really do not.
Fertilize. It's an organic, this is organic compost. It's,
it's certified organic. And the fertilizer we use is, is organic as well.
Are you are, is one more farms, uh, certified organic.
We are not certified organic, but we,
we try to use armory rated chemicals.
So we use, um, like the ne oils and sure.
Just anything that's, that's more of the, um,
you know, approved yeah. Armory rated, but no, we are not certified organic.
I said we're regulated by whole foods.
Mm-hmm as far as what we can use.
And so we have to follow recommended list.
It sounds like they didn't require it though. And,
and I think from what I've learned from other flower farmers is just, um,
it doesn't necessarily, you know,
add up because the there's so,
so many other regulations for certified organic that are E maybe easier
for food growers than flower growers. And you're so diversified.
Right? Yeah. I mean, we certainly try to use, I mean,
we try to use the practices of it, but mm-hmm yeah. It's uh, well,
you know, it's a long process to get certified, so I don't know if we,
we ever will or not.
You know,
we don't grow anything edible and what we found that's important to the customer
is that it's local.
Yeah. I was just gonna say,
your brand already has an excellent reputation and your customers know you're
local and they, they know your affiliated with whole foods.
So they've got this sort of sense that you're doing good things and, uh, I,
I applaud you for it. I mean, I think just trying to maintain,
you know, those practices is hard enough.
yeah, yeah. Yep. So these are some of the babies.
Can you see these okay.
Yeah. What.
Are they? There's some mayor goals and Sotia and wow.
Basil and gumph and sunflower.
Oh ahead. No, no, I was just gonna say it's like, you use what you have.
You have, um, pallets.
Yeah. Yeah. They're sitting on pallets and buckets. I'm impressed. I mean,
it's not, it's not the greatest looking thing, but, uh.
Structure's beautiful and it's doing the job. That's wonderful.
Doing the job. This is an old trailer but the good thing,
the good thing about this trailer is we have a lot of, a lot of, uh,
seed trays on it. We can move it quickly. So Hey.
You just haul it out to the field, to, to transplant.
So Deborah, this is Josie.
That's Josie. That's our say.
Hi to Deborah. Hi Josie, the future, the future generation. I love it.
She's the future. She's the future. She's not,
she doesn't really like this kind of thing, but she is the future. So, ah, okay.
So maybe, maybe one day you'll be talking to her on your podcast.
I would love it. I would love it. Let let's plan on that. Okay. I'm serious.
That's so inspiring. Little, did you know when you had this idea that it was,
I was just gonna blow up and be such a amazing change in your lives to have this
beautiful flower farm?
Yeah. Yep, yep. You're right. So, um,
we'll walk you over to the barn real quick in the cooler.
Great. That sounds great. And then we'll, we'll, uh, we'll say goodbye.
Um, for sure. When we, uh, post this, um, interview,
I'll get some extra photos from your feed, your,
your flowers are packaged so beautifully and you're using like a
branding on like a, a, a label or a sticker to brand.
New. Yeah. We've got a, we've got a stamp on there that we've used. And uh,
so now we,
we kind of started that several years ago and we started it and people are sort
of just used to it now.
I love it. So I love the business name and obviously it's a play on Williams.
Right.
Right, right. For the yeah. Williams and Morgan mm-hmm Morgan is,
is Re's maiden name and one of our children's name Morgan. Oh.
Yeah.
This is our, this is our old barn. Can you see it? Okay.
Mm-hmm that we've kind of, uh,
rebuild and changed and added.
And this serves as our main
like processing facility.
Okay. So this is where you're making your bouquets.
It is. And so it's about 150 years old. Wow.
Um, it was about to fall down when we moved out here.
And so we've had to do a fair amount of
work. I know it still looks rough, but from where it's come from.
It's come a long ways. Hey.
You, you, you used what you had back to that story. Is this, um,
is this your cooler then on the outside? Or do you have, oh.
You have a, so there's one cooler here. Can you see that one? Yeah,
that was our very first cooler. I got it out of an,
all of us subway that they had torn down.
Oh my goodness. Perfect price, right?
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So we got, so we used it and, uh,
and it was fine for us for the first, uh, couple years. And then,
I don't know. Can you see.
Oh, wow. That's gorgeous inside you guys.
So this is kind of the structure, there's the tables.
So we truly, it's like an assembly line when we make bouquets. Yep.
But buckets on the tables and we just go at it.
I have a little whiteboard over on the wall and that's where the recipe of the
day gets written. And, um.
That's wonderful. That's, that's what.
We do.
I love all the old windows, but you have the cafe lights. So I could,
I could imagine you could throw a, a great workshop or party in there. If you,
you went that.
Route. We actually had, my sister actually got married in here.
Oh my goodness. I bet it was so dreamy.
It was kinda funny. Yeah. Um, so this is the back of an old truck.
That's an old like reefer truck and we're not affiliated with that company.
but we just haven't, we haven't, we're gonna paint it one day,
but anyway.
You're gonna put the Wilmar Wilmore logo up there pretty soon. Right? Yeah.
We'll have something, but we kind of built on this section this year,
actually this winter, and we put this cooler,
used to be on the other side of the barn, but it was kind of a hassle.
So now we've put it here.
Yeah. You're like walk right in from the production.
Area. Yeah. You can walk right in from the production, which is very handy.
And then, uh.
So practical. So.
The, the cooler is on, but I'll try to take you in here.
Oh, that's okay.
We'll just love to take a peek and all these babies are going out the door
tomorrow. It looks like. So.
There's some of our bouquets for whole foods.
Oh my goodness. Those are amazing.
And there's can you see, okay.
Yes. So are you putting yeah. You.
Have right here. We're delivering in the morning. Okay.
And then we've got stuff that we cut today. There's a lot of
sunflowers and ALS.
And you'll make those tomorrow into new bookcase.
Yeah. They'll be, these will be processed for our next thing in a couple days.
Wow. So you built this, you built this from a reefer truck and then did,
did you have to put a CoolBot in it or did it come with a refrigeration?
No, we had to put, so it did have it had this in it,
which is just a normal cooler unit, but we didn't do that.
We just used the cool box of the CoolBot. Is, can you see it? Oh.
Yes, it's fabulous.
So there's the, the AC the window unit and then the cool bot itself. Yeah.
Um, so we had it that's trick. We had it, or we put it in here.
That's amazing.
And it's good. It keeps it'll keep run stuff down to about 40 degrees.
We usually keep it between 40 and 42. And,
uh, perfect. Yeah. So that's our cooler.
Wow. What a great tour and visit. Um,
Rita knows that I've been bugging her to do, uh,
record an interview for a while. It's a bonus that you could join us, Mike,
and what a team you guys make. I'm really inspired.
And I know other people will be happy to have a little bit of a
virtual visit to Wilmore farms. It's really, um,
congratulations. I'm really impressed and inspired.
I look forward to hearing what you decide to do as you grow, um, in the future.
Um, we see a lot of people who, um,
I suppose I just wanna say it's hard work. Um,
and I think a lot of people don't realize it and then they get very,
um, discouraged. Um, and you know,
it's been six years and we still don't have it figured out . Um,
and so I, I suppose I just wanted to,
if there's the people out there that are listening to this and they're ready to
give up, because they're so discouraged just to encourage them not to, and that,
you know, ever, ever failure that you experience, that's a learning process.
Mm-hmm and you know, to do something different the next time.
That's a good attitude. And,
and also you you've decided what to specialize in you've you've kind of
stayed focused and stayed in your lane. You're not trying to, you know,
try things that maybe like garden roses or something that just wouldn't do well
in your region. Yeah.
Could you imagine .
Yeah, but I know, I know you're gonna crack that. Not with the,
with the dahlias. I'm not sure how, but I wanna hear the story when you,
when you tell me.
Well, I don't up that send.
Me some photos phone okay, good.
We'll get it eventually. But, but for right now,
this what we're doing works for us.
And like Rita said, I think the biggest, like with so many people,
especially at the farmer's market, you know, if we had a,
a nickel for every time someone comes and offers to work for free and
all that kind of stuff. I mean, I, you know, I think people, because.
It would be so fun .
Yeah. I think people have the vision sometimes that like,
we just skip around and listen to music all day and the flowers are so CRA,
you know, it's like, and it's kind of like a fantasy world.
And so when you actually have to get into it and realize how hard it is,
it's, it is, it can be discouraging. It can be frustrating,
especially where we live. What's very hot. It's very humid. It's just,
sometimes it's brutal working conditions,
but you gotta keep going and keep, you gotta be persistent. And, uh,
just try to, you're gonna make mistakes,
but we've made millions of mistakes and we continue to make 'em. And the,
and I think the worst part about it is, you know,
I've used this analogy a lot where if you build a wall wrong,
you can tear it down and build another wall. When you,
when you in this business and what we do,
sometimes you have to wait a full 12 months to fix what you messed
up. That's and that's really, that's hard, point's hard,
but it's kind of the reality of the business. It's just, it is what it is.
So you just try to,
that's a really good learn from your mistakes and do the best you can and keep
being persistent or be, as we, as we say around here,
we are pathologically optimistic.
and you make great team. I, I love it.
Thank you both so much. This has been wonderful. And I really look forward to,
uh, sharing it with, uh, the SL flowers community and beyond,
and I hope to visit someday. I would love to.
Thanks. So
Thanks so much for joining me today. Visit SL flowers,
podcast.com to watch the replay video of today's conversation and that terrific
farm tour look for episode 576.
I've also grabbed links to some of the resources that Mike discussed,
including the compostable mulch, sheeting,
the deer fencing and their CoolBot system.
So you'll wanna check that out as well as follow links to Wilmore farm's
social places. Our next sponsor. Thank you goes to the Gardener's workshop,
which offers a full curriculum of online education for flower farmers and
farmer Flos online. Education is more important than ever,
and you'll want to check out the course
offerings@thegardensworkshop.com. Hey,
this coming weekend, if you're available,
you're invited to join me virtually as I share the story of slow flowers and our
mission at the Fria summit,
a virtual three day conference taking place September 23rd,
24th and 25th.
Fria stands for Floris recognizing environmental and ECOS sustain
ideas and applications hosted by hit Gillum and Gregor lurch.
The first Fria summit will cover presentations from industry leaders on
sustainability in floristry,
I'll be presenting a new lecture called walking the talk,
putting your sustainable values into practice.
And I'm excited that SL flowers members,
Susan McCleary and Holly chapel are also part of the speaker lineup.
They'll present design, demonstrations and lectures,
and they'll be an international slate of designers offering 15 hours of live
presentation in all the standard registration is $99 and the full
registration, which includes a bonus session with Gregor. Lurch is $129.
You can find the registration link in today's show notes or visit Frisia
summit.com. Our final thank you goes to Johnny's selected seeds,
an employee-owned company that provides our industry with the best flower herb
and vegetable seeds supply to farms, large and small,
and even backyard cutting gardens like mine.
Find the full catalog of flower seeds and bulbs at Johnny's seeds.com.
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