The Menkveld Farm Blog
We started our flower farm in 2017 while living in Nolensville, TN! It was an amazing experience for our family, and in that process, we learned so much! In 2023 we relocated to West Michigan, and while our family is still settling into a new routine and growing flowers on a much smaller scale, I am excited to continue to share information about what we learned during our time in Tennessee. I would love to have you follow along with me as I continue to share about farming and learning to run a business!
Let Your Revenue Streams Guide What You Grow
One of the most important decisions you’ll make as a flower farmer is what to grow. While your location, space, and growing conditions play a big role, your revenue streams should also inform your choices. The flowers you grow will vary depending on how and where you sell them—and the audience you're selling to. Let’s dive into the key factors to consider when planning your crops.
Aligning Your Goals with the Right Revenue Streams
Setting goals for your flower farm is an essential first step in planning your next growing season. But once those goals are in place, how do you align them with the right revenue streams? Diversifying your offerings can help you reach your targets more effectively, but not all revenue streams will be the right fit. Here’s how to evaluate your options and create a plan that works for you.
Exploring Sales Outlets for Your Cut Flower Farm
There are so many different sales outlets for a cut flower farm, truly allowing you to run your business in a way that fits your lifestyle and business goals. In this blog, I am going to share the different sales outlets we have experience with. Each offers unique benefits and challenges, so it’s all about finding what works best for you and your business goals.
Our Big Announcement
This summer was much busier than I expected, so I have definitely fallen behind on my regular blog posts. A lot has changed since I last shared on here, so I thought it’s time to update everyone on what’s been going on with our family.
How to Harvest Lavender
The lavender is blooming on the farm again, so I thought it would be a great time to show everyone how we harvest lavender bouquets. Enjoy!
2022 Lavender Season is Almost Here!
Time has flown by so quickly this year, and I can hardly believe we are just a few weeks out from our lavender fields being in full bloom again. This is one of my favorite times of the year on the farm and I never tire of walking through the rows of fragrant lavender. We are looking forward to sharing this experience with everyone and have several events happening during June that we hope you will be able to attend!
Native Perennials for Cut Flower Production
One of the big projects on the farm this year has been putting in a native perennial cut flower garden. This project combines several things I am passionate about: growing cut flowers, supporting healthy ecosystems, and sharing my knowledge with others. As a flower farmer, not only do I care about growing flowers, but also ensuring that we are supporting the environment where we grow our flowers, which will in turn help us grow better flowers. Native perennials are a great solution here!
Farm Update: Spring 2022
There has been so much going on the last few weeks between releasing new courses and getting ready for our summer flowers and events. I thought it would be a great time to do a quick recap of everything that is going on at the farm right now and let you know about some fun things that are coming up!
Top Five Annuals for Cut Flower Gardens
There are several flowers that will always be in my garden! My top five annuals for the cut flower garden love full-sun and tolerate our hot summers remarkably well. I also love that these can be directly sown in the field, which makes them even more low-maintenance and easy to grow. And as a plus, all these flowers pair well together, making for some beautiful bouquets.
Seed Starting Indoors
Seed starting indoors is a great way to get a jump on the season and enables us to put small plants in the ground once we are past the last frost date in our area, resulting in flowers earlier than if we had waited to directly sow the flowers instead. This is especially important for growing flowers that have a longer time between planting and harvesting. In addition to getting a jump on the growing season, there are also lots of seeds that either require light to germinate or are really small and could easily get washed away with a heavy spring rain. Planting these seeds indoors gives us much more control over the growing conditions and gives us a substantially better germination rate. Each year I generally start seeds indoors around the first week of February, but begin the majority of my seeds around March 1. Seeds that I sow indoors include: snapdragons, feverfew, rudbeckia, marigolds, hibiscus, statice, jewels of opar, scabiosa, and gomphrena.