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was blooming at the exact moment the ethic of organic , local farming was making its way to the flower world . She also produced fantastically lush , longstemmed blooms — the kind of flower that made it clear she was a good grower as well as a good marketer .
At the time , I was working on a flower farm in the Hudson Valley . The farmer , Angela DeFelice , was teaching me to farm . There is none better . But one day a young florist breezed into the barn to pick up wedding flowers , and we got to talking about the workshops . She told me that , for a designer , having your name linked to Floret can be really helpful . It was an enjoyable , knowing conversation , like one you might have at a New York party — about a new chef or Miuccia ’ s strategy at Prada — but for that reason it also made me squeamish . Not many beginning farmers could afford the workshops . On the other hand , Benzakein was obviously a woman of guts and intelligence who ,
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at 37 , had mastered everything she ’ d set out to achieve — a farm , a brand , a book , lately a seed business — on two acres of land . In early June , I flew out to Seattle .
Although it ’ s tempting to see parallels between Benzakein and Martha Stewart — both have great taste , both are attractive , both are businesswomen above all else — Floret reflects ideas that have emerged since Stewart first bread-crumbed her methods for others to follow . Ideas like directness , efficiency , community . For instance , to make it easier and cheaper for brides to order flowers , Floret came up with an “ à la carte ” menu that allows them to order bouquets and centerpieces as needed and not have to meet the $ 3,000 full-service minimum . It ’ s highly profitable for Floret , says Benzakein , and it ’ s realistic .
Efficiency , of course , reigns in the land of beets and ranunculuses . Indeed , knowing that you can grow very profitably
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on an acre or two — by using intensive planting techniques and focusing on premium crops — makes small-scale farming attractive , according to Jean- Martin Fortier , a Quebecois farmer-author . Fortier surprised skeptics several years ago when he revealed that his one-anda-half-acre garden brought in more than $ 100,000 annually . Floret has taken the same “ intensive ” approach , with similar results , though not without soulsearching . At one point , the Benzakeins came very close to buying a much larger farm , 80 to 100 acres . Benzakein had found there was enormous interest among out-of-state florists in having Floret ’ s flowers air-shipped to them .
“ But as we sat on it longer , we thought , Why not teach people in all these local communities to grow flowers ?” she said . “ Connect farmers and florists together and take out the middleman . Why not just work together ?” We were sitting in the dining room of a friend ’ s farmhouse ,
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Photo : Lara Dart |
A Day in the Life at Floret Flower Farm