“Change is scary, uncomfortable and can feel daunting. If you have a passion, if you have a vision or a way to do things better or differently don’t be afraid to speak up, speak out and don’t ever let anyone tell you that you can’t or shouldn’t do that.“

Q: Tell us about your agricultural operation, your background and how you got started in agriculture. 

Ever since I can remember I have always had my hands in the soil. I planted things with my Pop-Pop, helped my Mom in her garden and always chose to be in my own garden when I got older. Being outside has always been part of who I am and I have always had a calling to Agriculture, to nature and to growing things. A graduate of Delaware Valley University with a degree in Horticulture, a Certified Professional Horticulturist, FFA Member, previous Ag Teacher with a Masters Degree in Education, and all-around outdoorswoman, I love to be outside or in the garden. Realizing I needed to take a little time to do something here on the family farm, I learned to pause, smell the flowers & in 2017 stepped into the adventure of growing plants on a larger scale and created Wildly Native.

Located on the beautiful Eastern Shore of Maryland, Wildly Native Flower Farm is a small (but ever growing!) family-owned flower farm and florist with a big vision, where it takes everyone working together to create success.

We connect with all of our products from literally the ground up, and love seeing every bloom that we grow find its way into someone’s home and heart! So when folks schedule a time to visit with us, we’ll walk our fields together and experience all of the scents, textures, colors, and more that a flower farm has to offer. It is such a unique experience for brides, plant lovers, gardeners, nature enthusiasts, and all-around environmentally focused folks! Providing locally grown and hand-picked seasonal florals in the peak of bloom is the foundation of who we are – whether for a wedding, a birthday, or just because!

It wasn’t always like this – In one of those moments you never forget, I was standing in my classroom during lunchtime with my daughter Lizzy next to me when Rebecca, a former student, called me and asked us – “Hey, will you do flowers for my wedding?” Since she was one of my favorite students (yes as teachers we have favorites) I was like ummmmm.…and in that pause Lizzy immediately and without any hesitation said emphatically YES!!!!

Meanwhile I was panicking on the inside and thinking Well, I have only grown flowers with the wholesale model in mind – design is not my jam, but I told Rebecca we would sit and talk about everything over lunch soon.

Once I hung up I turned to look at Lizzy and was like “Girl – What are you thinking?!” She said “Mom. We have done flowers for years in competition for FFA and have done all these other flowers for dinners and other events so why not?” I took one look at the confidence in her eyes, my panic subsided and the design side of Wildly Native was born. Little did I know how incredibly life changing that one moment would be – honestly for both of us. Now, multiple years in, hundreds (honestly probably thousands) of weddings, events and shop orders behind us, we are a business who work tirelessly to have a high quality product that stands out from other florists with a natural feel and low ecological impact.

Q: What does working in agriculture, and specifically being a woman in agriculture, mean to you?

Life is full of moments and some stand out more than others for us in our minds – throughout my life I have been fortunate to experience many of them but as a college student I had a defining moment for me personally. Every year at Delaware Valley College one of the fundraisers they used to have was a Halloween Howl. There would be specific buildings set up as the haunted house and then you had a haunted hay ride to go on after. It was a huge undertaking and so many people attended! I was the ONE female who was driving one of the tractors for the hay ride and field part of the haunted tour. I distinctly remember all these people everywhere in long lines, all these little kiddos in costumes waiting for their turn. One little boy pointed to me, turned to his parents and told them he didn’t want to ride on my tractor. When the father asked why he said straight faced “Are you sure she knows how to drive the tractor? Girls don’t do that.” Something clicked inside me. I was surprised that this little 3 year old boy could identify that I should or couldn’t drive a tractor and I realized I was so proud that I showed him and all the little boys and girls around him that yes indeed I COULD (and still can) drive a tractor.

There are SO MANY stereotypes when it comes to agriculture, from the overalls and the pitchfork to the misconception of always being dirty and how women’s jobs on the farm are viewed as often the egg collector. I am proud to say I break that mold every chance I get. We are a women run organization, the majority of my staff are women and we approach all aspects of business from a whole other perspective because of it. While I may not bale straw, run a combine and put up the cows as more traditional Ag is viewed, as a flower farmer I still have to run the equipment, calculate the fertilizer ratios, harvest correctly and close the fence at the end of the day. When talking to folks at soil conservation events, being a leader in the future education perspective as part of farm bureau or sitting on various boards to make sure Ag is represented consistently in the community so people understand where even the basics of their food comes from, people do a double take when I explain what I do as a flower farmer florist. Ag seems to often be a mystery in today’s world of screens and easy access to food. My role? To help people understand as much of those mysteries as possible – whether you are male or female. I just get to have the added bonus of surprise when I CAN drive that tractor.

Q: What do you wish the next generation of women in agriculture would know about your work? What advice would you give them?

I have had the incredible honor of working with students for over 14 years at our local high school before I became a full time flower farmer years ago so the lessons I have been able to share will most likely be a little different from other people. I also have the most incredible opportunity to work the Wildly Native business with my daughter, so the next generation is literally standing right beside me day to day as we work together. As farms continue to shrink, generations make choices that lead them away from the farm and jobs become more and more digitally based, our Ag world continues to change. If you can’t find a way to keep up with the changes, be part of the movement changing things going forward and think outside the box, you will be left standing alone wondering what happened. This farm has had generations of crops on it and I often think if I still had to grow tomatoes for canning like previous generations I would already be out of business. It can be SO HARD to convince other people to change, to allow you to have your own perspective. Change is scary, uncomfortable and can feel daunting. If you have a passion, if you have a vision or a way to do things better or differently don’t be afraid to speak up, speak out and don’t ever let anyone tell you that you can’t or shouldn’t do that. The other thing I would tell people? Listen. Always listen more than you speak. Trends will happen, people will have ideas and core values – listen and see if they align with what and where you are. You can do market research, try to make sure all things are aligned correctly but most importantly listen to what is happening. You will be surprised by how that little shift will make a huge difference!

Q: Have you had access to formal education or informal training programs to help you grow your operation?

I have had access to so much education over my life and I always thirst for more. I have taken formal classes, earned a bachelor’s degree in Horticulture, taken more courses later in life to earn my Masters Degree in Secondary Education, became a CASE (Curriculum for Agricultural Science and Education) certified instructor holding 5 of their certifications, which in turn led me to actually write courses for National Environmentally based curriculum, then wrote a capstone program for the state of Maryland, attended various trainings held by smaller programs to learn about social media, finance, along with a myriad of other programs to further my knowledge in business. To say education is fundamental in my business is an understatement. It helped me learn which in turn meant I was able to help others. All of these trainings – the small and the formal have helped me get to where I am today. I know it may sound silly but that simple girl scout finance training that I had to take when I became a troop leader helped me learn fundamentals that I still carry with me today. Every piece of education has helped me – they are all valuable.

Q: What would make it easier for women in agriculture to access the capital they need?

Its funny – I answered the question above without reading the next question listed here and some of the most basic questions I have and still struggle with is finance. I can grow flowers – I can grow a ton of things!!! The business side? How and when to scale, how to attain the best rates, how to build the best credit rating for your business – those are all things that do not come naturally to me and I have had to learn so many hard lessons about. I wish there was more open conversation when it comes to money and how to manage it. It is often assumed that if you have a business then you must know all these “things” about money. Not always the truth and often men speak about money in terms that are different than how women would manage the same situation. What would make it easier to access? People who “speak money” in women’s terms. People who are approachable and can work through the various thoughts and perspectives to provide help and not judge the way things are working. Obviously grants and loans that are set with funding for folks that are women based will help – having that earmarked money makes sense! Education that is women focused and ag based would be an amazing program. Small business basic education with women in mind would be so helpful. Sometimes? It’s really hard to figure out all the layers and make all the decisions when it feels like a whole other language. Normalize the conversation of talking about money.

Q: What technologies or innovations have made the biggest difference on your farm? How do you stay informed about best practices, weather, markets, or new technologies?

Technology is literally everywhere and making sure it is used correctly to advance the business is critical for us to continue to move the business forward. That being said, technology is consistently changing and quite frankly can feel overwhelming at times. To stay on top of the latest trends I attend farm bureau meetings as well as trade shows and conferences, hold memberships in various flower growing associations and also watch social media. We do not employ much technology in our day to day operations in the field other than watching the weather to make sure we are always prepared for whatever comes our way year round.

Q: Describe a specific challenge you faced and how you overcame it. 

“A specific challenge.” WOW – Its honestly hard to pick ONE – in running a small business there are many challenges that you face from day to day and have to make those gut decisions sometimes that set you up for different outcomes than anticipated. Tractor blows a gasket right before spring planting? You have to figure out how to fix it.

Customer is upset because you made a mistake? You have to own the mistake, talk to them and explain what happened, come to a resolution that is agreeable for both parties and figure out how to change the infrastructure so that it doesn’t happen again.

The delivery van has run over a piece of wire, you cant be late with the flowers and its really hot out and you cant beat the traffic? You have to figure it out NOW.

You discover the way you set up the quick books accounting was wrong for an entire year and you didn’t know it was wrong but now you have to figure it out? Yep – you guessed it. You have to fix it. Contact the accountant, make the phone calls, set a plan in place to correct the mistake and figure out how to move forward.

The hurricane blew over all your one crop and you need it for a wedding in two weeks? You have to figure it out. Call other growers to see if they have any, see if you can salvage any part of the crop you have and have a back up plan in place in case none of this works.

Deer and foxes got into the perennial patch and destroyed a whole section of crop? You have to come up with a new plan to keep them out. After all this isn’t a salad bar!

You have an employee who does not do the work you expected of them but they are a really nice person? You have to talk to them, put a plan in place and make decisions about how to move forward.

Heater breaks in the greenhouse, its 23 degrees outside and the whole crop is inside? Think quick and fix it!

Describing a specific challenge is tough because in the Agriculture field you constantly have to think on your feet, be resilient and resourceful. Every single scenario above is legitimately something that I have faced over the years. I know there are more things to come my way but every single time I find a smile or a laugh does wonders for the situation in the moment – then you get to work and figure out how to just fix it. Its just that simple.

Q: Has your state department of agriculture helped you advance your operation? How?

Yes absolutely. In making sure we are always innovative, we developed a new line of culinary florals that incorporated dehydrated petals which are then blended with salts and sugars. The process was very long and had so many road blocks since we were producing the flowers, processing them and ultimately creating the final consumable product. The Maryland State Department of Agriculture helped us all along the way as we navigated the process from start to finish and helped us ensure we had all the information, support and contacts to make the project successful. They were ready with ideas, helped us navigate the rules for food safety and really were instrumental in us having a brand new product within a reasonable amount of time for launch. Their offerings of training, insight and other special projects designed specifically to support new product launches literally made it possible for us to take a product idea and turn it into reality.

I think one of the factors that sets the Maryland Department of Agriculture apart from other organizations is the true human factor who are behind the names. You get to speak to a real person who doesn’t just shove you to another department, land in a voicemail somewhere and the question you have never gets buried or forgotten – instead there is real help with timely answers. Without the support of the state? This project would never have launched to be honest. The programs they have in place such as Maryland’s Best, Annie’s Project, Maryland Expos, all of the training for culinary compliance and round table discussions – all set up to help businesses become successful are truly what set them apart from other organizations. I wouldn’t be where I am now if it was not for their incredible support!