Can you believe we’re almost at the start of another year? The holiday season has just flown by! I’m packing my bags tomorrow and jetting off to a warm Pacific beach. Woohoo! But before I head out, I’m putting the finishing touches on our floral design workshop and master class schedule for 2015. I’m so excited to meet and mentor a new crop of farmers and florists! Before we flip the calender though, there are still more 2014 alumni to meet.

Andrea Bachynsky from Honeysuckle Way Flower Farm & Design in Maine was such a delight to get to know. Andrea is quiet and inquisitive with an admirable intensity about her while she works with flowers. She explored our farm the most thoroughly of all the students, coming back to the design table with bits and pieces I hadn’t even seen out in the rows and beyond the fence. Such an eye for detail! She reminds me of me when I was starting out! I could tell she was soaking up every detail during the class, and I have loved watching her fledgling flower farm grow by leaps and bounds over this past season. It was especially awesome to see her again at the farm this autumn for the ASCFG National Conference.
Andrea’s also go a great little blog of her own that I love reading. She’s got a great sense of humor/ perspective, as demonstrated in particular in this post. You can also find her on Instagram as @honeysuckleway. Check it out and be sure to follow along!
So let’s dig in! Meet Andrea!

Tell us a little bit about your business, business model and clientele.
Honeysuckle Way began in the spring of 2014 with a generous offer from friends to grow flowers at Crooked Door Farm, a small vegetable farm in Whitefield, Maine. After two years spent working on a flower and vegetable farm in southern Maine, Honeysuckle Way is my first endeavour growing flowers on my own. This past year I grew a variety of annuals and perennials on a quarter acre plot of land, the majority of which I started from seed.
Throughout the summer I sold mixed bouquets at local farmers’ markets and also provided members with a bouquet each week through my flower CSA. I arranged flowers for several small events, and hope to move more toward custom design work.
For now it’s just me operating the business, with physical help from friends here and there and moral support from family afar. Not only do I enjoy providing my community with fresh flowers, I also hope to raise awareness of the benefits of supporting locally and sustainably grown flowers.

What got you into flowers in the first place?
Growing up, I always possessed a creative spark that I’ve channeled through drawing, painting, and crafting. Along the way, I also developed a passion for the outdoors with an appreciation for nature and it’s colorful imagery. I dabbled in jobs that involved nature or art, but was never able to completely engage both interests at once.
Then I started an apprenticeship at Broadturn Farm in Scarborough, Maine. I learned how to grow food and flowers, but was really captured by the ways flowers could be incorporated into stunning works of art. Under the mentorship of Stacy Brenner, of Flora Bliss, I gained an excitement toward flowers and the art of designing with this new natural and vibrant medium.
Flowers offered the perfect combination of both being outdoors, surrounded by nature, along with the ability to create unique forms of art that are enjoyed by many people.
You attended our Weddings: From Seed to Centerpiece Master Class at Love ‘n Fresh Flowers this past spring. When you signed up, what were you looking to gain by coming to our farm?
I was most excited about seeing first-hand the origin of Jennie Love’s amazing designs, from viewing the farm to meeting it’s talented creator. As a young farmer, struggling to build both a farm and design business on my own, I hoped to gain some insight from Jennie, who must have faced similar challenges to those I am encountering.
I was specifically seeking advice on growing a successful design business, as well as sharing my enthusiasm towards flowers with Jennie and others in the class.

What did you find most helpful about your time in the class? Where there any surprises?
The business portion of the class was immensely helpful to me. I came to the class with some design experience and an understanding of how subjective design work is, as everyone develops their own unique style. I do not, however, have any business experience and realize there are good and bad ways to run a business.
It was helpful hearing Jennie’s experiences with clients and how she handled them. Over the years, she has developed an ever-evolving system of doing business. Learning about her step-by-step process brought to mind good practices I could enact in my own business and reinforced the ones I am currently doing.
Although it may not have come as a surprise, but more a comforting relief, Jennie was completely down-to-earth. Her advice came from both mistakes and successes she has faced, and her honesty and sense of humor helped instill confidence in myself. The most valuable message I received from the class was I can do it. I can build a successful flower farm and business, and I can make a living doing something I love. Jennie encouraged us to believe in our work so that we can confidently charge what it is worth.
Can you give us a specific example of something you learned and then implemented into your own business once you went home?
When meeting with clients, especially wedding couples, Jennie encouraged us to make an effort to get to know them, even the groom, who tends to be overlooked amidst the brides’ excitement towards planning the big day. Taking an interest in the couple could not only make the difference of landing the job, but also helps make their day exactly how they imagine it. Even if the couple isn’t quite sure how they imagine it, the better I understand who they are, the more capable I am of creating an image that is unique to their style and personality.
I have kept this in mind when talking to clients and made sure to take an interest in each person, even if I’m just creating a simple bouquet for their dinner table. I am happy to go out of my way if it makes the difference between good and outstanding service.

How has your business changed over the past several months since the class?
Since attending the class, I have had more confidence conducting my business. Believing in myself has helped improve my interaction with customers. Rather than being timid about what I am offering, I take pride in telling customers how I grew the flowers myself and offer the best quality. I feel I have become more professional in representing my business and services.
Memorable interactions have helped grow loyalty among customers, along with the experience they get coming to my farmers’ market stand and then taking home my flowers to serve as a focal point and topic of conversation in a room. Since the time of the class, Honeysuckle Way has gone from being a logo and some seedlings to an evolving flower business appreciated by CSA members and market-goers of nearby towns.
Have you stayed in touch with any other students from the class?
I met a lot of talented individuals in the class and am grateful to have been able to keep in touch with many of them, even if it’s just in the form of Instagram and gaining inspiration from images of their recent work. I was also able to catch up with several of my fellow students at the ASCFG National Conference.

Time for the “big question”! Where do you see your business going from here? A healthy business is always evolving. What’s that process look like for yours?
I plan to expand my field space, as well as flower variety, in the coming years. As I get a better idea of what works for me, I hope to invest more in perennials that can be used from year to year. I also hope to be able to provide cut flowers earlier in the spring and later into the fall by growing more under cover during cold weather.
I’d like to continue making bouquets for a flower CSA and possibly some stores in the area, but would really like to focus on specialty design work. I am excited to hone in on my own style and define what will make my work specific to me. I want my flowers to be what stops guests in their tracks because they’ve never seen anything quite like it.