From Jennie:

I’ve really enjoyed teaching many students in workshop and master class settings, but I wanted to connect a bit more deeply and mentor some newer flower farmers on a more long-term basis in a way that would really support them and give them a serious launching pad for growing their floral businesses quickly. Thus the idea of a flower farmer exchange program, or what is now officially dubbed the Love ‘n Fresh Flowers “Flower Farmer Fellowship” was born. This season we have three Fellows coming to spend time with us at the farm.

The first is just leaving us today, which is so bittersweet. Everyone here at Love ‘n Fresh has just adored Denise Richter. She’s spent two weeks hustling with us in all manner of tasks and has been a delight with her positive, supportive, hard-working energy. I wish she could stay indefinitely! But we’re also super excited for her go home to her New Orleans farm so we can see the magic she makes there with her own beautiful, budding flower business! But before we let her go, we made her answer a few questions and pose for some silly pictures.

Meet Denise!

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Q. How long have you been growing flowers and how did you initially get involved with them?
My love of flowers, I have to say, started with my mom when I was a kid. I remember going to our local nurseries with lists of plants we had researched together. She loves all the stinkiest, most fragrant beauties–and so do I! As an adult, I’ve been growing flowers for the last 10 years or so, on the side, along with growing herbs and veggies. Really, as the years went by, I got more and more into flowers. Long story short, I pretty much wild-ed out and talked constantly about flowers to anyone who would listen, and decided to move flower growing from the sidelines to the front and center. Now, I’m just so excited to have something to dive into learning about–and it seems like my learning never stops. I also feel really passionately about providing an alternative to the nasty business of conventional, imported flowers.
Q. Tell us a little about your own flower operation: Where is it located? How big is it? Where/how do you sell most of your flowers? Do you work with anyone?
Pistil and Stamen farm and studio is the collaboration between me and Megan McHugh (also a poet and school gardener). We grow on three, small, very urban lots in New Orleans totaling about a 1/3 acre. We grow flowers for our weekly subscribers including individuals, cafes, restaurants, and galleries around the city. We also started designing for weddings and other special events last spring, which we love.
Q. Tell us about the flower farming “scene” at home. You’ve started a cool collaboration, right?
The “scene” is tiny, but full of heart and passion, much like New Orleans itself. Just about a year ago we, along with a small handful of other local flowers growers, got together to form the New Orleans Flower Growers Association. We work together to support each other, share resources and information, as well as build the momentum and interest in locally grown flowers. In our area, we are blessed with a year round growing season, and the ability to grow amazing flowers–and we want to educate and celebrate that with everyone.

Q. Before you came, what were you hoping most to learn while at Love ‘n Fresh Flowers?
I was hoping to live a day in the life, so to speak, of someone who was successfully doing what we are trying to do, but with years of experience under her belt. I have learned immensely from working on others’ farms in my background growing organic vegetables–and I was hoping for that same opportunity to learn the tips, tricks, and business of the glorious cut flower hustle. After having been here, I sure have learned!
Q. What’s been the best tip(s) you’ve learned so far while working with us?
Oh my goodness, where to start. I’m flipping through my many pages of notes! I have learned immensely in the last two weeks. I probably most appreciate the wisdom I’ve received around the timeline and priorities of building a successful business. I feel confident as a grower, I’m learning quickly as a designer, but using those skills toward building a successful business has felt certainly a little daunting. Jennie has been an open book, so helpful and so willing with her time. It has been really nice to have the whole thing demystified, from the business of selling stems wholesale, to CSAs and markets, and to weddings.
Q. What’s been your favorite part about the Love ‘n Fresh farm/team/experience?
I’ve just loved every day. It’s been fun and really inspiring. After every day working in the field and in the studio, I go home and furiously take notes and think through ideas for our business at home. I’m on fire! Jennie and her small crew are great, they welcomed me and accepted me immediately into every single task, which I really appreciate. It feels great to volunteer my time and learn JUST SO MUCH in the process.

Q. Is there anything that’s surprised you about Love ‘n Fresh?
A. I’m really astonished at how many flowers are being grown on a not very big space–it’s really encouraging for us in our tiny spaces back home. I’m also blown over at how many weddings Love ‘n Fresh is able to pull off. It takes an organized, hard working bunch, and I’m totally impressed.
Q. Did you discover a new flower while here at Love ‘n Fresh? Will you grow it at home?
Agrostemma! I love it’s delicacy and whimsy–but at the same time, it’s a really classy, elegant flower. I’ll totally grow it at home.
Q. What’s a big difference between growing flowers here and growing flowers at home (season? timing? varities?)?
You know, it’s funny, we can grow much of the same stuff in our climate, only ours is spread out throughout the year as opposed to squished in a shorter growing season up here in the temperate northeast. We are both fortunate enough to have hot, humid summers (haha), so there we have a lot in common. I only wish we could grow some of the hardier northern plants like hellebores and peonies–I wish! While I’ve been here, there’s been a lot of ‘oh, I wish I could grow that where I am…’ coming from both of us. On one hand, the grass is always greener, and on the other, it gives us both a chance to celebrate the small blessings of our own seasonality–I mean, that’s what makes local flowers fun, right?

Q. If you had to choose, would you rather spend an hour with the ducks or with Andrew? Be honest…
Haha! Can’t I just spend that hour with Andrew watching the ducks slide down their brand new water slide?!? Cracking jokes and watching them do silly things?
Q. There’s no TV at the farm cottage so I bet you’ve been reading a lot. What’s a good book you’d recommend?
I just finished Zeitoun by Dave Eggers. It’s a non-fiction narrative about an Arab-American family living in New Orleans in the days leading up to, as well as the time following hurricane Katrina. I don’t get a chance to read much back home (unless it’s geeky soil science or flower farming books), and I’ve been wanting to read that for a while. Man o man, it is a moving, enlightening, and devastating book–I can’t say I enjoyed it per se, but I’m really glad I read it. It just really enforced that the real tragedy of Katrina was the aftermath, and the way it was mishandled by city and federal government. It also gave me great faith in the people and in the city of New Orleans. It made me feel proud to live there and have been a part of its rebuilding.

Q. You’ve traveled a lot. Tell us some of your favorite locales.
Another great question! It’s a real hard one to answer. I have to say the time I spent living in both New Zealand and Fairbanks, Alaska are nearest and dearest to my heart. Lots of learning and growing there both literally and personally.
Q. So do you think we should keep doing this flower farmer exchange thing?
Wow, totally. I just can’t believe how much I’ve been learning. Thanks to this experience, I feel both I and our business are light-years ahead of where we would have been by doing this on our own and learning from our own trials and mistakes. It’s always great to learn from other peoples’ failures! But in all seriousness, I really am so invigorated and inspired, and I feel both energized and overwhelmed in the best possible way. I am so glad I was able to come, and I am so grateful for this experience, and for Jennie’s total willingness and enthusiasm to help us on our journey.