Celebrating one year of Minnow and Wolf
As we celebrate our first year as flower farmers, we thought it was a good time to write a blog post to let you know what we have been up to.
In July last year we placed the first fence post in the flower field and the adventure began. From topping the field, adding deer fencing and ordering over 50 tonnes of organic compost and collecting countless cardboard boxes we began making no dig beds and sowing seeds.
The first year has felt like a whirlwind and it’s hard to believe how much we have squeezed into the last few months.
Learning as we go, we have created over 30 no dig beds so far, constructed a polytunnel, planted a vegetable garden (which is under constant attack from the rabbits) and built a hen house for our ever growing family of chickens. It’s been a lot of hard work with early mornings and late nights working in all weather conditions to build both the field and a whole new world of clients and friends.
The selling season began for us in March when we had a flush of the most incredible tulips, daffodils and anemones. We probably shouldn’t admit this being flower farmers but we didn’t realise tulips could have such long stems and smell so good. Flaming Margarita knocked our socks off with its intoxicating scent and beautiful appearance. It was all systems go and a slight panic to sell as many tulips as we could before they blew open in the polytunnel. A busy April led to an even busier May with a weekly contract win to supply flowers for The Campaner restaurant in London and flowers for the House & Garden Top 100 Interior Designers and Architects Awards followed by the Chelsea Barracks Spring Fair where we did a full floral installation for the event, hosted flower workshops and had a lovely little shed for the week selling our flowers opposite The Chelsea Flower Show.
May was the month when we realised we had made the right decision. Growing flowers offers an immense sense of achievement but working with our own flowers, grown and picked and styled with our very own hands offers a whole new feeling and a sense of belonging in an industry that is very new to us.
We have had incredible support so far from our generous friend Nikki Tibbles, world renowned florist and founder of Wild at Heart. Our flowers are now available every Saturday from Wild at Heart’s iconic Turquoise Island shop in Notting Hill.
Our new friend April from April Rose Flowers and head florist at Heckfield Place is beyond talented and shares our ethos when it comes to working with sustainable flowers. She has been an invaluable support and inspiration and we have enjoyed working together on several events and have many exciting plans for the future.
We are also incredibly grateful to Debora Fisher-Smith from Chelsea Barracks and Noni Ware at House and Garden for two amazing opportunities so early in the season and our regular wholesale clients who have kept us busy this summer.
Since May we have enjoyed working with private clients to provide flowers for lunches, birthday celebrations, launch parties, press events and weddings.
We have big plans to increase productivity in the field next year. We are currently in the process of adding 40 new beds and a huge second polytunnel. More about this next time! We just wish we had a few more hours in the day to get everything done.
Hannah and Chris x
