We are so excited to feature the fabulous San Joaquin Flower Collective - growing in the Central Valley of California. We caught up with founders, Natalie Geehr of January & June Flower Farm and Darci Hovsepian of dh floral, to hear their reflections on the first few growing seasons as a collective. You can learn more about their nine flower farms on their website and follow them on Instagram for the latest updates and gorgeous floral inspiration.
The San Joaquin Flower Collective is a partnership amongst specialty cut flower growers to support and streamline access to local flowers to the floral design community in Fresno, Clovis, Visalia, Bakersfield, and Modesto. They bring the best of the season's Central Valley blooms to one convenient pickup location in Fresno, California. They are passionate about growing the most inspiring, highest quality product fresh from their fields to support their designers, the planet, and the small farm community.
What is your production season?
March - November!
What is your collective’s origin story?
We're a tight-knit group of flower farmers that began collaborating in 2021 to pool our availability to local florists. We believe strongly in working together to support each other's businesses, and saw that by collaborating we'd also improve our local florists' access to our flowers. Many spreadsheets and meetings later, we took the leap to form the San Joaquin Flower Collective. We've been so thankful for the positive response from our community and the strengthened relationships among our farmers!
Why is being in a collective valuable?
Making a profit as a small-scale flower farmer is tough. We're competing for market share against the convenience and low prices of the wholesalers, and large-scale farms that can offer larger quantities than our tiny farms. By pooling our availability and resources, we're able to serve our florists with what they really need - larger quantities of top-notch local product with one convenient ordering process and pickup location.
What are you most proud of as a collective?
I'm proud of the way our farmers banded together to support each other not just in business, but in their personal lives as well. Each one of us faced crises - crop loss, family, and health - and we were able to find support from our group. Whether it was helping each other with a pickup or drop-off, harvesting for a member when they were sick or unable, or working together to move flowers that a member hadn't had time to market, I'm truly in awe of our members' ability to work together compassionately and professionally.
What are some tips you'd recommend for floral designers who want to make the switch to buying more local flowers?
Leave room in your budget for local flowers as you get used to the ordering process, then slowly start allocating more room for local flowers in your plans. Collectives will always have your back during the growing season, and we do a great job of finding a way to get you what you need!
What do you love about Rooted?
Oh gosh, where do we begin?! We were originally pooling our resources on Google Sheets each week - so time intensive. Rooted allows us to keep inventory updated in real-time, and allows our growers to post photos and highly detailed descriptions for our florists tdo know exactly what they're buying (as opposed to the sterile excel sheet you get from most wholesalers). Being able to quickly make substitutions or additions on orders, see detailed reports on sales each week, and share all of this information with our members has been so amazing.
Thank you, Natalie, Darci, and the San Joaquin Collective for sharing your story! In the greater San Joaquin area? Check out their shop page!