(bright music) - So Rustic Designs Flower Farm is where we grow two acres of specially cut flowers.

Actually it's a little bit over two acres of cut flowers that we grow out in the field.

We sell wholesale to flower shops in Central Minnesota, and we also do a subscription deliveries where we deliver flowers to people's homes, and we have you pick hours where you can come out to the farm and pick flowers early in the morning.

We also have flower ranging classes out here as well as classes year round.

So we have like the spruce top classes in the winter time.

We have succulent planter classes in the summertime.

Oh, and also a lot of wedding work.

I forgot to talk about that.

We do full design and setup, so that does take up most of our weekends with that type of thing.

So we use an assortment.

We have just a fun assortment of succulents and fun assortment of containers too that you get to pick from for that class.

So it's super fun.

(bright music) I grew up on a farm not very far from here.

We had a huge garden and lots of flowers, and both my grandmas have flowers.

I was really surrounded by flowers as a child.

I was in forage, so I exhibited at the county fair and of course I exhibited flowers as well as in the open division.

Belgrade also had a flower club, a really big flower club back in the day where they actually had their own little fair, and it was pretty large.

And I exhibited there as a child and I even competed in the adult divisions.

So, and there was also another lady at my church that taught me a lot of skills as far as design work.

And so I feel as a child that I really grew up with it.

So I always say it's in my blood.

I just really love flowers.

I have a passion for it.

(bright music) So with the you pick hours, you just come out to the farm and we have a bucket and clippers, you can cut your own flowers.

We suggest to cut nice lawn stems and then you just pay the stem price.

So stem prices are anywhere from $0.50 to $5.

Once you're done, then we'll bundle them up for you to take home.

And we would certainly put them in a bucket too.

If you brought your own bucket, we'll put 'em in your bucket for you to take home too.

So that's kind of how that works.

So it's very important that the cutting hours are only in the mornings from 8:00 until 10:00 a.m.

We do have some that'll come after 10:00 a.m., and unfortunately we don't allow picking after 10:00 a.m.

just because it gets too hot out in the field and it really is stressful on the flowers to pick in the heat of the day.

So that's why we have morning picking hours.

(bright music) - Okay.

It's a pretty shot.

(participant chuckles) - I'll do it.

(bright music) - I definitely feel that designing is something that you are born with.

I mean, sure, you can definitely learn the techniques and the mechanics behind it, but I think you need to be, also have that in your blood too as well.

(bright music) I started the flower farm in 2011, so this is year number 14.

Now, granted, when I started back then I had just a little space.

It was definitely under an acre and I just grew it over the years, every year expanding a little bit more, tilling up a little bit more grass, taking down some sheds.

Even last year we took down 120 trees to expand out in the backyard and put up a high tunnel.

And when I started out in 2011, I was just doing the farmer's markets in Wilmer, and that's kind of how I grew my business and my clientele.

And we no longer do the farmer's markets.

We built this building, the shed here in 2018, and that was kind of a game changer.

People really wanna come out and experience the farm kind of behind the scenes.

And so we quit doing the farmer's market at that point and we just invite everybody to come out to the farm to experience what the flower farm life is like.

We're actually gonna be taking them completely out of the crate.

- Yeah.

- Throwing everything but keeping the lilies itself and then just the lilies will go into the shed just to dry.

And I wanna save them for the Harvest Fest and give them away as a. Flowers make people happy and colorful, lots of color, especially like in the springtime when you are so sick and tired of the winter and the snow and no leaves on the trees, and the first flowers in the spring is just everybody, it brings a smile to everyone's face.

Flowers are happy.

(bright music) I find that growing flowers is therapeutic.

It just is soothing to the soul.

It's happiness.

The satisfaction after weeding an area is great too 'cause you see a really weedy area and you just wanna clean it up and it's just that good feeling after you got a clean space or once you have tied up flowers.

We do tie up our flowers out in the field.

Certain ones need a little bit more support.

So after you've gone through the area, just the neatness.

(bright music) My favorite flower changes every week.

I'm definitely drawn to flowers that have scents.

So I definitely like the lilac, the peonies, the garden flags are probably my top favorite ones, I guess.

But other than that, I don't really have a favorite.

It changes week to week.

(bright music) No, we have no air fresheners.

You know, that's a funny thing is everyone comes in here like, oh it smells so good in here.

I honestly am so used to it, I don't even notice it.

I have to be gone for like a whole entire week to even know that it's, it's like a different scent in here.

And I think it's also a lot to do with the dried flowers that we have on this ceiling.

We have so many dries up there that I think it also creates a scent in the, the shop here, but everyone loves the, the scent when they walk in and I just don't even smell it, it is so sad.

(participant laughs) (bright music) I have a degree in horticulture and floral design.

So I had worked in the floral industry and small flower shops.

I knew that I didn't wanna own a flower shop on Main Street.

I wanted to do something a little bit different.

I love being outside, I love getting a tan and I love growing flowers, so I thought, you know, let's just try this.

Let's just grow some flowers, see how it goes and see if I can make a go of it.

So I think this is probably like year eight or so where this is my full-time job.

This is all that I do.

Now, granted, I can't do this all by myself.

I have six girls that help me here at the farm.

So it's definitely a teamwork farm.

(bright music) 5:00 this morning, I was working on wedding work because it's gonna get really hot today.

So usually I am out here right away at 5:00, either working out in the field on stuff or prepping the list of things that need to be done for the day or like Thursdays and Fridays I'm working on wedding work.

There's been even times where I'm out here at 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning working on wedding work 'cause wedding work takes a lot of design hours.

So it just depends upon how many weddings I have for the weekend and what needs to be done.

My early mornings are early, but I get my best work done.

I think I'm the most creative person in the morning, so.

It's less distractions too.

(participants laugh) (bright music) I am gonna do this until I'm like 70 ish.

(participant laughs) I am... I love what I do, so yeah, I definitely, I'd say that I'm definitely gonna be in my 70s before I quit doing this, but I've recently been thinking a little bit more about that and what does retirement look like, and I wanna keep doing this.

(bright music) Yeah, I really love this.

Yeah, this is a passion.

(bright music)