By Cory L. Higgs
It may be snowy and cold, but one farmer is already preparing for the 2020 season.
Terry Turner, proprietor of Mayberry Blooms, is celebrating another successful year as a flower and vegetable farmer.
Turner and her husband, Doug, live in the Blue Ridge District in the sleepy community of Mayberry with his quiet tree-lined roads and flowing creeks.
It’s the perfect place to do a little farming, Turner said, and added that she’s had her toes in the dirt planting flowers since her early 20s.
Turner grew up in a family with gardening in their blood, she said, and recalled her grandmother spent her days pruning and planting, and picking the occasional bouquet.
“I always had flower gardens throughout my yard, but it wasn’t until my late 30s that I dove hard into natural soil health and a diverse selection of flowers,” Turner said.
In 2017, the Turners were daydreaming about potential business ideas to bring in income after retirement, she said. A YouTube video sparked a dream and newfound passion. The video showcased a fellow flower fanatic that successfully turned their passion into a profitable business by selling locally sustainable flowers.
Turner said she ran the idea by her husband and to her surprise, he was all in on the new adventure.
She said the first roadblock they encountered wasn’t in the fields, but was in their living room as they hashed out potential names for the new venture. The pair posted a poll to Facebook to get the community’s feedback on a narrowed down list of names.
“The winning name was ‘Mayberry Blooms,’ and it seemed meant to be,” since their farm was situated in the old community of Mayberry, Turner said.
The next obstacle were the dreary and record-breaking rains of 2018, she said.
“I would often joke, ‘could we have started in a worse year,’” she said, adding “It seemed to rain every day, but that’s the life of a farmer, right?”
Turner said that while the venture seems like a new idea, it is a business plan that dates back decades. The small scale flower farms were ‘nipped in the proverbial bud’ in the 1960s, due to the large scale industrialization of flower farming, she said.
“Before the 1960’s it was common for florists to have gardens beside their shops, where they could cut from,” and then deliver their goods to surrounding towns and cities, Turner said. As times changed and demand for industrialized farming became the new fad, Turner said her research shows that by the mid-1960s, there was a significant shift from local production to outsourcing to places like Columbia. From her research, Turner said that about 80 percent of cut flowers are imported into the United States.
With a renewed focus on shop local and sustainability campaigns, consumers are now looking locally for their floral needs. Turner said.
“When buying local flowers, you get a fresh product that has either been cut that morning or the evening before, which means longer lasting blooms that have been lovingly grown and cared for,” ethically and suitably, she said.
“Right now, we farm on approximately one acre, which includes what we call the big garden in the nearby bottom pasture, plus various (flower) beds around our home,” Turner said.
She said they expand every year and add new gardens and beds around the farm. The farm currently wholesales to florists, specializes in arrangements and offers brides and grooms the option to come out and do their own DIY buckets for their weddings. She said whole crops are often grown for a single wedding. The farm also offers couples the opportunity to watch their flowers grow and blossom.
Besides the flashy and fun flowers, Mayberry Blooms is celebrating a successful year of a new program launched at the beginning of 2019, the ‘Member Only Market,’ which offers members a weekly farmers market to hand-select fresh organically grown produce straight from the fields.
“The market has been a great addition, and our members love coming to the farm every Friday to pick from fresh flowers and vegetables that I have harvested that morning,” she said.
The job of a flower farmer is year-round with maintenance and composting and other tasks to keep the beautiful blooms coming back year after year.
“We grow from May until the first frost, which is usually mid-October, but work is never finished. Irrigation, support netting, and dead plants have to be pulled up,” she said. Turner says they dig up and store their Dahlias after the frost hits and plant tulips and other bulb plants in November to be ready for the coming spring.
Starting a flower farm can seem like a daunting task, but is possible with a small investment, a tiny plot of land, and maybe a green thumb if you have one, Turner said. She joked the green-thumb is not required, but it helps.
“I would consider this a dream job, although that doesn’t mean it’s all about tip-toeing through the tulips,” she said, chuckling. “It’s a farm, and as all farmers and gardeners know, it’s downright hard work.”
Turner and her husband can be found out in the garden rain or shine, with their honorary canine farmer Sadie, who busies herself chasing butterflies.
Stay up to date with Mayberry Blooms and upcoming events at www.facebook.com/mayberryblooms.
