There are two things that got me into flowers - vegetables and soap.

I don’t have alot of growing experience. I only started gardening in 2019 and it wasn’t until 2020 when I started growing from seed for the first time. But I’m the type of person who will dive deep into a rabbit hole when I’m interested in something, and growing my own food was one of those interests. That’s how I got into flowers. Companion planting between vegetable and flowers is one of the key ways to boost your vegetable productivity.

On the side, I also have a soap company called b.a.r.e. soaps. That’s where this farm gets its namesake. b.a.r.e. stands for “bringing antiseptic resources to everyone”. My co-founder Clare and I started our soap company with the intention of donating our profits to support non-profit causes we believe in. Since starting the company as a side hustle in 2013, we have donated over $40k. It’s through b.a.r.e. soaps where I realized I have a passion for living and sharing what a sustainable lifestyle means to me.

What does soap have to do with flowers? My first foray into flowers actually came from the plantable packaging we use to package our soap. I learned about why flowers are important to pollinators, how different flowers provide a different foods source to insects, and how we all have the ability to make an impact right in our backyard through flowers.

While having an e-commerce business that promotes the reduction of single use plastic is fulfilling, I really wanted to have a truly local product that solved a legitimate challenge. Tax laws a few decades ago opened the floodgates to imported flowers. Today, 4 out of 5 bouquets you buy from both the grocery store and the florist are imported. Not only does the shipping and refrigeration have a huge carbon footprint, but those blooms are heavily sprayed with pesticides to meet USDA pest requirements. Florists handle those blooms, you handle those blooms. It’s bad for the environment and for our health.

The local flower farmer movement is gaining momentum and we’re proud to be a part of it. Our goal is to offer our community in Central NJ an local alternative for blooms while creating a community that centers around living a more sustainable lifestyle.