Kelowna flower grower selling bouquet subscriptions
A third-generation family-run farm is offering a subscription service for flowers in Kelowna.
Kathy Wiebe lives on the farm her husband’s grandfather bought in 1949.
Originally an orchard, Weibe and her husband transformed the 13 acres first into a vegetable and walnut farm, before Wiebe started her own business selling flowers.
“We did vegetables for 11 years,” Wiebe told iNFOnews.ca. “Then COVID hit and we continued to do vegetables, but my husband's health and his body kind of got us pulling back from that a bit.”
During lockdown, Wiebe started researching flower growing and realized the farm had all the infrastructure she would need.
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“One year, we did both vegetables and flowers and I started selling at the farmers' market a little bit," Wiebe said. “I just researched like what are the 10 easiest flowers to start with and I started with those.”
Now, she has been growing flowers for five years and is on her second year of offering a subscription service.
Wiebe's seasonal subscription service allows customers to purchase bouquets in the spring, summer and fall every week or every two weeks. Customers can sign up for one season or all three.
Bouquets cost $35 and can be picked up at Orchard Hill Farm.
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Wiebe said she feels lucky to have a job that allows her to work outside and hear her customer's stories.
“When people buy vegetables it's usually a very practical purchase. It would be fun to talk to (customers) about what they're gonna cook for dinner or whatever. But I noticed when I started selling flowers that it was much more of an emotional exchange," she said.
"I got to hear about where these flowers were going and usually it was to celebrate something or a compassionate gift for someone who had just experienced a loss. I often found that I was tearful about why people were buying these flowers and that has been such a fun added bonus to doing this.”
More information about the farm can be found on its Instagram page here.
To find out about subscription services, you can email Kathy Wiebe here.
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