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What does it mean when a Dutch bulb company looks at your local small flower farm’s website? “You might be wondering who’s ordering 80,000 tulip bulbs,” says Jenny Elliott, co-owner with Luke Franco of Tin Hearts Farm in Coppac, NY.
But maybe there is more to it than that. Except for the annual “Tulip Season” celebrations of a few Dutch villages in the Midwest, as well as a few farms in the Pacific Northwest, tulips — the full blooms sold at markets and florists — are still mostly sourced from growers. The Netherlands (alas, 90 percent of light bulbs still have to come from their country of origin).
In an age where more and more people want to know how and where their meat is grown and harvested, and are increasingly aware of the carbon footprint of their choices – it’s easy to understand the rise in popularity of locally grown flowers. Not shipped worldwide. So tulips from tiny hearts.
Indeed, Franco and Elliott care for the environment by growing organic flowers using sustainable farming practices that help enrich the land. Not only does this bouquet of flowers make an exceptionally beautiful gift, but it also makes both the thoughtful gift giver and recipient feel good.
It’s not your run-of-the-mill story of how two classically trained musicians living in New York City ended up owning a 35-acre flower farm and shop in upstate NY. “I found it so stressful living in Brooklyn that I bought dirty chickpeas at the Union Square Farmers Market to smell the topsoil,” says Elliott, who loved gardening as a child and wanted to quit her day job and try something new. (She ordered the dahlia catalogs just to see the pictures). “I’m going with or without you,” she told Franco when she saw an ad for an internship at an educational farm in Westchester County. Fortunately, he followed. (Franco was and is a regularly working jazz guitarist.)
Five years later (in 2011), after planting vegetables and completing an internship, the couple partnered with the Westchester Land Trust’s Farmland Match program, which pairs landless farmers with property owners who own a few acres. When he learned that a one-acre pasture was available at Dick Button’s 50-acre Ice Pond Farm in North Salem, Mass., Elliott immediately applied. “I was a big fan of the Winter Olympics, and I thought this was meant to be!” she said.
And so Tiny Hearts Farm started a small vegetable and flower farm on an acre of land that hasn’t changed in 30 years. They have installed a rainwater catchment system, but without clean water, options for growing vegetables are limited. They also quickly discovered that it was difficult to sell as a vegetable grower at the local farmer’s market, but that people were eager to meet many flower sellers. “In only our third year, we turned into a flower,” says Luke. “But there’s a steep learning curve in growing flowers, especially if you want to specialize in hard-to-grow species, so we knew we had to pay attention to make it work.”
In the year In the spring of 2014, they signed a lifetime lease on a 22-acre farm in Columbia County and moved to Copac, expanding their space and improving infrastructure as part of the new Copac Agricultural Center. Now they have 35 acres of land, a house at the edge of the field, a warehouse for packing orders, four greenhouses, additional equipment, two delivery vans and a strong staff who have a strong passion for flowers and are invested in becoming great farmers. and designers. They opened the Tiny Hearts Farm studio/showroom on Route 23 in Hillsdale in May 2018.
Fencing, materials, finance and housing were major challenges in the early years, but by They were nothing compared to the chaos of the 2020 outbreak. Canceling all meetings immediately. Relationships with other floral designers and wholesalers have ceased. “We had planned our seeds and plants earlier that spring, but suddenly we had no outlet to sell them,” they explain. We were scared to open our store and had to fix everything.
So, the couple got creative and created an online store on their website, listing each flower for pre-order or CSA (community supported agriculture) accounts. They post on Instagram and send out a weekly email newsletter. Elliott launched a YouTube channel with virtual tours to keep customers connected to what’s on the farm and updated on weather conditions and challenges. The result? Surprisingly, business flourished. As people’s daily lives became more routine, the demand for their flowers grew.
As Franco recalls, a customer was emotional over the phone when she learned they had sold out of her favorite flowers. “She told me that it was a very dark time, she really needed our flowers to give her happiness. The bouquets seemed like a bright spot in our environment.
This realization helped them to better understand what they were doing and why. If you walk into a flower shop on any Thursday, Friday, or Saturday between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., you’ll see that flowers continue to be used in the community—to express love, joy, or compassion, to celebrate success, or loss. They elevate any occasion, lift spirits and strengthen relationships. Elliott and her team know this instinctively and use that sense of purpose to create spontaneous and whimsical events like the people and occasions they celebrate.
When asked how he would define success, Franco paused. “Our vision has always been to create a beautiful place to live and work, and to spread joy to the community through what we do. That goal has never changed, but I think our ways to achieve that goal are changing because there are so many variables at any given time. If you’re open to new directions, when opportunities open, through the door.” They can go. Every step in their journey has shaped who they are, helping them continue to grow personally and professionally.
“Last year (our 11Th (year) was a big milestone for us, when we were able to grow to winter for the first time,” says Franco. The “bulbodome” – a 125-foot covered and temperature-controlled space connected to a 50-foot heated greenhouse – was an excellent work, creating a convenient place for storing and forcing bulbs. With an extra effort to grow more flowers earlier, Elliott and Franco were able to keep a full five-year staff for the first time. This summer, their staff grew to 12 (including cutters, drivers, farm crew members, equipment operators and shopkeepers). Children George and St. Clair also continue to help out, often giving them a “marshmallow” challenge while riding on the tractor or pinching peony buds.
This winter, they hope to have heirloom chrysanthemums until early December, followed by forced amaryllis and paper whites. If everything goes according to plan, the first tulips will be ready to pick in early February.
What makes Little Hearts Farm so special? It includes practicing sustainable farming, building team spirit, selling what’s in season, and committing to offering a wide palette of high-quality flowers.
But the real key? “We run a beautiful flower shop, sell to wholesalers and CSA members, and create beautiful event flowers,” says Franco. “The way we do this is deliberately simple.”
To avoid expensive consulting services, they offer a clear online a la carte menu of beautiful, in-season floral arrangements, allowing customers to choose what they want and know exactly what it will cost (including shipping).
When spring returns to Narnia, stepping into the flower shop is magical. The light-filled space, the scent of peonies and poppies and smooth jazz are an instant pick-me-up for a weekend getaway. Online customers may miss the “shop around the corner,” but they’ll quietly enjoy working with Elliott and her team, who believe in “letting the flowers speak for themselves—from the unusual twist of the stem, to the nodding of the head.” head, appreciating each plant for what it is in season.
Samara Rahmlow, who chose Tiny Hearts Farm for her summer dinner, raved: “We had a minimal change to the color palette, and the flowers were so beautiful!!! They used fresh, local and seasonal flowers that felt authentic…our guests were delighted with the beauty.
The Bulbodome and Greenhouses are helping Elliott and Franco deal with the strange weather conditions that are becoming more common with climate change. Now you are exploring how to turn a very successful business into a long-term entity. “I think there are three stages of growth—starting the business, growth after you start, and becoming an established business,” Franco says. “We’re definitely established now, but we live indoors and work on the land that’s part of the lease. We need to buy our own land to have a long-term farm to pass on to our family. Figuring out how and where to do that is the next big challenge. And staying open to new directions while following the strategy that’s gotten them this far.” When opportunities open, you can walk through the door.
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