We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Malorie Evens a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Malorie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear the story of how you went from this being just an idea to making it into something real.

I had always loved growing things since I was a little girl. Whether flowers or food, the immense excitement that came from growing something was the same. And anyone who has ever had a productive garden is probably familiar with the joy of sharing pieces of it with others–sharing flower seeds with a friend, or leaving a paper bag of fresh tomatoes when you have far too many to consume on your own–it’s truly special.

I had always dreamed of “farming for a living” as I was raised in an environment where growing your own food was practiced and celebrated. However, that dream is impossible without a lot of land to be productive enough to monetize in any meaningful way. Like most millennials, the prospect of owning my own home–let alone large a tract of land–seemed like a pipe dream. From rental to rental, I had to restart my garden with every move; most of the time growing vegetables in 5 gallon buckets, often taking over the yard (which I happily did for many years).

In 2019, a lucky break happened and we found a farmhouse we could afford with help from family to get us in the door–and so the Manchester property we now own became ours. The VERY first thing I did–and I mean the first–was begin literally torching the lawn that was overgrown with invasive species and building it up with dozens of layers of fresh compost by hand. The property in total is 11 acres, but only three or so are arable (the rest are wetlands). There were no fields, no large areas of flat land, meaning there was no way to fit a tractor into many of the growing spaces and therefore most would need to be done by hand. It took me 2 years of this before the soil became fertile enough to grow much of anything besides grass and weeds. I started growing flowers shortly thereafter, just testing which crops I could get growing in a way that would maximize the small space. After a trial year I decided to start selling small bouquets & wreaths at a local farmers market which allowed me to make the connections and customer base I needed to start selling flowers in a larger capacity- and designing events.

When covid hit, I like many others had been out of work for several months as we waited to see what would happen to the small business I was working for at the time; this actually provided a huge opportunity to get a lot of work done on the farm. I spent these months working on a business model that I thought could work, and fill a niche that I found was missing in our surrounding area. By the time businesses started re-opening, I had enough growing space prepared to “dig in” (no pun intended) full time. By 2022, HONEYBABY was born.

Malorie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I grew up in Metro-Detroit but spent many summers & weekends in the country with my father on my grandparents’ 2 acre homestead or fishing on one of our states many lakes. After high school, I started studying art education & oil painting at Eastern Michigan University

I worked for 15 years in various restaurants & bars to make ends meet. During those years my favorite job was working for a local catering company, where I worked hundreds of weddings for the better part of a decade; it was here where I really started to notice how incredibly wasteful the wedding floral industry can be. To me, it didn’t make any sense to use flowers flown thousands of miles from another part of the world to decorate a space for one day, only to all be tossed in the trash when it was over.

At HONEYBABY our main goal is to offer an alternative to the run-of-the mill wedding florals planning process that is as sustainable as it is beautiful. Our mission is to prove that you do not have to compromise also being environmentally friendly (in our view, the opposite is in fact true–“constraints” of using local, seasonal materials actually redounds to the end result). Rather than walking in any flower shop to pick centerpieces out of a catalog, you can sit down with us for an in depth consultation where we discuss your vision for the event–what flowers you love, what look and feel you want for your event, your color palette, etc.–then we grow those flowers on our own farm just for you, perfectly curated. We specialize in seasonal, sustainable & bespoke wedding, event and made-to-order gift florals, and everything is grown exclusively by us. Because we’re not mass-producing the same varieties of flowers in highly controlled conditions, each bouquet, arrangement and wedding we do is 100% unique, and we can individually select whichever flowers are at their pinnacle at the time; most weddings are planned far enough in advance that we can actually grow specific annual varieties for the event.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

There are so many things I find rewarding about HONEYBABY. We only use natural, chemical free growing practices on the farm, so I am rewarded handsomely with an incredible amount of wildlife that call our farm home. Growing flowers is an incredibly generous and rewarding way to make a living: the love you put in always comes back to you in spades.

As far as the event design aspect of the business: words cannot express how rewarding it is to see the look on a clients face when they see their floral vision come to life. Our clients put an immense amount of trust in us when it comes to designing their event, so when the special day comes, hearing that the florals–flowers you grew yourself from seed, harvested, designed and arranged–far exceeded their wildest dreams and expectations is extremely rewarding.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

Never compromise. Stay true to your values, trust your ideas & believe wholeheartedly in what you do and create; you will attract clients that will resonate with and appreciate your mission. Find your own individual style; resist the temptation to hop on every new trend. Never undercut your prices, values, or vision to try and attract people. Some people won’t get it, and that’s okay; there are far more that will, and it will be worth the wait.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.honeybabyflorals.com
• Instagram: @honeybabyflorals

Image Credits

Fieldstone Creative, Lola Grace Photography, B. Lauren Photography, Abby Rose Photography