We were lucky to catch up with Blythe Bourne recently and have shared our conversation below.

Blythe, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Parents play a huge role in our development as youngsters and sometimes that impact follows us into adulthood and into our lives and careers. Looking back, what’s something you think you parents did right?

My parents are the first ones who introduced me to the natural world. From a young age, they took my sister and I camping and hiking as we traveled all over the states. I believe the love and appreciation I have for nature, which grew from these first family adventures, is what really got me interested in working outdoors with plants and animals.

When I was growing up, we used to take family trips to Colorado to visit my grandma. We would be outside the whole summer exploring the mountains and rivers, playing in the sun and hiding in the shade of aspen trees. My grandma would take me to the nursery to get some flowers to plant for the summer while we were there, and I always loved getting the Snap Dragons. We were just always outside enjoying the nature around us.

From these experiences growing up, and through experiencing all sorts of jobs, I knew I loved working outside. So I tried ranching and farming eventually, and decided growing flowers and herbs is really a dream come true. This is all due to my parents sharing their love of nature with our family.

Blythe, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am a small scale flower and herb farmer in the coastal region of Georgia, also known as the Low Country. I spent most of my life on the west coast, where I met my husband, but moved out to the east coast to experience something new. My husband and I bought our property due to our shared interest in nature and the idea of having a homestead. This then, turned into my project to create a small scale flower and herb farm.

Growing up I worked all sorts of jobs. But it wasn’t until my early twenties when I decided to work for a couple who had a ranch full of pigs, sheep and chickens, that changed everything. I fell in love with the work and working with animals. I was itching to move, so I decided to go backpacking for three months overseas, where I WWOOFed in three different countries. For those who don’t know WWOOF stands for the World Wide Oportunities on Organic Farms, which is a work for trade opportunity to stay on someones farm anywhere in the world. This experience validated the fact that I wanted to work on a farm and maybe one day run my own. When I moved to Georgia, I found work on an organic farm and it was amazing. I loved the work and the knowledge I was receiving. At this point I also got my degree in Cultural Anthropology with a concentration in Environmental Sustainability. So I felt I was getting both the practical experience as well as learning how I could use this knowledge within my community.

While working on an organic farm in Georgia, I was able to gain farming skills as well as great connections of chefs throughout my community. When that farm moved out of town, myself and some of the remaining crew decided to start our own operations. I felt there was a lack of flower farmers in the area, as well as specialty culinary herbs, so I decided to start small and get my farm going. I have about two acres of cleared land on my property so I started small with a couple planters first, as I had to, because I had to work full time still to continue to put money into the farm. I slowly kept growing. With help from my husband, who built us a greenhouse, and an irrigation system, we slowly kept growing.

I got a spot at the local farmers market where I was able to sell fresh flower bouquets, dried herb packets, and live plants. This was a special success for me! I felt I worked so long and hard to get there, it was really a dream come true. During this time, I also started working for some restaurants in town designing and installing gardens.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Using organic practices as a farmer, on a small or large farm, you come across many obstacles. Farming is not an easy job alone, and mother nature does not make it any easier. Some of the most patient people I have met are farmers or ranchers. The amount of issues that could arise at any time, no matter what you have planned for, could change the whole outcome of your yield. I have one story in particular that comes to mind, as a fairly recent problem. I run a small scale farm, for the most part by myself, and I got COVID in 2020 which really got the better of me. I had just planted seeds for my spring crop, and they had just sprouted and were looking great. All of a sudden army worms, which eat the leaves of plants and essentially kill them, were everywhere. I was so sick, I didn’t have the energy to get all the bugs off my seedlings. So over several days my whole spring crop was taken out. After I started feeling better, I was able to plant new seeds during spring, for my summer crop. Even though I wasn’t able to get plants growing as soon as I would have liked, I kept at it, and was able to make a great summer crop.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

Funding this business has not been straight forward at all for us, and we have realized that’s okay. I have had to work my tail off with other jobs to make ends meet for this farm. I have had to borrow money from family. I have had to even take out a small loan meant to help small scale entrepreneurs. It has been a slow process to get to the point where we are today. However, it has given us time to experiment and work out some kinks in the business. We have had many set backs, but our goal is the same and our goal is true. I believe if we continue to put effort and work into our farm, we will succeed. We are working on plans for the future, and have some time at the moment to get things ready for this coming year!

Contact Info:

• Website: lowbranchfarm.com
• Instagram: @lowbranchfarm