We were lucky to catch up with Avery Crites recently and have shared our conversation below.

Avery, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

I used to work in corporate HR for a large CPG company. I spent my days interviewing college students and hiring a group of future leaders for the organization. I loved what I did, but as soon as I had my first son, I felt my heart being pulled in another direction. I didn’t know exactly what that direction was, so I took some time off to move to the suburbs with my family and get settled as I was then expecting my second son.

After my second son was born, I had a part time freelance HR project set up where I could get back into the swing of working. I was very much looking forward to it. Then COVID hit. All non essential spend was cut which included my project. With 2 kids under 2 and my husband working from home, I was feeling trapped. My mom had always been a gardener growing up, but I had never been bitten by the bug. My mom convinced me to start a few seeds in my windowsill and see how I liked the process of growing plants. Long story, short: I fell in love. Watching seeds grow into beautiful plants that I could cut and bring inside and then share with neighbors and friends was incredibly life giving in a tough life season.

My husband saw how growing flowers lit me up inside, so he suggested I turn my new-found passion into a business. Through friends of friends, we found a piece of land to rent, and the rest is history. I scoured the Internet learning how to grow flowers on scale and for market. My first season, I tried everything. I sold flower subscriptions, bouquets at the farmer’s market, bunches of flowers to florists, arrangements for custom orders, and I even did the flowers for someone’s wedding. I loved it.

Since that first official growing season in 2021 in Chicago, I have moved to Houston and rebuilt the business here. There is always a new challenge in this business – from pests, to climate, to what customers like. The business ebbs and flows with the priorities in my life as my kids’ needs and my passions shift. This business has been such a blessing to me mostly because of the blessing it is to other people. I get to share God’s creation with others. Some are experiencing a tough time, others are celebrating milestones, and many are simply eager to be in the present.

Local, seasonal flowers do that for us.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am a very disciplined, tenacious person. When I commit to something, I feel compelled to do it with excellence, sometimes to a fault. Once I started researching how to start those seeds in the windowsill, it was like a spark that couldn’t be extinguished.

My business helps people to slow down and enjoy the present. Our society is so fast paced that we often times miss the things that matter most. Flowers remind us that there is beauty. They remind us of a God who loves and blesses us even on a mundane Monday.

Flower subscriptions are the backbone of my business. These customers receive a weekly/bi-weekly/monthly mason jar arrangement. They appreciate seasonal, garden inspired beauty in their home on a regular basis and are willing to pay up front for their flowers, usually before the flowers have eve been started from seed. These subscription purchases allow me to invest in many of the supplies I need for the upcoming season. Purchasing a subscription also ensures that a good percentage of my blooms each week already have a place to go. There is nothing worse than composting perfectly good flowers.

While I love doing events like weddings, baby showers, and floral workshops, these events usually need a huge amount of flowers for one day. Sometimes my own garden can’t accommodate these events. Thankfully, the flower community is extremely gracious and collaborative. We are always leaning on each other to fulfill orders with as many locally grown, seasonal flowers as possible to make these larger events come to life. While I may not have grown each and every flower for the wedding I’m doing on Memorial Day in Houston, almost every stem will have been grown in the state of Texas by someone I know personally. That’s a beautiful thing.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

The power of word of mouth cannot be underestimated. It may be slow at the beginning, but if you keep putting out a consistent product, you will find your customers. And not everyone is your customer. It’s a very hard lesson to learn at the beginning, but over time it gets easier to realize that you can’t be everything to everyone. You will run yourself ragged trying to do so. Focus on your craft, putting a great product/service out there, and your loyal customers will do much of the hard work of marketing for you.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

When we started the business in the Southwest Chicago area, we knew we’d likely be moved to Houston for my husband’s job. That almost kept us from doing it. It seemed like an awful lot of work to build a flower farm for just a season or two and then have to start over. At the end of the day, we decided that I’d regret not doing it and resent not following my passion. We did end up only being in Illinois for 2 full growing seasons and then moved to Houston.

I did have to start over completely. The property we purchased in Houston is next to a bunch of woods full of deer, so we first had to fence in the garden area. I killed off grass, personally dug trenches in between each flower bed, and my husband did the heavy lifting of wheelbarrowing compost around. Oh, and I had zero customers.

I’m now on my second growing season in Houston and always pivoting. It’s a wildly different climate with many different challenges. In Illinois I grew from May-October or so. Here in Houston, I grow from February-June and then from September-December. I take the super hot months off. And I’m constantly researching how to deal with pests, disease, etc that come with a climate that had almost 3 months of triple digit days and over 100% humidity.

I can choose to be frustrated by the challenges and the times I am forced to pivot. Or I can be grateful that I’ve been blessed with life and the ability to keep pursuing flower farming wherever I am. I GET to do this.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.averysflowerfarm.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/averysflowerfarm/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/averysflowerfarm/

Image Credits
HLee Photography (Hannah Killebrew) A Crafted Brand (Alena Craft)