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

Hi Ellen, thanks for joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

The mission of our business and farm is to operate in such a way to protect and create natural habitat, enhance the ecosystem functions on our property and give back to the land that sustains our business. We believe in taking care of the people that produce and enjoy our flowers. For that reason we use no synthetic chemicals on our farm. We hope that in sharing our story we can bring people closer to agriculture in our region and close the gap between farm and consumer. We aim to demonstrate the merits of locally and sustainably grown flowers and contribute to the growth of the local agriculture movement.

Before starting this farm, I was involved in pollinator and conservation research. We studied the impacts of climate change and habit loss on local populations of native bees and how changes to farming techniques could boost their populations in the face of these threats. Through that experience I developed a desire to start a career in a field where I could actively be part of the solution to climate change and habit loss on working lands in the US. A background in ranching set me up nicely to move into farming where I am able to integrate regenerative farming practices to be part of the solution. We find ourselves as educators in our community, helping to spread awareness about the ways in which we can change the way we farm to enhance natural systems while creating a beautiful product! We also hope to expose the sustainability issues within the greater floral industry and try to provide solutions to those practices. Our goal is to promote locally and organically grown flowers over imported flowers which have traveled days and miles before they get to your door and are sprayed with a whole host of chemicals.

Ellen, 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?

We are most proud of our ability to provide the freshest, most vibrant and longest lasting flowers many of our customers have ever seen. Our dedication to sustainable growing practices and strict harvesting/processing standards insure that our customers receive the very best from our fields. We are excited that we can provide such a robust and beautiful alternative to the flowers many people are accustomed to receiving at a grocery store or through 1800 flowers. Our flowers represent the true beauty of Colorado as they change based on the seasons and are unique, hard to find varieties that folks may have never seen before. We hope the care and dedication we allocate to our flowers shows!

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

We have received lots of feedback that our practice of sharing our story and letting people into our daily lives on the farm has been one of the strongest ways that we have established ourselves as the largest and highest quality flower farm in Southern Colorado. Through social media our customers get a backstage look at our farming practices, what it takes to create the bouquets, the purchase, and our successes and failures. Folks feel like they are along for the ride and enjoy living vicariously through our farming journey.

Additionally our ability to consistently deliver high quality long lasting flowers has helped us create a dedicated following. Many people comment on our ability to invoke nostalgic memories by growing varieties they haven’t seen since they were a kid. This makes our bouquets special and stand out.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

My business partner is my boyfriend! We met at a farmer’s market where I was selling produce and he was selling the pork and beef that he raised on a ranch he worked at in Northern Colorado Springs. Our mutual dedication to sustainable agriculture and building a self-sufficient, efficient farm have made us a great pair to run our business.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ellensflowers.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ellens_flowers/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ellens.flowers.colorado

Image Credits
Ellen Kerchner Matthew Koster