Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Taylor Kothi. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Taylor thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard.

I believe what makes me different from the industry standard is the sheer scale of my operation. I don’t own any large farm equipment or have any semi-permanent/permanent farming structures such as a tractor or a hoop house. All of my flowers are field grown. From the roadside, you would never know my business existed. I lovingly refer to it as my “secret garden”.

Living in a residential area and operating a small-scale farm has it challenges, especially with regards to receiving shipments and deliveries. Due to the layout of our property, I’m unable to bring in large quantities of things like compost and wood chips. Instead, I’ve turned to alternative practices outlined in regenerative gardening to nourish my soil. We use grass clippings, leaf litter, pine needles and bark to mulch our beds. Next year, we will be using ducks to manage pests and provide a source of fertilizer to the gardens.

With the absence of heavy machinery, many of the tasks we do such as digging, hauling material and spreading material are done by hand. It takes more time, but I’ve found that it makes the sweetness of flower season that much more rewarding.

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.

My name is Taylor and I am the owner and operator of Slow Living Co, a flower farm based in Southeast Michigan. I specialize in growing old-fashioned, heirloom cut flowers for our local farmers market. Thousands of seeds are started in-house from December to September in order to have a steady supply of ingredients for market bouquets. Market bouquets are the bread and butter of my business. We steadily produce 20 bouquets weekly, with plans of doubling production next year. Our home is located in a suburban area of Highland Township with a lot size totaling half an acre. Starting in 2024, I will have converted an eighth of an acre into gardens for cut flower production. We are proudly free of pesticide, herbicide, fungicide, and synthetic fertilizer usage.

A year before I started Slow Living Co, I was camping near the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore with my cousin Ashlee and my sister Briana. On our way through Traverse City, we passed Old Mission Flowers and the owner Virginia had a u-pick flower sign out at the road. In true Ashlee fashion, she did a wild u-turn into the driveway and we harvested a jar of flowers as Virginia gave us a brief tour of her farm. It was the first time I had ever heard of the idea of growing and selling flowers let alone see a flower farm in person. We were all lit up by the idea of growing cut flowers and it’s the reason I went home and bought my very first flower seeds.

It’s my mission to give my community the opportunity to experience the beauty of fresh cut flowers. Driving past Old Mission Flowers changed the trajectory of my life and I hope to inspire the community to plant flowers in their home gardens. According to an article written by MSUTODAY, MSU floriculture researchers state that 80% of flowers sold in the US are imported from South America. While the average wholesale flower travels thousands of miles, our locally grown bouquets travel 10 miles. There is a certain quality of vitality, vibrance and romanticism to local flowers. Flowers that are imported are bred for travel, heavily sprayed with chemicals and stripped of their natural fragrances.

In addition to growing cut flowers, we offer hand-poured candles crafted with Michigan beeswax and pure essential oils. Our largest collection of candles becomes available during the holiday season. They make for the perfect gift when locally grown flowers are unavailable. Our beeswax candles are sold online and in-person at select markets.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I grew up in a family of entrepreneurs. My father has owned two successful businesses throughout my life. When I was 13, he sold the landscaping company that he built from the ground up and now he’s preparing to celebrate 18 years of business at the convenience store he owns in Linden, Michigan. Growing up, it was my understanding that a business selling the same product or service was a competitor. As a farmer-florist, I have met the most incredible women in the floriculture industry and each one has been welcoming, supportive and generous. We celebrate in each others successes and support one another in our failures.

Over the years, there have been multiple vendors selling flowers at the farmers market. When I was struggling to find my niche in the market, I found it to be discouraging to have “competing” businesses. The secret is that people aren’t buying flowers to simply buy flowers. They aren’t buying a product, they’re connecting with your brand. The quote by journalist Alexandra Robbins “someone else’s success is not your failure” rings true here. When I see customers walking around the market with flowers from another vendor, I want to be able to celebrate that vendor. I truly believe there are enough customers to go around, especially with the demand for fresh cut flowers. The more beauty that’s in the World, the better.

I was welcomed into the growing community with open arms and now it’s my job to extend that kindness to others. Thank you to the amazing community of flower farmers in Michigan, you taught me the meaning of “community over competition”.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

While I was planning my first year of growing and selling cut flowers, I was living at my grandparents house with my mom and sister. My grandma had just had her final stay in the hospital and we were taking care of her while she was in hospice. I had been through the hospice process before, but I was not prepared for what was to come following her passing. I had experienced sadness after death many times, but I had never experienced the depths of grief. I had no idea what grief truly was until March of 2021 and now sitting here today, it is a journey I know all to well.

During my first season of business, I struggled to have the ability to carry out daily tasks let alone find the motivation to operate my business. I was overcome with early grief, but the days I spent working outside with the flowers were the days I went to bed feeling like I had a purpose again. I spent my first year exploring my sales outlets and identifying my customers needs. Fast forward to 2022, I started to heal the anxiety, brain fog, memory loss and poor cognition that plagued me the year prior. I felt like I was starting to put the pieces of my life back together again. I took what I had learned from my first year in business and sold out of bouquets at the market each week.

This year, I’m working on expanding my cut flower production and growing a wider customer base. I am wading in calmer waters of grief, but I am still healing the physical symptoms, especially the cognitive impacts. I am harvesting, making, and selling more flower bouquets than I ever have. I have an overwhelming amount of gratitude for the individuals that visit me at the market weekly, biweekly, monthly, or by happenstance. My friends and family have gone out of their way to show their support for my business, traveling from far distances and squeezing in a trip to the farmers market just to buy a bouquet.

I will always miss my grandma. I was lucky to be mothered by her. I hope she is proud, not for what I’ve done but for who I’m becoming.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.slowlivingmichigan.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the.slowlivingco/

Image Credits
Nicole Rall Photography