small farm is a 4-acre farm in Stow, Massachusetts. We feature Pick-Your-Own (PYO) flowers, herbs and vegetables. We grow 100 varieties of flowers for PYO customers. We are located on a main road (Route 62) and our flower garden is right next to the road. The farmstand is an attractive hay wagon with an awning. The following text and photos describe our ideas about PYO flowers.

The basic outline of the talk is:

(1) Why PYO Flowers?
(2) Basics of PYO Flowers
(3) Other Topics.

Stand

Why PYO Flowers?

(1) Minimize labor costs since your customers do the picking.

(2) Flowers next to the road are good advertising. Particularly when people are picking them.

(3) All sorts of people like to pick flowers.

People1 People2 People3 People4 People5 People6 People7 People8 People9 People10 People11 People13

Basics of PYO Flowers

How to invite people to pick?
How to cut?
How to charge?
What varieties? Annual and/or perennials?
Field layout



How to invite people to pick?

Stand PYO Display

When entering the farm stand, the display table is right in front of the customer. There is a list of the flowers in the field. Scissors and containers are available on the table. The containers are a standard 32 oz clear deli container. We started by collecting yogurt containers but we had to buy containers when we couldn't collect enough yogurt containers. We place our label on the container. It's the largest part of the advertising we do. We advise the people to put water in the container before picking so the flowers will last longer.

Flower Container

How to cut?

We provide scissors to our customers. We have both adult and children's scissors with blunt ends. The adult scissors are sharp and the children's scissors are sharp enough to cut thin flower stems but otherwise not very sharp. They don't work well on thicker stems so the parents have to help the child. We tie a piece of surveyor's tape onto every handle so that we can find them when the kids drop them in the field. We also write "small farm" on the handles if possible. We use a permanent marker, but the lettering does wear off with use. The surveyor's tape is also susceptible to removal by the kids.

Scissors
How To Charge?

If someone picks a bouquet and you're charging by the stem, you have to take the bouquet apart and count the stems. If you're charging by weight, you have to put the wet flowers on your scale, making a mess. If you're charging by volume, using something like a spaghetti measuring thingy, you have to try to fit the flowers through the appropriate hole on the thingy.

The easiest way is to give them a container and let them fill it. Some people will supersize it and others will pick only a few stems. You encourage the few-stem people to return to the field and get some more. They will remember and tell their friends that you did that and they will return. The super-size people are relatively few, so you have to decide whether to ask them to pay a bit more or just let it pass. Some of them will recognize on their own that they have picked a lot and offer a bit more.

Varieties: Annuals and/or perennials

Start

We have five varieties we call our "workhorses"

Snapdragons and double snapdragons

Snaps Snaps

Zinnias

Zinnia Zinnia

Rudbeckia

Rudbeckia Rudbeckia

Sunflowers come in different colors

Sunflower Sunflower

After you get the workhorses, consider other flowers.

Annuals

Celosia Celosia Verbena Salvia Salvia Cosmos Gomphrena Statice Molucella Lavatera Scabiosa

Perennials

Globe Thistle Eryngium Centaurea

Grasses

Amaranth Grasses Millet Broom Corn

Whites

Shasta Daisy Feverfew Euphorbia Green Ammi

Herbs

Herbs can be used in bouquets also. Basil provides a nice fragrance. We let purple basil go to flower so it looks and smells nice in a bouquet. Dill makes a good filler.

Basil Purple Basil< Dill