Wind Haven Farm Bouquet Share
BOUQUET SHARES UPDATE FOR THE 2022 SEASON:
Last season we were blown away yet again by the numbers of share members that signed up for our weekly season long bouquet share program. We spread the flower joy to 100 families across eastern VA. We are so incredibly grateful to each and every one of you.
Unfortunately, when we ran the numbers after last season, we discovered that we were taking a loss on our bouquet shares by underpricing, we also were running ourselves and our team ragged to get them all harvested, and the large bouquets made up each week and delivered to drop off points. We have run many different scenarios to change the Bouquet Share Program into something that would be more profitable and sustainable including: raising prices (even though many people would suffer sticker shock), hiring a delivery driver, hiring more employees, cutting the bouquet size in half, cutting the number of weeks down. None of this seems to speak to us as a good solution. If we hire more people to make the work load better that is an additional cost associated with making bouquets and therefore they would need to be priced even higher. If we limit the number of shares, it would still require 3 delivery days a week rather than one and half. At some point as a business you have to decide what scale is the most sustainable, and we need to draw this line for ourselves.
At this point the only option that makes sense to us, is only having one pick up location, and that location being Wind Haven Farm in King William County. This cuts the numbers, and removes delivery costs. The price of the shares will also need to be increased, but less than if we had to deliver them all. This was a truly difficult decision to make, even now as we are typing this we went over again if there was anything we could do differently, and came to the same conclusion for now. We may restart the larger Bouquet Share or Flower Share program in the future if things change or we come up with a better solution.
If you are not local or able to get to King William County, you can still find our flowers and bouquets at the following locally owned grocery stores during our season March-November:
Ellwood Thompson's- Richmond, VA
The Libbie Market- Richmond, VA
Good Foods Grocery- Richmond, VA
Old Farm Truck Market- White Stone, VA
The River City Flower Exchange- COOP Richmond VA area sells retail and wholesale, we are a member.
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What is a CSA and how does ours work?
CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. CSA's have been made popular by vegetable farms, and a flower CSA works much the same way. A member purchases a flower subscription to beautify their own home or to give as a gift, before a growing season begins. This helps our farm purchase much needed supplies and seeds.
In return for their investment in our flower farm, members receive a sustainably grown, hand-made bouquet, beautifully packaged in a craft paper sleeve, every week for the entire summer growing season. When a member joins our CSA, they can be assured that they are receiving flowers grown with sustainable methods, and will not be exposed to dangerous chemicals. Members will also be assured that flowers are truly fresh, harvested within 24-48 hours of pick up, which allows for the longest vase life possible.
You can also give a Bouquet Share as a GIFT to the loved ones in your life! Why send just one bouquet, why not a whole season of sustainable cut flowers for a Birthday, Christmas, Anniversary, or Valentine's Day!
How to become a Wind Haven Farm Bouquet Share Member:
1. New for this season, in order to become a share member YOU MUST BE ABLE TO PICK UP HERE ON THE FARM on Wednesdays 8AM-6PM.
The address is:
Wind Haven Farm
735 Snow Hill Lane
King William VA 23086
2. Choose your payment option: - Mail your check made out to "Wind Haven Farm" to:
Wind Haven Farm
126 W. Chinquapin Rd. King William, VA 23086. - - Pay online using a credit card.
-Pay using the VENMO app. Our handler name is windhavenfarmflowers.
3. After your payment is received, you will be added to the flower share list, and you will start picking up a bouquet of flowers weekly, on Wednesdays between 8AM-6PM here on the farm, when the Bouquet Share Program begins the first week in June. We will send out a reminder email before pick ups begin for the season.
Last season we were blown away yet again by the numbers of share members that signed up for our weekly season long bouquet share program. We spread the flower joy to 100 families across eastern VA. We are so incredibly grateful to each and every one of you.
Unfortunately, when we ran the numbers after last season, we discovered that we were taking a loss on our bouquet shares by underpricing, we also were running ourselves and our team ragged to get them all harvested, and the large bouquets made up each week and delivered to drop off points. We have run many different scenarios to change the Bouquet Share Program into something that would be more profitable and sustainable including: raising prices (even though many people would suffer sticker shock), hiring a delivery driver, hiring more employees, cutting the bouquet size in half, cutting the number of weeks down. None of this seems to speak to us as a good solution. If we hire more people to make the work load better that is an additional cost associated with making bouquets and therefore they would need to be priced even higher. If we limit the number of shares, it would still require 3 delivery days a week rather than one and half. At some point as a business you have to decide what scale is the most sustainable, and we need to draw this line for ourselves.
At this point the only option that makes sense to us, is only having one pick up location, and that location being Wind Haven Farm in King William County. This cuts the numbers, and removes delivery costs. The price of the shares will also need to be increased, but less than if we had to deliver them all. This was a truly difficult decision to make, even now as we are typing this we went over again if there was anything we could do differently, and came to the same conclusion for now. We may restart the larger Bouquet Share or Flower Share program in the future if things change or we come up with a better solution.
If you are not local or able to get to King William County, you can still find our flowers and bouquets at the following locally owned grocery stores during our season March-November:
Ellwood Thompson's- Richmond, VA
The Libbie Market- Richmond, VA
Good Foods Grocery- Richmond, VA
Old Farm Truck Market- White Stone, VA
The River City Flower Exchange- COOP Richmond VA area sells retail and wholesale, we are a member.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
What is a CSA and how does ours work?
CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. CSA's have been made popular by vegetable farms, and a flower CSA works much the same way. A member purchases a flower subscription to beautify their own home or to give as a gift, before a growing season begins. This helps our farm purchase much needed supplies and seeds.
In return for their investment in our flower farm, members receive a sustainably grown, hand-made bouquet, beautifully packaged in a craft paper sleeve, every week for the entire summer growing season. When a member joins our CSA, they can be assured that they are receiving flowers grown with sustainable methods, and will not be exposed to dangerous chemicals. Members will also be assured that flowers are truly fresh, harvested within 24-48 hours of pick up, which allows for the longest vase life possible.
You can also give a Bouquet Share as a GIFT to the loved ones in your life! Why send just one bouquet, why not a whole season of sustainable cut flowers for a Birthday, Christmas, Anniversary, or Valentine's Day!
How to become a Wind Haven Farm Bouquet Share Member:
1. New for this season, in order to become a share member YOU MUST BE ABLE TO PICK UP HERE ON THE FARM on Wednesdays 8AM-6PM.
The address is:
Wind Haven Farm
735 Snow Hill Lane
King William VA 23086
2. Choose your payment option: - Mail your check made out to "Wind Haven Farm" to:
Wind Haven Farm
126 W. Chinquapin Rd. King William, VA 23086. - - Pay online using a credit card.
-Pay using the VENMO app. Our handler name is windhavenfarmflowers.
3. After your payment is received, you will be added to the flower share list, and you will start picking up a bouquet of flowers weekly, on Wednesdays between 8AM-6PM here on the farm, when the Bouquet Share Program begins the first week in June. We will send out a reminder email before pick ups begin for the season.
Click HERE to pay by credit card through our website.
If you want to learn how to extend the vase life of your cut flowers click below to download our CUT FLOWER CARE GUIDE.
| Cut Flower Care Guide |