FOLKSOME: YEAR ONE
2025
This is how you first find our little farm.
Four quiet fields, still bare in the early spring. Red, infertile clay soil, dotted with deer tracks. Leftovers from the pile of manure compost in the pathways. All surrounded by relentless Oklahoma prairie grass that’s sure to give me a run for my money this summer. This little piece of land is quiet now, waiting. But hopefully with hard work, planning, and a little faith, this space will be bursting with life and color in the very near future.
I’ve been growing flowers since I was about 13, but it’s hard to pinpoint the exact moment I decided I wanted to start a flower farm. It wasn’t always in the forefront of my mind, more just a passive understanding that flowers would always be a part of my life. One thing I can say for certain, though, is that this is a dream years in the making – a million micro-decisions, influences from my family, and many defining moments – all leading me to right now, when it’s finally happening.
Going into this, I tried to remember my first memory of flowers, but I literally cannot remember my life without them. Not only did I grow up in a place heavily involved in agriculture, but also in a family that always had big gardens and flower beds. My dad’s garden was always there in the back corner of the yard at the house we grew up in, and my grandparents always had theirs, too. I remember picking my mom’s daylilies and playing under the quince and snowball bushes in the backyard. Grandma’s house always had daffodils, hyacinth, and iris that we’d pluck hidden Easter eggs from every year, and Memaw’s house always had azaleas.
Dad’s garden
2012
wheelbarrow harvest
2012
However, I do have a very vivid memory involving my grandma. One evening, she was taking us to our cousins’ dance recital. Bouquets are customary of course, but instead of buying your typical grocery store bouquet, my grandma took me and my sisters out to her peony plants. We cut every good stem, made a couple little bouquets, and tied them with ribbon. I wondered for a bit why this was such a defining moment, but then I realized that it had to be because of the actual bouquet-making part. As a kid, you pluck a bloom here when no one is looking. But that memory is the first time I remember someone guiding me through the simple act of taking cut flowers and making them into something more – a timeless gesture that’s become an ingrained part of our lives. This was the start, I think, of eventually realizing: oh, sharing flowers are a part of what it means to be human.
I can’t say I was always a joy to have in the garden, though. My sisters and I all did our fair share of complaining and grumbling when mom would drag us out of bed on Saturday mornings to pick strawberries before the bees came out. But the older I got, the more it began to grow on me. Growing up, my family used to have one computer – a desktop that stayed in our makeshift office space in our laundry room. On weekends, my sisters and I would get computer time. At some point, 12-year-old Shelby discovered that there were resources out there like the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation website. I started spending my computer time reading about pollinator gardens and bat boxes.
In 2014, my grandpa took us to the Baker Creek farm is Missouri. A big moment – I discovered dahlias for the first time. It wasn’t long after that when I asked my dad if I could have my own spot in his garden. He took me to Papa’s Country Market and let me pick out some seeds and starts, and off I went on my cut flower journey.
What started as a spark became a passion. Through my formative high school and college years, I stuck it out, gaining tiny bits knowledge and experience despite my inconsistent self. Some years I grew nothing. Other years I spent way too much money on way too many seeds and would end up with 5 zinnia plants when it was all said and done. But nothing was ever bad enough to take away from the joy of the garden. I collected tubers and seeds from my grandparents and others who were kind enough to share heirloom treasures from their own gardens. As I found other hobbies – like photography – the garden would always overlap.
harvest from mina’s poppy seeds
2021
humble beginnings
2021
Then at some point, you find your sense of discipline. I graduated college right at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. After moving back home and finding a job where I was able to work remotely, I suddenly had plenty of time to dig deep. Between reading and researching (but mostly watching Erin Benzakein’s YouTube videos), I spent countless hours learning about cut flowers and dreaming of the day when I might be able to call myself a flower farmer. Plus, I had more time to spend out in the garden, which at this point had grown to over 10,000 square feet at my family’s new home. My sisters and I had finally grown up enough to realize that the garden was a whole lot more than just a stupid chore we didn’t want to do as kids. It was actually… amazing. We spent summer evenings picking tomatoes and admiring the small cut flower garden added onto the back of my dad’s rows. That was the turning point for me, because I haven’t gone a year without growing flowers since.
The Garden
2020
So… here we are. A little over a month out from my 26th birthday, and I’ve finally started a flower farm. We’ve graduated from dad’s garden, to our first home’s backyard, to our new home with four fields. It’s been a journey, and it will always be – one of many tears, failures, and frustrations, but also of wonder, joy, and beauty. I keep trying not to say that it doesn’t feel real, because I’d like to say instead that I’ve been working, manifesting, and praying for this for a long time. But it truly does feel surreal, knowing that the flowers are about to become an even bigger part of my life than they already are.
But even more than that, I hope they become a part of the lives of our friends, neighbors, and community. For us, Folksome is not just about the flowers. Folksome is a feeling – a way of life that is authentic, intentional, and rooted in the small, everyday moments that make life worth living. It’s even more magical when you get to experience those moments with someone else. And, as it happens, flowers are the perfect little vessels for that feeling of connection – to the land, to each other, and to ourselves. All we want is to help others experience it.
So, here’s to the first season of Folksome Flower Farm, and all the ones after that.
From Oklahoma with love,
Shelby
new beginnings
2025
