Meet Cut Clover Flowers
A type of synergy has taken place amongst the rolling hills of Clarksburg, MD. There's a beautiful strip of land tucked alongside a well-appointed home. As your eyes peer along the rows of flowers, it becomes abundantly clear that this is a beloved sanctuary.
Melane Kinney Hoffman is the owner and farmer-florist of Hidden Ridge Farm. She's been in the floral business for over ten years. Within her 50 acre plot, there's a secret garden of sorts. The land is part of the Montgomery County Agriculture Reserve, and it shows. Goldfinches nibble on bachelor button seeds, and butterflies drift on by.
Two years ago, Melane decided to take a step back from her business. So she placed an ad, searching for a table crop farmer.
As she was making important decisions about her business, Emma Jackson was going through a similar process on the other side of town. The only difference was that Emma was looking to expand.
After running a test farm on a small plot for a year, Emma was ready to take the leap onto bigger land. She saw the ad that Melane posted, but had no interest in being a table crop farmer. She decided to reach out anyway, and Melane encouraged her to come visit the farm.
And just like that, everything aligned.
"I had built this whole five year, ten year business plan, and Melane catapulted me from year one to year five - in like nine months," Emma explains.
The established farmer-florist welcomed in the next generation.
Everything was already in place. The infrastructure was solid, the soil was healthy, and the women had more in common than just flowers. It was a natural fit.
"We're in an incredible situation," Emma shares. "And I had this built-in mentorship, essentially."
Emma named her business Cut Clover Flowers because she felt so lucky.
Melane offered Emma two rows on the farm, and it grew from there. She had a thriving CSA, but it has been put on hold. As a mom of three young children, Emma needs more flexibility in her schedule. So she sells flower arrangements from her website, and to local businesses.
From dahlias, to eucalyptus and cosmos, Cut Clover Flowers at Hidden Ridge Farm offers an extensive variety of blooms. And it's all organic and eco-friendly. Melane and Emma focus on running a farm that is pesticide and herbicide-free.
"My goal is to basically create a business that is helping with as much biodiversity as possible," says Emma.
For years, Emma and her husband talked about owning a farm some day. They both served in the Peace Corps, and were familiar with growing practices. But she really got into flowers when she discovered Erin Benzakein of Floret Flowers.
"It's really her fault," Emma smiles, as she mentions Floret.
A year before the pandemic, Emma felt the nudge to grow flowers in her home garden. She sent her friends the Floret Flowers catalog and asked each of them to pick a flower.
"It just hit me," she explains. "It's flowers. The answer is flowers."
The missing piece to the puzzle had been revealed.
"You have a time in your life when you just feel like you are in the right flow," Emma shares. "You just click in, and feel it."
Before her adventures in all things floral, Emma was a stay-at-home Mother for five years. And before that, she was a professional actress. She holds a BFA in Theatre.
Although Emma has been a farmer-florist for only a few years, she's very knowledgeable and passionate about her profession. Every detail matters, and the environment takes center-stage.
"We're growing to provide a product for you that is the highest quality," she says. "It's so much better for the environment. They didn't fly on an airplane; they don't have a carbon footprint. It's a different product, and it's worth paying money for it."
A bit of nostalgia washes over Emma, as she reflects on the fact that she's now a farmer-florist, just like her great-grandfather. She was told stories as a child about his floral career. He grew flowers, and made arrangements for the DuPont Family Estate. It's an important fact that she holds dear.
From the mentorship that Emma has received from Melane, to the established land she gets to dig in, gratitude is woven throughout every inch of those flower beds.
Emma Jackson was meant to be a farmer-florist.
It was only a matter of time.
You can find Cut Clover Flowers at Each Peach Market on Mt. Pleasant St. in Washington, D.C., and at Butler's Orchard in Germantown, MD.
Visit Cut Clover Flowers at Hidden Ridge Farm for more details:
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