Butterbee Farm began with just me.
It was 2013, and I moved back to Baltimore to start a farm business. I had been an apprentice for several years; I was dreaming of my own farm.
My sister was getting married and lived out of state, so I did the consultation with her florist, Local Color Flowers. I didn’t know it at the time, but that conversation would change my life.
I fell into flower farming.
At that meeting, I learned that 80% of blooms sold in the U.S. are shipped from overseas. The carbon footprint of the global floral industry is astronomical. I decided to try growing flowers; I could be a local source of flowers for florists. That way, florists could get higher quality, longer lasting flowers, plus they could lower their carbon footprint. By the end of that summer, I was harvesting buckets for a small customer base.
The dream became real.
I met my husband and farming partner, Jascha Owens, that August, and found a bigger farm to lease for Butterbee by the next spring. We broke new ground with shovels, since we didn’t have a tractor of our own yet.
Every season, we grew the farm, planting perennials, buying equipment, building greenhouses, and coming into our own. Our friends volunteered on the farm until we could hire employees. Our customer base expanded.
Much has changed since that first season.
In 2023, we found our own land in Harford County, Maryland. We doubled our greenhouse space and our efforts to grow regeneratively. We have a devoted, enthusiastic team of people I am thankful to work with every day. We have Dell, the dog!
We deliver flowers to Baltimore and D.C. areas and provide bulk flowers for events. I teach everything I’ve learned about flowers and small business, and consult with new growers on starting their farms.
And, some things have stayed the same…
…since day one.
Our focus in farming is still sustainability and stewardship of our land. We still try to outdo ourselves on quality and customer service.
For me, it’s about the people. Our brides and grooms who seek out environmentally friendly options, our florists who care about local farmers, our visitors who look out over a sea of dahlia blooms or smell our towering eucalyptus, our team who toils away in every kind of weather so that we can make something beautiful — these humans fill Butterbee with life.
