Deborah Miller, the founder of Fly Creek Flowers, borrowed a common practice from food farming known as community supported agriculture. She encourages customers to purchase a subscription which guarantees them fresh flowers on a weekly basis during her spring, summer and/or fall harvest seasons.
“Not only do customers keep their money local and invest in the local community by investing in (a flower share),” Miller said, “but they get the freshest flowers because I know I will be giving them directly to them. They won’t be harvested and arranged with the hope that maybe somebody will buy them.”
Fly Creek Flowers is a seasonal business that operates from April to September. Some dried flowers are available off-season. Miller has been in business now for five seasons.
“I get to know my customers. Many are repeat customers,” she said.
Miller compared her flower subscription business to a newspaper subscription. Miller’s CSA customers have been an integral part of Fly Creek Flower’s success. By pre-paying for a share of the flower farm’s harvest, customers provide Miller’s business with the upfront income needed to invest in seeds, organic fertilizer and infrastructure like her website.
“Flowers make people happy. I love flowers. They don’t last long. That adds to the joy of them. You have to enjoy them while they’re with you.” Miller said.
“Even though it’s probably not verbalized, I think part of the CSA is the excitement of looking forward to your subscription delivery,” she said. “If you’re gifted (a subscription), or you purchased it in February, you’re thinking about it in March.”
“You’re getting all of those little micro-happiness, micro-joys, along the way, even before they’re in your hand,” Miller said.
“I am a one-woman operation,” she said, “I have limited resources of energy, time and money, and I have to be careful how I spend those.”
Fly Creek Flowers also operates a self-service business on the weekends at Hulse Hill Farm through Sept. 26.
“We call it the flower shack, but there is no signage that says that,” Miller said. She rents a small stand-alone building from the owner, Christine McBrearty-Hulse, that is behind the Farm Store.
Customers choose the flowers they want and leave money in the cash box on the wall or use Venmo to pay Fly Creek Flowers.
“Christine has been a great mentor to me,” Miller said. The two women worked together at Cooperstown Central School. Miller was a math teacher there for 32 years. In fact, she moved to this area from the Adirondacks in February 1991 to teach seventh-grade math in Cooperstown.
McBrearty-Hulse was a guidance counselor at the same school for more than 30 years.
“She’s always upbeat and positive,” Miller said. “She’s very supportive.” She encourages Miller to “just go for it.”
Miller’s flower farm is about half an acre behind her house and consists of 15 raised beds. There is no point of sale on her property. Most of her subscription customers pick up their flowers weekly at a flower shack she rents from Hulse Hill Farm, which is about eight miles away at 5928 state Route 28 midway between Cooperstown and Fly Creek.
Dahlias are prominent in September. Florists generally do not carry dahlias, unless they are locally grown like Miller’s are.
“They are the divas of our garden. They are very diverse in their petals. They do not ship well,” Miller said.
Peonies, zinnias, snapdragons, sunflowers, specialty daffodils, feverfew, scabiosa, nigella, dianthus (Sweet William), ageratum, lisianthks, strawflowers, celosia, and a variety of greens and herbs are some of the varieties that Miller cultivates.
The flowers found at grocery stores year-round have been treated and sprayed with pesticides, she said. Some may have come from South America and spent long periods of time in transit. Conversely, Fly Creek Flowers are not organic certified, she said, but are free of chemicals.
“I certainly don’t spray the blooms,” she said. Her growing methods are environmentally friendly. “I’ve done extensive online training for farming. I use organic fertilizer and get the healthiest soil possible. All my growing methods are chemical free. Actually, I aim for a positive environmental impact.”
Now that the season is coming to a close, Miller encourages fresh flower lovers to sign up for her newsletter and to follow her on social media. She calls her dried flowers “everlasting arrangements and creations.”
“I have done The Creekside Market in late November for Christmas holiday items,” Miller said. She is considering doing it again this year.
For more information, visit https://www.flycreekflowers.com. Though Fly Creek Flowers does not arrange flowers for funerals or weddings, customers can contact Miller via text message with special requests at 518-578-0805.