On 26 March 2020 a state of emergency was declared and New Zealand entered the first of what was to become many Covid 19 Lockdowns by Saturday 27 March.
It was an uncertain time, we had never experienced anything like it before. Overnight we were striped of our freedom and confined to our homes in our "bubble", unsure when we would see our family and friends again. We were issued a new set of rules to live by that would defined our days, scared by the unknown and media scenes of mass deaths we all abided like sheep, the very animal we are famous for.
Daily the nation was glued to the 1pm updates where the latest statistics were shared. No one knew what would become of businesses and jobs we had previously undertaken, for me I didn't hear from my employer for many weeks and never returned to my role in the same capacity.
With a three year old in tow, beautiful autumn weather, a resort town emptied of tourists, and no where to be, it turned out to be a magical time to be alive. We took to the streets on our bikes hunting for teddy bears, poking around the lake shore, pottering in our garden and I started signing up to all sorts of free content being shared online.
This included what was known then as the "Creative Entrepreneurs Collective - 30 day workshop" being developed by Samantha Wills. This concept or course was in its infancy, Samantha had started exploring the idea of imparting her knowledge post selling her very successful jewelry business. Covid fast forwarded her plans and she decided to offer the course for free as a test case....it must of been successful as she now has an online coaching business.
So where does flower farming come in? There are a few dots to connect.
When the lockdown was first announced I visited our local Mitre 10 to get some vegetable plants...it seemed everyone else in Wanaka had the same idea. All that was left was flower seeds, so I picked up a pack of sweet peas and went home.
Sweet peas were the first seed I grew as a child and I hadn't grown them since. During lockdown I naively sowed them in egg cartons and left them in a warm spot in my office to germinate. Back then I didn't realise Sweet Pea seedings prefer to be started in deep seed trays and toilet rolls would have been a better choice! None the less they grew...and by spring I had a lovely crop of flowers.
Meanwhile in April 2020, I had daily tasks to complete as part of my online course run by Samantha and I had to apply my learning to business idea. Pondering business ideas I reflected how busy and serious modern life had become, looking across my desk at my sweet peas bathed in sunlight, I had the beginnings of an idea.
Over the next 30 days, I used my plants to apply my course practice to. I had no idea where it was leading, or anything about cut flowers, floristry or gardening beyond the basics and certainly had no intention of starting a flower based business in reality. As I delved into gardening on Instagram I discover the slow flower or seasonal flower movement and this lead to the world of flower farming - this was the first roots of The Joy Farmer.
Fast forward to 2025, and the number of people growing and offering local cut flowers around the world has grown dramatically partially on the back of covid disrupting usual supply chains. In New Zealand you can find a list of registered growers on the NZ Flower Collective website.
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