Eastern River Farm Spent Three Years Searching for Its Pittston Land
The family-run flower farm, established in 2018, also consults with other farmers by the hour.
By Bootstrapped Wealth Features Desk
· 2 min read
Courtesy of Eastern River Farm
Three years looking, two years driving up
Eastern River Farm, a cut-flower farm and florist in Pittston, Maine, spent three years searching for the right property before settling on a century-old barn and fields sloping down to the Eastern River, according to its website. For two years afterward, the farm's owners drove up on weekends to clear overgrown land and clean out the barn while keeping up with life elsewhere, the site says, and their first full winter on the property went to finishing that work. The farm was established in 2018 as a specialty cut-flower operation, grown regeneratively with no pesticides, herbicides or fungicides, and the website describes it as family-run from the start.
Two ways to buy flowers from one farm
The farm sells flowers two ways, its website says. Its signature "Full Service" package pairs flowers the farm grew itself with design work for the ceremony and reception, table settings, and hands-on delivery, setup and takedown on the wedding day. A simpler a la carte option sends out arrangements already styled in vases, ready to place on a table. Every piece begins just outside the farm's studio, the site says, with stems cut not long before they go into the design, so the look of an order depends on what the rows happen to be producing that week — snapdragon, yarrow and phlox around midsummer, giving way later to dahlias, foxglove and zinnia. Visitors are welcomed only for weddings, workshops and special events rather than as drop-in guests, and the website says peak wedding season books 12 to 18 months ahead.
A farmer-florist and a family operation
The farm is run by Jennifer Joray, described on its site as its "Farmer Florist" and a graduate in flute performance who now spends her mornings with a field knife, according to the website. A second family member holds a doctorate in inorganic polymer chemistry, which the site says gets applied, loosely, to the farm's soil and irrigation, while the farm's daughters have handled seeding, cutting and quality control since the operation began.
Eastern River Farm also offers hourly consulting for other farmers and aspiring farmers, priced, the website says, "attainably," drawing on the same work of clearing and building that produced the farm itself.
More about the company at easternriverfarm.com.
Comments