Today we’d like to introduce you to Pami Monnette.
Pami, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I moved to Oregon in 2003 from a small ranching community in Northern California. Growing up I was always connected to nature through my parents gardens and backpacking in the beautiful Marble Mountain wilderness.
I have a Bachelor of Science in Geography and a Masters in Public Policy. After school, I volunteered for AmeriCorps for a year and then was lucky enough to get a job with the Oregon State University Extension Service. For over ten years, I worked with the Master Gardener and Small Farms programs teaching horticulture and coordinating projects and research programs. It was invaluable experience and I’ll always cherish my time there.
Working with farmers inspired me to try my hand at it and at the end of 2019, I began the process of turning the dream of a small flower farm into a reality. For four seasons, I grew cut flowers on about 1/3 acre in the field and a large hoop house area for season extension. I also managed a passive greenhouse where I propagated my own starts and grew some flowers in crates. This was the most amazing and hardest experience of my life, bringing people together with the farm and flowers.
Life priorities have shifted and I no longer live on or manage my own farm. I hope to pursue it again someday. For now, I am thrilled to continue supporting the local flower and farm movement. I have opened up a florist shop in Philomath and am just concluding my first year. I will continue to curate my flower offerings and services from the best local blooms available. I have made amazing connections over the years and am proud to bring you the best and freshest Willamette Valley blooms to you.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I have learned that small business management is mostly about managing risk. You have to be very comfortable with not knowing that your effort will necessarily bring you the results that you desire. There is an outlay of financial capital to start a small business that is very uncomfortable, especially when you have to borrow some of that capital. There are market shifts, trend changes, odd years, weather and pest related issues for farmers and limitations when you are serving a small rural market. I have learned to become more comfortable with risk and my main goal is just to show progress year after year. As long as I keep doing better than the year before, by many different measures, I feel like that is success for me.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I have built my floral design business based on what is available locally. I desire to create arrangements and designs that reflect the seasonality of flower growing in the Willamette Valley. I want to buy from local flower growers and lift them up so that they can be successful as a small farmer. I desire to tell the story of farming and how it looks so different for every family or partnership. I often liken myself to a small restaurant that creates recipes from seasonal offerings and the menu changes weekly. Being able to revel in the arrival of lisianthus season and share the excitement of something that isn’t available all year is really meaningful to me. I use a lot of greenery in my designs and enjoy reflecting the floral and fauna of the incredible growing climate that is the Western Oregon.
Who else deserves credit in your story?
I have had a lot of support over the years – you absolutely cannot do this on your own, even though it feels like it sometimes if your name is the only one on the business card. First and foremost, my parents have always been super supportive by helping me harvest in the early days, staffing the shop and contributing financially to the initial costs of opening the shop. I owe them everything! They have always believed that if anyone could do this, I could. My friends and community have been angels by showing up to plant and harvest, coming to my events and continuing to purchase from me for floral needs and recommending me to others. Even though we are not together anymore, I would be remiss to say that my farm partner when I first started the business was a huge support and did a lot of heavy lifting when the flower farm got off the ground. And lastly, I have a few farmer friends that also run flower farms, big and small, who I admire and am inspired by every day. They work harder than anyone I know and it is also a passion of theirs to be working outside and bring amazing blooms to market.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.countyline-flowers.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/countylineflowers/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/countylineflowers/
