[00:00:00] Deanna Kitchen: Kim, it is really incredible to see just the impact and the ripples of kindness that you are able to send out in your community through such generous giving. Um, I think it's really beautiful to get to witness the way that you've taken these two things that you felt a pull on your heartstring for and, and your.
[00:00:23] Deanna Kitchen: Navigating them simultaneously. That's not what I wanna say. Hang on. Um, I think it's really beautiful the way that you have combined your, your business, um, and your livelihood with giving so generously. And now I'm like stuck again. Shoot. I see this piece where you're like, how do you lead? Um, and, um, can you, can you tell us more about how that works for you as a, as a for-profit flower farm who depends on your farm for your livelihood, um, marrying these two things that are important to you.
[00:00:56] Deanna Kitchen: Um, both raising and selling flowers and also giving generously and creating these impact, this, creating these ripples of kindness in your community.
[00:01:09] Kim Hill: Well, I think that, um, I think the main thing for flower farmers, really real with ourselves, we always have extra flowers. We always have off cuts. We have the ones that aren't quite long enough, or the ones that aren't quite enough, especially when you're in the wholesale game, you know, you really gotta bring it.
[00:01:31] Kim Hill: You know, you can't just, you can't, it's gotta be there. There are standards and, um, I don't sell through any other channels. I guess I, I could, a lot of flower farmers sell through several different channels. Um, but even if you're going to a farmer's market, say. You're bringing in, know, 30 buckets of flow, whatever you're doing.
[00:01:54] Kim Hill: Um, probably you're not selling through. I mean, maybe you are, maybe that. I mean, hey, I mean, if you can do that, that's great. Uh, but maybe there's extras. Do you have a plan for that? You know, it is not gonna last a week and you're cooler. Sorry. I mean, that's not, that's not gonna work. So what's your plan? You know, maybe you're stopping by a nursing home on your way home. How fun would that be and how beautiful it's giving flowers is is just an endorphin rush. You're doing, you're doing something so kind and it just, if you can see their face, you'll get it. Um, so maybe have a plan for those, uh, extras that we always have.
[00:02:43] Kim Hill: Um, maybe grow extra. Maybe grow some things that are specifically meant for giving away. Um, I think that once you do it, you're gonna get hooked. And who better? We have and gobs of flowers.
[00:03:00] Deanna Kitchen: Mm-hmm.
[00:03:01] Kim Hill: and I think that operating from a place of scarcity always limits our possibility.
[00:03:09] Deanna Kitchen: Oh,
[00:03:09] Kim Hill: um, think that the more, yeah, the more you give, the more you get.
[00:03:15] Deanna Kitchen: that right there. I mean, I just wanna repeat that back to you because. Operating from scarcity limits. Our possibility not only are I think from our possibility for impact and connection and kindness, but would you say as, as a for-profit business owner, do you feel like the generous giving that you're doing in your community limits you as a business or opens doors and opportunities for you?
[00:03:43] Kim Hill: No, not at all. And I don't use it as a marketing tool or anything like that. It's, it's really just little thing that I do. I go and deliver to our collective. I sell through a collective in Charlottesville and it's a group of eight farmers that all sell together, um, And, uh, so I make my delivery there on Mondays and then I swing by the hospital and give 'em the rest
[00:04:12] Deanna Kitchen: Hmm.
[00:04:12] Kim Hill: and reset.
[00:04:14] Kim Hill: Then I, um, I have some designers in Richmond that I, uh, work with. so I will harvest their flowers on Tuesday and deliver theirs on Wednesday. Um, and, you know, just round around we go March to October, you know, it's, it's this, you know, it's Groundhog Day. It's the same thing every week.
[00:04:39] Deanna Kitchen: I am trying to picture in my head how many stems, how many blooms have left your farm and brighten the lives of someone in a nearby community. It's got to be count. I mean, is it do, do you count? It's gotta be countless if you're donating by the bucket. That's really, that's really hard to track and yeah.
[00:05:00] Kim Hill: I, I don't know. And, and it is what it is. I, you know, I, I think, um, I don't know if the hospitals keeping track of how many bouquets they've done. I'll ask, I'll ask Lidell.
[00:05:15] Deanna Kitchen: The, the ripples of kindness. I just, I think it's hard to, um. Or maybe it's easy to imagine, you know, every, every bucket of those blooms, you know, delivered this, the ripples of kindness that are moving out and through, um, you know, patients at the hospital, um, clients at the food pantry. Um, it's just really incredible to think about how that one thing that you would've composted
[00:05:45] Kim Hill: Yeah,
[00:05:46] Deanna Kitchen: went on to give so abundantly in your community.
[00:05:49] Kim Hill: absolutely shouldn't hit a compost pile. I mean, if it's a decent flower, it's got possibility to bring joy to somebody.
[00:05:57] Deanna Kitchen: Mm-hmm.
[00:05:57] Kim Hill: you have to do is figure out who. And you know, I mean, I'll tell you another fun thing is with the collective, we bring in extra, uh, bunch. We sell them in, uh, we have like a little a store, you know, on Wednesdays, designers can come in and shop the extras and invariably they don't all sell, you know, that's just, that's just retail.
[00:06:21] Kim Hill: So, um, we've now organized those flowers go to gin and she makes. She uses those for her children's hospital thing. So whether I, whether they sell or don't, they're all going to the hospital,
[00:06:36] Deanna Kitchen: Absolutely beautiful.
[00:06:38] Kim Hill: a pretty full circle thing. 'cause yeah, our MA market manager was like, who can we donate these to?
[00:06:43] Kim Hill: And I'm like, I know, I know. can donate 'em to Jen,
[00:06:48] Deanna Kitchen: Absolute beautiful. One of the things, this is off, off record that I have a vision for, but I don't know how to bring to fruition, is I would really love to see us have a branch within growing kindness for, I'm just throwing this out, off record, um, for, um. To be able to, to write receipts of donation to these fire farmers so that they can actually not, again, not because it should be the motive for giving, but like how can we make this more sustainable for, for fire farmers, you know, that there's, you know, there's further support beyond the community impact.
[00:07:26] Deanna Kitchen: Um, kind of what the question I think I wanna ask is, um.
[00:07:35] Deanna Kitchen: Like how, how do you feel like this generous giving that you're doing has impacted and influenced your community and your community's perception of you as a flower farm?
[00:07:51] Kim Hill: I don't know.
[00:07:53] Deanna Kitchen: Okay. That's a, that's a, there's not, if they're not like, like, oh, they once said, or you know, they are like, oh, you're the one who, you know, whatever. Um,
[00:08:00] Kim Hill: Yeah,
[00:08:01] Deanna Kitchen: this is.
[00:08:02] Kim Hill: Liddell, the, the, uh, coordinator is just so lovely. She's always so thankful and, um, and she's told me things about, uh, you know, when she's rolling the cart of buckets into the hospital, people notice. And I think sometimes just noticing something kind, being done can ripple, even if it's not. Something that's been given to you, you're
[00:08:27] Deanna Kitchen: Mm-hmm.
[00:08:27] Kim Hill: it happening to somebody else and you're like, oh, gee, you know, maybe I could do something nice. And the, the paying it forward can happen in ways that we will never know,
[00:08:38] Deanna Kitchen: Mm-hmm.
[00:08:39] Kim Hill: none of our business really. I mean, it's just, it's about doing the thing, feeling good about it,
[00:08:45] Deanna Kitchen: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I love, I love what you said, that when we notice, um, kindness, it inspires us to move in kindness. And that's something that I am seeing play out over and over. And I read recently about this thing. I just, I did share this in an earlier episode, but it's called Kindness Priming. Um, and I don't know, you know.
[00:09:12] Deanna Kitchen: Exactly the science behind it. But the science behind it is, is that when we witness kindness being done, you know, between other people, it basically chemically alters us to be primed to act in kindness ourselves.
[00:09:29] Kim Hill: Sorry. Okay,
[00:09:30] Deanna Kitchen: Oh my goodness.
[00:09:32] Kim Hill: Get outta here. Jesus, I'm so sorry.
[00:09:35] Deanna Kitchen: I think it's hilarious. I think it's so real life, but also like, can I get cats are like, like toddlers where they're like, oh, you're busy. Oh, you're busy. Are you okay? Well, now's the perfect time. Don't be, don't be.
[00:09:47] Kim Hill: I was petting him thinking he would quiet down and then Yeah,
[00:09:51] Deanna Kitchen: is also another reason why I'm at a podcast studio because I have teenage boys in a small home, and we also have a p, well, she's not a puppy now, she's 11 months old, but she's next level. Like it's not, it's not gonna be quiet. She ate a rock two Saturdays ago. We had to have going for like, thank goodness we're able, I mean, I, I recognize the privilege in being able to say like, okay, we can go into the emergency vet.
[00:10:13] Deanna Kitchen: And when they say, do you wanna do surgery? We can say, yes, we wanna do surgery. But yeah, she ate a rock like this big why. Why Shane and I were laughing, we're like, yep, there must be big things going on. 'cause he's got some big things happening at work. We were launching the podcast, our dishwasher broke, the dog went in for emergency surgery and my kid's car broke down.
[00:10:36] Deanna Kitchen: We're like, yep, feels about right. Like, it's gotta be a all the things, you know, all at once. But, um, Kim, okay, so I, I think you're just doing such a lovely job of explaining this. So, um, Kim, what let me seem like, oh, let me start again. Kim, I can just, okay. Wow. Clearly, wow. No words. Awesome. Um, I feel like maybe this is like momentum, like once you get going, you're good.
[00:11:03] Deanna Kitchen: Like, how do you get started?
[00:11:07] Deanna Kitchen: What I wanna say is, um, that I'm brain dead right now. Okay. No. Uh. What I wanna lead in with is sharing. Oh, Kim, you're sharing so many blooms, um, in your community each week. It sounds like, you know, one of the things that I'm hearing from you is make it simple, make it easy, um, by being able to partner with people who are taking those blooms and putting them into things like with what you're doing and donating to UVA hospital.
[00:11:36] Deanna Kitchen: Um, and then can you give us any other. Practical tips if, if a flower farmer was listening today, or if a gardener who grows a big volume of flowers was listening today and has flowers to give, but maybe feels a little overwhelmed about the process of how do I get these flowers into the hands of those who need them?
[00:11:58] Deanna Kitchen: Or how do I make this process simple? What practical tips can you give to someone who's thinking about, um. Being able to reach out with their surplus of flowers or with a lot of flowers and gift in their community.
[00:12:15] Kim Hill: I think I would get help. You know, if, if, if you love to arrange flowers, um, amazing. Do that. I, I like doing that. I don't have time for that, you know, so for me it's super easy. It's a lot easier, I will say, uh, to just fill buckets and just, and then the, they design them. But I will say Jen has volunteered.
[00:12:44] Kim Hill: She has an army that helps her, you know, she actually, she's a grower and a designer and, um, she has a, a group of people that get together every week and help her harvest and put these arrangements together because she makes the arrangements and delivers. And that's just, it's a lot of time and it's a lot of work to, to, to make something like that happen on that kind of scale. Um. So for me, uh, buckets is the way, and, you know, there are programs all over the place that will do this. Like,
[00:13:23] Deanna Kitchen: Mm-hmm.
[00:13:23] Kim Hill: um, if you, I bet if you, uh, walked up to a nursing home and said, listen, you know, do you wanna start a program? Maybe, uh, maybe you wanna gather some residents together and do a little class on flower ranging, you know, maybe, I mean, look. You can't be a flower grower without knowing a few florists.
[00:13:47] Deanna Kitchen: Absolutely. Mm-hmm.
[00:13:49] Kim Hill: you partner, uh, with one and you do it together, and that'd be fun. Um, maybe the designer will teach, uh, residents to do that, or maybe it's a group home or maybe it's, um, I don't know,
[00:14:08] Deanna Kitchen: I think any, yep. I think absolutely.
[00:14:12] Kim Hill: be any kind of nonprofit. I mean, maybe you're just it for the community.
[00:14:17] Deanna Kitchen: Mm-hmm. I have, I have a friend who, um. Was growing a lot of Ds, but was feeling a little overwhelmed and in the process of getting 'em out into the community, but she really wanted to see them be gifted in kindness, and so she set up a weekly little front porch pickup, and so she just put out on her local buy, sell, swap page that, Hey, if you know someone who is going through a difficult time, who needs to be uplifted, encouraged.
[00:14:45] Deanna Kitchen: Come pick up flowers and they were just buckets, you know, set out on the front porch and people could come put their own arrangement together. I think sometimes. Especially if we come from a flower farming or floral design, particularly background. Um, or just have, you know, the, um, feel any pressure about things needing to look a certain way or be a certain, um, style of arrangement that can slow us down and keep us from giving one really.
[00:15:14] Deanna Kitchen: Truly a bucket of flowers or a bunch of flowers or a bucket set on our front porch for someone to come pick out stems from is enough. We just have to reach out and offer what we have. And I love that you found a way to give so generously and create, um, so many moments of impact and spread so much kindness.
[00:15:35] Deanna Kitchen: By leaning in and using what you have. And that's a lot of flowers, not necessarily a lot of time. Um, but you found a way to make it fit into your business model and give generously, and I think that's so beautiful.
[00:15:51] Kim Hill: Yeah, and I, and I don't see it as a detraction from my business at all. I'm not selling every single step, you know, just because the nature of how I've chosen to do it. Um, but I think no matter how you grow as a, as a farmer, you know, there's always gonna be extra. I really believe that, you know, if you can sell every single stem, well, well more power to you,
[00:16:20] Deanna Kitchen: We, we totally hear you. Yep. Um, I kind of wanna lean into, I just kind of wanna enter I, because like, I think I, you mentioned earlier and I've seen photos of the arrangements that you and your mom bake together that go. Sorry, I forgot to turn my ring back off. I turned it on in case I need to get ahold of you.
[00:16:44] Deanna Kitchen: Um. I, I, okay. Back up. Um, so in addition to the gifting buckets of Blooms, you mentioned that you and your mom also do a regular gifting to, um, the food pantry in your community. And those are small arrangements. I have had the privilege of seeing photos of them, and I would love for you to share about how you put those together in a way that makes it simple and easy to keep giving like you're doing, because I think you and your mom have really.
[00:17:15] Deanna Kitchen: Um, hit on some really sweet little tips, um, that have made that easy and beautiful to be able to do.
[00:17:24] Kim Hill: Yeah. So, um, what's kind of neat is I was telling Liddell at the hospital. Um, about doing that. And she's like, you know what, I, I have so many little Starbucks bottles that somebody brings into us, carefully washes them, and she brings them in. And my, um, my gals here don't love them because they're not big enough for what they wanna do.
[00:17:50] Kim Hill: Um, could you use them? I'm like, that's perfect.
[00:17:54] Deanna Kitchen: Yeah. Yeah. Talk about cup holder size.
[00:17:57] Kim Hill: Exactly. And they're glass and they're, they're weighted enough to not tip over, you know? And, and we were using these little, uh, plastic cup things that we had in that just didn't work great. So these little bottles, so we got those bottles and then, um, I bought some crates, like milk crate kind of things that help holds the bottles in
[00:18:20] Deanna Kitchen: Mm-hmm.
[00:18:20] Kim Hill: can just 'em right over, uh, to the church and, uh. It's easy and I, you know, I press her into service, uh, when we make those so we can do it together. Um, so it's not just me. Um,
[00:18:35] Deanna Kitchen: I think it's such a beautiful invitation 'cause people wanna help. People wanna do something, but it takes somebody asking or having a specific thing to do, like, Hey, can you save all your Frappuccino bottles and wash them for me? Sure, I'd be happy to help. Or, Hey, can you spend an hour with me this afternoon in the barn?
[00:18:54] Deanna Kitchen: We're gonna arrange flowers. You know, people are so excited to get to be. I, we wanna be asked, we wanna serve. And so when we're willing to say, Hey, can you help me? It just makes the ripples of kindness roll, um, move out even far. Great. Now I'm the one knocking things over. The ripples of kindness get to move out even farther in our communities and in our circles.
[00:19:18] Kim Hill: Right. Exactly. Yep. They get to, they get to participate and that's a gift.
[00:19:23] Deanna Kitchen: Mm-hmm.
[00:19:24] Kim Hill: So yeah, I just think everything that I've done in my 57 years, um, has taught me that the, that, that the more that you give and the more you operate from a place of abundance and, uh. Just, it's just a happier life.
[00:19:48] Deanna Kitchen: Mm-hmm.
[00:19:50] Kim Hill: Don't
[00:19:50] Deanna Kitchen: I could.
[00:19:50] Kim Hill: wanna be stingy or selfish or you know, it, it just never works.
[00:19:57] Kim Hill: At
[00:19:58] Deanna Kitchen: Mm-hmm.
[00:19:59] Kim Hill: least not for me.
[00:20:00] Deanna Kitchen: Mm-hmm. I think there is something that's, you know, um, one of the things that I discovered for myself along the way is that the, there's a saying, um, and, and Franklin said it, and she said, no one ever became poor by giving. Uh, and I love that. And the only time that I have found. That not to be true is if we're giving something that isn't truly ours to give.
[00:20:27] Deanna Kitchen: Um, when we're like bankrupting, I'm not saying this eloquently, but this is what the only time it's not true is if it's not truly our resource to give. Um, and the rest of the time it's so very true because when we're giving generously. So much more comes back to us and not necessarily, you know, not even necessarily in terms of, you know, uh, recognition as a business or you know, customers as a business, but, but bigger than that and more beautiful than that is just this opportunity to build relationships and uplift people and.
[00:21:14] Deanna Kitchen: To something really powerfully positive in a community, um, that ripples back to us in so many ways.
[00:21:23] Kim Hill: Absolutely. Yep. True.
[00:21:25] Deanna Kitchen: Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Kim, this is so, I just, I'm so inspired by like, I think, I, I think that people are gonna walk away from this feeling like, oh. I could do that. How come I haven't thought about that? You know, I think we overcomplicate it.
[00:21:42] Deanna Kitchen: Like, oh, we've gotta give bouquets, you know, just the idea. So one thing that I'd love to invite you into, I haven't got all the bells and whistles together on this yet, but we're getting ready to write a new P, like a new PDF, like a download for growing kindness. And it's gonna be 101 ways to give flowers and like a section of it will be like, if you're a flower farmer, here's some ways.
[00:22:02] Deanna Kitchen: So I would love. To feature you in that section, if you'd be up for that. Um, and with your idea of like, here's how I work in my co-op or collective, here's how I gift buckets. Um, here's how I make this work with my harvesting schedule. Um, so I'll follow up with you on that and we'll get more information on that.
[00:22:20] Deanna Kitchen: But for now, um, um, I mean, I feel like you've, again, you know, I wrote all the questions down. I'm like, I feel like you've already answered them all. Um.
[00:22:32] Kim Hill: Maybe we did it.
[00:22:33] Deanna Kitchen: Maybe we'll see. Let's, let's start with, let's do this. There's two questions that I've been trying to ask in every episode. So, Kim, obviously you're growing, um, flowers on a much bigger scale as a flower farmer. Um. What? What would you say to someone who may be listening and has never grown flowers at all before and is inspired to start?
[00:22:59] Deanna Kitchen: What advice would you have for a brand new beginning gardener?
[00:23:06] Kim Hill: Um. The way I started is just research. mean, I just, I read, I looked online. There's so much information out there and there, there's so many, um, farmers out there doing social media and they're talking about what they're doing. I mean, I love, I talk a lot on my social media about what I'm doing in the fields and my stories.
[00:23:37] Kim Hill: Just because I hope it's helpful. Um, um, I have no aspirations of being a flower farmer educator, or, I mean, that market's full. I mean, there are a lot of people doing that stuff. Um, and like I said, I kind of have found my third way of doing stuff. Um, but people have said, you know, they like it. They're like, oh yeah, I didn't think about doing it that way, or. You know, like I, this year I am growing in a hoop house for the first time and I don't know what I'm doing. I'm just doing it, you know, and I'm
[00:24:13] Deanna Kitchen: I think it's that. I think.
[00:24:14] Kim Hill: go along, you know, and I, I rigged up, I call it my redneck hoop house because it's just plastic over a metal frame that used to be a hate tent.
[00:24:25] Kim Hill: And, uh, you know, we'll see how it goes. Um. But you probably could learn a lot from smarter people than me. Um, but I think there are a lot of people out there that do that kind of, uh, informational stuff and there's certainly lots of books out there and, uh, pros that are happy to teach you how to do it.
[00:24:50] Kim Hill: But as far as gardening goes, um, back when I was just gardening again, I guess for me, I get into a book, I'm all about learning. Educating myself as best I can to try to have the best outcome. And I would start, I would start easy, you know, I mean, get into the annuals. Um, some of these seeds, they just wanna grow.
[00:25:16] Kim Hill: You just throw 'em in the ground. It's, I mean, Xia is cosmos, aloia, I mean, with Soja. 'cause once you put that in the ground, you're pretty much married. It's gonna come. You know it's gonna come
[00:25:30] Deanna Kitchen: It's a long-term relationship.
[00:25:32] Kim Hill: it is, it is. It's she,
[00:25:34] Deanna Kitchen: Whether you want it or not.
[00:25:36] Kim Hill: Yeah. Yeah. had a forest this year.
[00:25:41] Kim Hill: It was wild. Um, I did not plant one, so seed, and I had a forest.
[00:25:49] Deanna Kitchen: the gift that keeps on giving. But think about, I think that that's, there's a beautiful analogy in that, right? Like things, things want to grow. Um, and when we start with flowers that are robust and hearty, like the ones you recommended and just put 'em in the ground, they wanna grow and just let 'em, let 'em go and.
[00:26:10] Kim Hill: yeah. I, there's a, there's a whole, uh, plant category called cool flowers. Um, and they're really biennials. Lisa Ziegler, uh, kind of, I don't know. She didn't invent it, but she kind of brought it in, you know, to the vernacular. Our grandmothers knew about this, but. Um, those seeds, I mean, like bachelor buttons. I don't plant those anymore, but they come back year over year. I, there's a lot of plants out in my field that I give no effort for.
[00:26:41] Deanna Kitchen: Hmm.
[00:26:41] Kim Hill: bachelor buttons are one boot rum will come back year over year or lay uh, um, nella, uh, there's a whole category of those kinds of flowers that start in the fall and they get little, they're little babies.
[00:26:56] Kim Hill: They just live all winter long, and then they're the first thing to charge up in the spring. So if you want early blooms, go scatter some of those outside real, real quick.
[00:27:06] Deanna Kitchen: Mm-hmm. This is excellent advice, especially for someone who's thinking, how do I get started in the spring? Well, you can, you can start right now. Go, go sprinkle a seed packet right now. Um,
[00:27:18] Kim Hill: as long as it's the right kind, you
[00:27:20] Deanna Kitchen: right, right.
[00:27:21] Kim Hill: you know those, those ones I just mentioned, queen Ansleys.
[00:27:25] Kim Hill: That was everywhere. I didn't plant one queen ans lace, and I, I, I can't, I don't even know how many bunches I cut of that. um, so that's the way you get 'em early. You get 'em quick, and then after your last frost, you can do all of the, the, the afore mentions, Zenya and Cosmos and SOEs and you know, that group of So those are all just seed they're just so. Easy and Mother Nature will just take it away. You know, I would start there
[00:27:59] Deanna Kitchen: I love that.
[00:27:59] Kim Hill: know, then they're, they're kind of your gateway drug though, because then you're gonna be like, Ooh, maybe I could do some dahlias. I heard about that. That's fun. And that's a whole other little thing.
[00:28:10] Kim Hill: But the growing kindness page has all kinds of good information, um, on growing.
[00:28:16] Deanna Kitchen: Yeah.
[00:28:16] Kim Hill: if you join, you can learn how
[00:28:18] Deanna Kitchen: Yep. We're really, one of the things I love about our community too is that we're all. Kind of flower nerds, um, whether we're we're new flower nerds or experienced flower nerds. Um, everybody is just excited and energized, um, about, about growing flowers. And so there's lots of really great conversations and tips and troubleshooting.
[00:28:43] Deanna Kitchen: I just happens, you know, with, Hey, who's doing this or who knows how to solve that problem? And it's really fun to come together around that because then it becomes, I think that. You know, we, we all felt and, and knew very deeply what it was like to walk in isolation, um, because of COV. And so we just, anytime we can find community, whether it's like-minded people, um, who are doing the same things like growing flowers and giving them as acts of kindness or whether it's fostering community in our actual local region, um, I think it's something we're all longing for and it.
[00:29:23] Deanna Kitchen: Pays back in dividends, kinda like those flowers that go to seed. You know, that just keeps coming back in the most beautiful ways as we, one connection leads to another connection which builds a bridge, you know, in a community. And it's really, it's really an incredible opportunity to see the way that just those, those single seeds, um, can grow and grow and grow.
[00:29:45] Kim Hill: Yes. Yeah. Flower farming is, um.
[00:29:50] Deanna Kitchen: okay.
[00:29:50] Kim Hill: It can be isolating, um, as a flower farmer. Uh, you know, this may be off topic, but uh, we've just started a flower farmer group in Central Virginia I'm the unofficial secretary. I guess we don't have any organization going on. We just, uh, one, uh, cutie pilot little, uh, flower farmer here in the area.
[00:30:15] Kim Hill: Kayla. She, um, was waxing poetic on, on Instagram about wouldn't it be fun if we could just like get together as flower farmers? And, but she has two littles, you know, swirling around her legs. She has no time for that. And does anyone else have time to do any kind, like maybe organizing us and pulling us together?
[00:30:37] Kim Hill: And, um, I was like, I
[00:30:41] Deanna Kitchen: Oh, I love that. Yeah. Yeah. We're all just longing for community. Yeah.
[00:30:45] Kim Hill: we have over 40 flower farmers
[00:30:48] Deanna Kitchen: That's amazing.
[00:30:49] Kim Hill: as part of our group, and the things we could do together
[00:30:55] Deanna Kitchen: That's what, yeah. Next steps. I wanna, I wanna, actually, Kim, I would love to, and I'm realizing I'm like, I probably should stay on top of it because editing the podcast. I know, but No, no, no. But what I would love to do is actually call, schedule a call where you and I can just catch up and chat because I think there's some really cool things that we have opportunity for moving forward in the future.
[00:31:15] Deanna Kitchen: Um. So what I'd love to do, I just think, I think we have a lot of really good encouraging things. Um, one of the two questions that I love to, um, or the question that I love to wrap up with is, one of that is like, what would you say to someone who's thinking about getting started and you would. Totally covered that beautifully.
[00:31:34] Deanna Kitchen: Um, and then, uh, what I'll to do is kind of like wrap us up and then ask you the final question. And this is where like, it usually will be like the music plays in and we kind of cut out from there. But, um, Kim, it has been a joy to get to learn from you and hear your story. It's. A beautiful reminder to us all that creativity and our passions and our businesses can live right alongside of giving generously.
[00:32:01] Deanna Kitchen: And not only that, they can lift each other up and move each other forward in such beautiful ways. I love the way that you've helped us with such practical tips, um, for ways that we can take an abundance of flowers and get them into the hands of those who need them most in our community. If anybody wanted to connect with you.
[00:32:23] Deanna Kitchen: Um, and let's see. Sorry. Um, lemme back it up. So sorry. This is always, I'm like, I feel so bad for a podcast editor. This so much editing. Um,
[00:32:32] Kim Hill: gotta be so difficult.
[00:32:34] Deanna Kitchen: I've, I've gotta get better at this though 'cause I'm making it like take twice as long as it should because of stopping and stumbling over my words. But if anybody wanted to keep.
[00:32:42] Kim Hill: with practice.
[00:32:43] Deanna Kitchen: Yep. If anybody wanted to keep following along with your story and see the ways, learn from you and in your experience as a flower farmer and see the ways that you're giving in your community, how would they get in touch with you or follow along?
[00:32:58] Kim Hill: Uh, well I'm on the Gram and on Facebook, uh, crane and Clover retreat. Um, same thing both places. And, um, I have a website in cc retreat.com and, um. Can see the whole story on the website. Um, yeah, and I teach classes in the barn art classes, so that's been really fun. Um, so yeah, that's, that's pretty much it.
[00:33:27] Deanna Kitchen: Well, I've loved following along with your story and I cannot wait to continue. Kim, thank you for being here with us today and sharing your story. It's encouraging and uplifting just to see the ways that we can bring serving and community service into all that we do. As we part today, I would love to hear from you.
[00:33:50] Deanna Kitchen: Um, we talk often about the power of small acts of kindness. What's one thing that someone once did for you that you still carry in your heart with you today?
[00:34:03] Kim Hill: Well, um, I recently tried to build a chicken coop I am a person that thinks I can just do anything 'cause everything is figureoutable and turns out that was, uh, beyond my ability. And I was in a pickle, and my friend Sheila came over and was like, what in the world? And I'm like, I know I'm in a bind.
[00:34:28] Kim Hill: And she's like, okay, that's fine. We got this. And she got her husband over here and they brought a miter saw and the two of them helped me get that little project complete. And it was huge for me because as a classic, you know. Gen XI do not ask for help and I don't expect help. And I, I'm fine. I got this, you know, and it was a, it was a moment of, oh gosh, now this kind of feels nice.
[00:34:58] Kim Hill: Wow, that was so nice. And, um, yeah, I've just not gotten over it yet. I just, I can't believe they did that for me.
[00:35:06] Deanna Kitchen: Hmm.
[00:35:07] Kim Hill: um, probably the best thing that's happened lately.
[00:35:12] Deanna Kitchen: It's like you said, when we're willing to ask for help, someone can give and someone can receive. All it takes is one person being willing to ask. Kim, thank you for being here today. It was an honor to get to hear your story.
[00:35:24] Kim Hill: for having me.
[00:35:26] Deanna Kitchen: Do you want me to hit that correct button?
