Two women business partners enjoy foray into being florists
Owners of Boxcar Flower Farm at West Oakland's historic 16th Street train stop took over operation near start of pandemic
Dahlias are bursting and hard-to-grow lisianthus flowers vigorously bloom while fragrant Chocolate Cosmos and near-black Scabiosa boldly blossom in the rich, pesticide-free soil at Boxcar Flower Farm.
The future bouquets and special-occasion arrangements embedded in an eighth of an acre of the former parking lot at West Oakland's historic 16th Street train station are grown and spring into full appreciable form courtesy of co-owners Linh Becker of Piedmont and Berkeley's Jane Hammond. Hammond explains that the farm was originally part of WOW Farm and then GROW Oakland Farm and then became a small limited liability corporation.
“Jess Myles was the original owner and was an employee at my company, Jane Hammond Events. I'd known Jess for years, and I'd followed her exploits. I was volunteering at Boxcar, and then the pandemic hit, and then Jess had to leave when her mother was diagnosed with ALS. She called on me to be the adult in the room and help her figure out how to sell the farm. It was June of 2020 when I mentioned it being up for sale to Linh.”
Becker was busy in Piedmont, among other things parenting her school-age children, tending a tiny vegetable garden at her home, and occasionally managing to squeeze in an hour to meet Hammond for socially distanced tennis games at the Berkeley Tennis Club. Hammond “roped” her into volunteering at Boxcar and soon hatched an idea.
“I told Linh we had something wonderful to do while everyone else was locked up indoors. It was almost on a whim. When Jess said she had to sell, Linh and I looked at each other, and I said, `Let's buy it.' At that point, we couldn't let it go. We didn't know each other well or know each other's strengths. It's astonishing how well we work together.”
Becker and Hammond shared not just packed schedules and priorities that center on family and fun, the two women believe the core of a strong business is assembling kind, thoughtful people to work with and selecting clients who share the same belief that “we're all in this, so we'd best enjoy each other.”
Other, more directly tangible principles result in practices such as avoiding all pesticides, using organic soil, hydrating plants with greywater and rainwater, composting, repurposing containers, tags and ribbons in good condition, and always, essentially, growing
unique flowers and creating bouquets that Becker says “are not typical sunflowers or the dozen roses you'd find at Safeway,” adding that Boxcar arrangements have a natural garden-groomed look.
“People love that the flowers are locally grown. We seed things at my house, plant them at the farm, nurture them, harvest them and deliver them with love. To share is great. We keep quite busy.”
During the pandemic, Consumer-Supported Agriculture subscriptions kept Boxcar afloat. Delivering bouquets every other week to subscribers' homes, they charged $50 per month and for early investors waived the $10-per-month delivery fee.
“As of this year, new customers pay $60 plus $10 per month if they opt for home delivery,” says Becker.
Customers can pick up orders themselves at the farm or a handful of other nearby locations. With the pandemic receding, Becker is pleased to see CSA subscriptions continue to increase.
“We're at about 60, and it's grown mainly through word-of-mouth. That size growth is perfect because it's just Jane and I doing most of the work. We want to be able to run the farm and still play in the dirt. It's unique for a stay-at-home parent, for someone like I was, to then go out, own and operate an urban farm.”
Maintaining a hassle-free work environment as events such as weddings and large celebrations ramp up is easily within Hammond's skill set due to her events company that has been in operation since 1975. Born in London, educated in England, and leaping “the Atlantic pond” after falling in love with and following her physicist husband to the United States, Hammond says cooking and gardening are second nature to her.
“English people are all gardeners; it's the fabric of life. There's nothing more satisfying than having your hands in the soil and letting nature take its course. I can't imagine not looking after my own little piece of land.”
Critical skills in addition to project management and nurturing plant growth include handling social media and technological logistics and carefully curating clients. Hammond says that due to the heavy load she lifts in multiple roles at her events company, she's relieved that Becker is quick to tackle the communications and other administrative responsibilities.
“In terms of farming, we split it equally … but I'm the one who comes up with nutty projects like the worms,” Hammond says.
The worms she mentions and is afraid of — “especially when it's 30,000 of them crawling around and making manure in a sixfoot-by-three-foot worm
bin,” she emphasizes — will in a few months produce a valuable resource. “Happily ensconced in the bin, they eat horse manure and edible green kitchen waste and their poop filters out of the bottom of the system. It takes months to get a good crop, so right now, they're just doing their thing,” she says.
As Becker and Hammond continue to “do their thing,” the farm is just turning the corner into profitability. They say it's not about money and that for now they're content to direct the earnings back into the farm. Hammond says the payback is “peace, joy, fun and fascination.” Being creative and making other people happy with simple kindness and gorgeous, one-ofa-kind flower arrangements are bonuses, the owners add.
Becker, who admits “there's dirt everywhere” in the cars she and Hammond use for deliveries, says, “We've kept our prices steady even with inflation. We don't want flowers to become a burden for people. Recently, we donated flowers to a youth theater troupe and sent leftover flowers from a wedding to a group of frontline health care workers. Having a few extra dollars will never equate what we get out of seeing people enjoy Boxcar flowers.”