Resources:
Sarah Rigg's Feature Article: From organic flowers to eco-friendly packaging, these Ypsi businesses are innovating to go green
Transcription:
Rylee Barnsdale: You are listening to 89 one WEMU. I'm Rylee Barnsdale, and this is On the Ground Ypsi. Focusing on local and organic goods, fine tuning, delivery methods and moving away from plastic packaging are just a few of the ways that some local Ypsi businesses are working to make their practices kinder to the environment. From a family-owned beer distribution company who's called Ypsi Township home for more than 90 years, reducing their number of delivery days and thus their carbon footprint, to a local haircare line collaborating with another local manufacturing business to find eco-friendly alternatives to their plastic packaging, these Ypsi businesses care just as much about the environment as they do about the community that they serve. Ginny Blades, florist and owner of Ypsi business We Adore Flowers is here with me to talk about the sustainability practices she's worked in to every level of her business from the kinds of flowers she offers to the way that they're packaged for delivery. Hi, Ginny! Thank you so much for being here!
Ginny Blades: Yeah! I'm so excited to be here!
Rylee Barnsdale: So, Ginny, let's start with a little bit of background on We Adore Flowers. You know, what led you to opening up not just a florist shop, but a working local farm and flower studio?
Ginny Blades: Yeah, that was kind of an organic path--excuse the pun. Yeah, I have a background in growing. My dad is a horticulturist. I have a degree in horticulture--organic and sustainable horticulture--from MSU. I like flowers because they die. They are not plastic. They're going to a return to the earth. They're a celebration of this beautiful world. And they can be grown in a small area with a small footprint.
Rylee Barnsdale: So, Ginny, you mentioned your background in sustainable horticulture. How do you implement that knowledge into the business practices at We Adore Flowers?
Ginny Blades: Yeah. We don't grow plastic flowers. Ours die, and that's the best part. They return to the earth, and the products that we offer can be composted for next year ready to take another root uptake ride. That's important to me that what we're offering to the world isn't plastic. It's Earth-based. And from spring to fall, I can walk out my back door with my shears in hand and pick something gorgeous for my customers. Super local, fresh picked, seasonal flowers are unmatched in quality as well as sustainability--a powerful combination. And I wonder, even if they have a net positive impact, I'd be curious to see the carbon math on that. This last year, we grew winter tulips, so we had local flowers in January.
Rylee Barnsdale: Wow!
Ginny Blades: We grew thousands of bulbs under LED lights and included them in our deliveries and our tulip club subscription. But, yeah, specifically, we compost like crazy. We recycle like crazy. We reduce like crazy. We even reuse our rubber bands, our twine, our labels, our landscape fabric and irrigation. We tape them up every year in order to increase their longevity. Yeah, I designed the farm on a contour against the slope to slow the flow of water. We use berms and little rain gardens. I also think about airflow. I plant our shorter flowers in the front and then have our taller flowers in the back to think about allowing air through the farm to reduce disease pressure. Yeah, being an urban farm, we don't have deer pressure. So, we don't have to have an electric fence. We tested our soil this year, and we found that we didn't need any more potassium and phosphorus. Phosphorus, in particular, causes a lot of problems for all the water living organisms. We use drip irrigation to reduce water. We've put down like 20 yards of mulch every year to hold water in, and it holds weeds back. Also, that builds the organic matter and builds the water holding capacity. Yeah, we're careful not to disturb the soil when it's wet. That leads to compaction and a poor soil crumb, creating lower oxygen conditions that are ideal for bacteria that create NOx compounds--that's a powerful greenhouse gas. We use a compost tea weekly. I release beneficial nematodes. We fertilize with compost. We use a dip for our plants. That's like a mycorrhiza. So, when we go to plant our plugs, we dip them in this fungus. Then, as the plant grows, the fungus works to fight disease and make water nutrients more available. Yeah, we use these fun bacterias to fight powdery mildew that occupy the leaf's surface, eating up the substrates that powdery mildew would do. Yeah, we take the utmost care of our bees and our butterflies and, yeah, lots of hummingbirds around.
Rylee Barnsdale: So, really, every step of the way of the growing process, you've really thought all of this through to make sure that the impact on the world around you is lessened.
Ginny Blades: Yes. And that's our farming practice. And then, as a florist, we apply similar reduce/reuse thoughts. And the big thing that we don't do is we don't use that really gross green, floral foam. And that's kind of a great canary in the coal mine when you're looking for an organic and sustainable florist is finding somebody that isn't using that—the green floral foam.
Rylee Barnsdale: So, would you say that these practices that you've gone through here, are these what really said We Adore Flowers apart from other florists in the area, or is it just one part of the puzzle that makes you guys unique?
Ginny Blades: Oh, I do think it's essential, because it's also a love of nature and a design with nature in mind. You know, things have an organic, kind of flowing, exploding feel to it.
Rylee Barnsdale: This is WEMU's On the Ground Ypsi. I'm Rylee Barnsdale, talking with Ypsi business owner Ginny Blades. So, Ginny, in addition to this work that you and your team have put into making sure We Adore Flowers is sustainable from the growing practices to even the delivery, the packaging and the delivery part of the process, you're also focusing on building strong and sustainable relationships with your customers. Why is that an important piece to the work that you're doing?
Ginny Blades: Yes. I think quality is a huge part of sustainability, something that adds more value, something that brings more meaning. It's a very special thing to get an order from somebody to send love from across the state, across the country, to somebody who's having a birthday that they're not able to be there.
Rylee Barnsdale: I'm curious if there are any ways that you maybe bring customers into your sustainability practices as well. You know, maybe if there's an emphasis on recycling or maybe even just encouraging folks to get out into their own yards and figure out what's growing there.
Ginny Blades: Yeah, sure. We talk about that on our website. It's front and focused that we are farmers. I have Instagram posts where I'm talking through some points each season and how to grow flowers for yourself. Yeah, I think just with what we offer, being seasonal, I think that's what we offer in focusing on local flowers. People can read that.
Rylee Barnsdale: This is WEMU's On the Ground Ypsi. I'm talking with local florist boutique We Adore Flowers founder and owner Ginny Blades. Ginny, so I'm curious if there are any challenges that maybe you've run into throughout this process of discovering what sustainability practices work for We Adore Flowers. And, if there are, how were you able to overcome them and create the business that you have now?
Ginny Blades: Yeah, that's a big question. So, being that we don't use floral foam, creating some designs are challenging. So, I like a casket spray, for example. We've had to come up with ways to eliminate that use of floral foam with water picks that can be reused with just simply using flowers that are hardy out of water. We have a laser cutter and we've created a matrix that allows us to create these really cool floor installations for weddings.
Rylee Barnsdale: We Adore flowers is just one of many businesses throughout our community here in Ypsi trying to make their practices greener and more sustainable. And from the business owner perspective, why is it important for more businesses to take the same path that We Adore Flowers has in whatever ways they can to do the same thing?
Ginny Blades: Yeah. We are the generation that will get to decide. We have a lot of power right now to make choices to support businesses that are doing more sustainable practices. This is go time for our human race.
Rylee Barnsdale: Ginny, I want to thank you so much for taking the time to be here today. I know, working with flowers and weddings especially, you are a busy, busy person. So, thank you so much for being here! And it's been great learning more about you and your business!
Ginny Blades: Thank you so much! I'm so honored to be here! Thank you!
Rylee Barnsdale: For more information on today's topic and links to the full article, visit our website at wemu.org. On the Ground Ypsi is brought to you in partnership with Concentrate Media. I'm Rylee Barnsdale, and this is your community NPR station 89 one WEMU FM, Ypsilanti.
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