Mandy and Steve O’Shea
3 Porch Farm
image courtesy of Steve and Mandy O Shea
“We are a small sustainable flower farm in North Georgia and are dedicated to being the Most Sustainable Flower Shipping option in the U.S. Situated on 9 acres, we work with our crew to grow beautiful farm fresh flowers in a way that respects the land, our employees, and our community. “
Our Mission: Principles before Profit has been our M.O. from day one. Businesses have far greater impact on the world than individuals and our goal has always been to use our business to effect as much good as possible. That’s it. Be happy by doing good.
Our Story
Mandy and I met in 2003 when I was passing through Athens doing renewable fuels work and she took me to see her farm plot. I grew up in the suburbs and was searching for ways to do good in this world while still being connected to nature. Seeing someone my age happily growing organic produce for a living blew my mind a little. More than anything though, I was impressed by her. Her spirit, her ethics, her tenacity and overarching joy in everything made a deep and lasting impression on me. I looked at her as an inspiration and role model and someone I'd hoped to remain friends with. No sparks between us though.
3 years later, she needed help driving from GA to a temporary farm gig out in California and a mutual friend convinced me to be that helper. By the second day in the car, we were head over heels in love and knew we were going to spend the rest of our lives together and we started planning how we could be together everyday while fusing her love for growing with my passion for renewable energy and sustainable living. Those plans kept getting clearer and more refined as we spent 6 years in California working days, nights, and weekends to save money to buy some land. Our relationship kept growing and our desire to do something good never waned. After 4 years of actively looking for land and a slew of failed attempts, the most perfect place showed up, but it happened to be 3,000 miles away. Fortunately for us, we love North Georgia, so we made an offer site unseen. We flew out 3 days later and practically melted with disbelief. This farm was perfect in virtually every single way and gave us an amazing base to build from. The land is the framework for our endeavors. Our friendship and mutual desire to build something good is the motor that keeps pushing it forward. And our community of customers, friends and our wonderful crew that works along side us each day is the fuel that feeds us. We are truly grateful to have the opportunity to spend so much time together doing something we believe is bigger than ourselves and to be received so generously by a community that seems to feel the same way.
Our Farm Family Our crew is a bit of an extended family for us. We not only share space and work, but food and stories. We celebrate birth’s and anniversaries and successful citizenship tests together. With so many different backgrounds we all have a lot to learn from each other and it’s a delight to do so. Ag is a tough industry for most workers, but we make sure to share the labor, not overwork anyone, keep our staff employed year round, pay everyone living wages, and to give time off whenever its requested and bonuses whenever the farm does well. We understand deeply the impact we have on their lives and the lives of their families and strive to provide every benefit we can
Show Notes
I loved the story behind the Ms. Marilyn Forget Me Not that they found in a mixed package of wildflower seed. I’m grateful for their keen eye and diligence to select and reproduce this very special flower. It’s an amazing lavender color.
All the Heirloom Mums that 3 Porch grows are selected and grown because they’ve been trialed and tested over the last 10 years, and they have found them to be productive and resilient especially in their part of the country.
They are all heirloom varieties meaning that you can use these varieties to build and grow as stock plants for future flowering seasons.
Mandy encouraged you to stick anything you pinch or cut in soil to propagate them. They root easily and you might be surprised at what will go on to produce a cut flower.
Be sure to keep on top of insects as the buds start forming. That’s when the most damage can happen to the flowers, plus they’ll have a tendency to become more difficult to control. There are a lot of organic type methods for controlling these pests and Steve mentioned several he uses.
They also found in their soils that the mums didn’t require a lot of fertilizer if any. They do invest a lot back into there soil, and Steve recommended doing soil testing so you know what you’re working with.
Don’t give up on flower crops that have been difficult for you. Mandy recommends giving them at least 3 years because there’s a lot of challenging factors that may have contributed to them not being successful may just be environmental and could vary from year to year.
