Nikki Bartley
Cross Street Flower Farm
Nikki Bartley is the founder and owner of Cross Street Flower Farm. Nikki started flower farming on a small plot in her front yard in 2015, selling mason jars arrangements to friends and neighbors. Cross Street Flower Farm is now a 7-acre cut flower farm retail operation with over 900 CSA members, a retail Barn Shop and Cut Your Own Bouquet events from April to October.
Cross Street Flower Farm is located on town-owned farmland at the 300-year-old Jacobs Farm in the beautiful, New England town of Norwell, MA. Norwell is where Nikki and her husband, Scott, live and are raising their three boys.
Nikki started farming in 2010 when she became the founding chair of a non-profit organic vegetable farm. Prior to farming, Nikki worked in International Banking in Boston. Nikki has a BA in Russian language and literature from Wake Forest University and a MA in International Affairs from Columbia University.
Show Notes
Image by @klaarphotography
When starting out, it’s important to keep your eyes on your goals. You're going to face people that might not support you and could be negative about your ambitions and goals.
No matter what kind of business you have, florist or farmer, it’s important to surround yourself and your business with others in the community that can help support and encourage you.
When you follow your heart you often find people that think just like you.
If you have the right location or a strong following, you might consider focusing on a more retail sales model for your business.
There can be scary steps in building a strong business, I liked what Nikki said about just take the plunge like with insurance because it will help you open other doors enabling your business to grow.
I loved the quote that Nikki shared that food is medicine for the body and flowers is medicine for the soul. This should encourage and inspire all of us in the floral community to see our business as providing a higher purpose that is really needed now more than ever.
