Branding: Little Farmhouse Flowers

Continuing right along with our flower farm themed spring - next up we have Little Farmhouse Flowers, tucked away in the Adirondacks of New York. Linda D’Arco is one-half of The Tulip Workshop, and saw an opportunity to further develop the brand of her own farm, too, considering how it had evolved and grown over the past few years.

Before she became a flower farmer and floral designer, Linda was a teacher, and she has found her passion for education and sharing skills resurfacing in exciting ways. Through Little Farmhouse Flowers, she offers the chance for other farmer-florists to discover ways to grow both their floral crops and their businesses, through initiatives such as workshop opportunities, the @littlefarmhouseflowerspro subscription, and one-on-one consultations.

As Linda shifts focus to these educational aspects of her business, we wanted to make sure her branding was communicating those values, and connecting with the appropriate audiences.

We started with a barn swallow, a long-standing symbol for Little Farmhouse Flowers, and evolved it into an eye-catching, versatile logo that expanded nicely into a larger brand that really tells the full story of the farm.

The pattern is one of my favorite elements from this project - and works so well on kraft floral wrap.

We also created elements specifically for Linda’s signature workshop, The Cold Climate Rose Grower’s Program - including a ‘Rosarian’ badge that became fun stickers for flower farmers who completed the workshop!

Thank you Linda for such a fun and inspiring project! We love to see farms thinking about how their skills are shared and passed down - and Linda is doing that in a really inspiring way. Check out Little Farmhouse Flowers and follow all of the floral beauty over on Instagram to learn more.

Branding: The Tulip Workshop

It’s always pleasant to work on flower farm brands, but it is particularly satisfying to be drawing nothing but flowers right on the cusp of spring. We’ve had a slew of flower-themed projects coming our way lately, and it just really fits the mood as my tulips are popping up from the ground.

Tulips have been top of mind especially these past few months. I couldn’t help but notice a trend over the winter, as many of my beloved flower farm clients were harvesting armfuls of homegrown tulips on the coldest, darkest days of the year. Turns out they had all taken the same course with The Tulip Workshop - a collaboration between Linda D’Arco of Little Farmhouse Flowers, and Emily von Trapp of von Trapp Flowers.

When Linda and Emily got in touch about branding their workshop series, along with their respective flower farms, I have to say was a little starstruck, dabbling in cut flowers myself. These two are complete powerhouse growers and I really admire the businesses they’ve built.

I’m thrilled we’re now wrapping up all three projects just in time for spring! First, I want to share our work on The Tulip Project, which was all about the partnership of these two awesome women sharing knowledge, building a community, and learning from one another.

This was so lovely to work on, and it’s been exciting to start seeing the new brand reaching the vast network of students benefiting from The Tulip Workshop courses. We’ll be sharing branding for Linda and Emily’s own farms in the coming weeks - happy spring!

Branding: Brynhill Flower Farm

It’s never not fun to brand a flower farm. Being passionate about growing flowers myself, I always find it interesting to talk with flower farmers about how they are growing, selling, and setting themselves apart. And I love to draw flowers about as much as I love to plant them.

Working with Haley and Missy of Brynhill Flower Farm in Prospect, Pennsylvania was a particularly fun time. This mother-daughter team had extensive expertise in growing, specifically in the nursery setting for landscaping - but were passionate about cut flowers and ready to start a wholesale floral business. They had vision, enthusiasm, and a great sense of humor about it all. We hit it off right away.

We wanted to create a strong sense of place with the logo and branding, showing where all these beautiful local flowers come from. The primary logo centers around their red barn, set deep amongst maples and gardens:

We developed a full brand from this scene, bringing together fun floral illustrations, hand lettering, and a jewel toned color palette to tell their full story.

Haley and Missy also produce maple syrup from the many maple trees on the farm. This little maple leaf sub logo is one of my favorite parts of the branding suite:

But my most favorite element is the repeat pattern - perhaps my favorite I’ve made! I just love these colors all together.

We got touched by our first frost over the weekend and I can’t believe this growing season is coming to a close - I’m not ready. Follow Brynhill for flower inspiration all year long - and if you’re in the Pittsburgh area, check out their gorgeous florals available wholesale through the Greater Pittsburgh Flower Collective! Thanks Haley and Missy for such a fun project!

Branding: Bell Brook Farm

I can’t even remember when I first started following Emily Day’s work over at Bell Brook Farm in West Brookfield - but over the years I’ve admired both the beauty of her floral creations, and the thoughtful, intentional, and honest way she and her husband have been growing their farm. It’s incredible.

Emily took a big step this spring, leaving her full time job to fully devote herself to farming and floral design. This was such exciting news - at first, I was shocked because I had no idea Emily was working a full time gig alongside all that she does at Bell Brook (many of my clients surprise me with this kind of news! You people are amazing!!!!) and at second, I was thrilled to hear she felt it was the right time to do a rebrand - her business was in a whole new place from where it first began.

There was a lot from the original branding that we wanted to preserve, but it was important to communicate all that Bell Brook Farm offers customers these days: floral design for events and occasions, Christmas trees and evergreens in the wintertime, a farm stand chock full of bouquets, tuber sales, a flower CSA, workshops, and so much more. Emily also really wanted to emphasize her focus on the design side of what she does, and how that creativity is intricately woven into farming and growing her own florals. She has developed an ethereal, romantic, natural and wild style that is instantly recognizable.

So, we brought all those qualities together into a logo, and then expanded into a more fully realized brand.

The primary logo feels “all grown up” - an elegant representation of the way the farm and design studio have matured. Luxurious and earthy all at once.

We incorporated some simpler secondary logos, to keep the brand versatile:

And then a few illustrations and descriptions of the core offerings at Bell Brook - the Farm Stand, the Design Studio, the Holiday Shop, and the Flower CSA:

A brand pattern, can’t you just picture it on tissue paper wrapping a bouquet?!

Some holiday-specific elements, as the farm’s focus shifts to Christmas trees, wreaths, and evergreens in December:

And of course, Doug, the farm’s beloved rooster.

This was such a pleasure to create in collaboration with Emily. I so appreciate that sweet spot between design, farming, and nature that she brings forth in her work, and found that perspective really inspirational to my own design process. Check out Bell Brook Farm for so much more inspiration and beautiful local flowers - and I’ll be planting my Bell Brook Farm dahlia tubers in my own garden tonight!