Read about MFC in our latest features below
Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener (MOFGA) 2024 Spring Issue
MFC was featured in the 50th anniversary edition of the Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener’s quarterly publication published on March 1st, 2024 written by Jennifer Wilhelm.
The article, titled “Locally Grown, Not Flown: The Maine Flower Collective” is all about the story behind how we got started, and how we are operating to support local flower farmers and offer local wholesale floral buyers more sustainable options to traditionally imported alternatives.
News Center Maine Segment Featuring MFC Growers + Winter Tulips
News Center Maine aired a news segment on February 27th, 2024 which featured Don Carrigan interviewing two of our Member-Owner Growers, Mary Lou Hoskins, our Board President and owner of Cedar Mill Farm, and Julia Violette, owner of Paint Box Flowers to share their work towards season extension. The segment, titled “Maine-grown flowers hit the market, even in Winter” focuses on winter Tulips and other early Spring varieties that are locally grown and available to buyers even during winter months. They also discuss what the MFC is doing to promote season extension & locally-grown cut flowers to the Maine community.
Rooted Farmers Collective Feature Blog
Rooted Farmers interviewed our Operations Manager & Board Members and published the info in their Rooted Blog series (Collective Feature: Maine Flower Collective).
Rooted Farmers is the online marketplace that MFC uses for our Growers to post their weekly availability & for our Buyers to place pre-orders of that product during the season. This blog features a variety of different topics outlined below
MFC’s mission & vision
When our production season is
How we build trust among our growers & buyers
Improvements we’ve made during our first season of operations (2023)
What our favorite features of the Rooted platform are & how it has streamlined our workflow
Article by the cooperative development insitute
Using the Cooperative Development Institute's experience and guidance to help, The founders of the MFC used a collective model, emphasizing community and building relationships between florists/designers and flower farmers.
The article on the CDI website details some of the process we went through to form the collective, talks about how we are conducting research on ways to expand through the whole state, mentions our new in-person wholesale flower market, and features quotes from board president Mary Lou Hoskins and board treasurer Carolyn Snell.
Photo taken by John Sundling
Photo taken by Kelsey Kobik
downeast magazine - Febuary 2024 issue
This article starts with some of the history of flower farming in Maine and how so many of the flowers we buy here in the US come from overseas. Katy Kelleher spoke with several members of the MFC, highlighting what flower farmers in Maine are doing to extend the color and joy of flowers into colder months, where the only flowers available were from warmer climates. Now, using season extension techniques, Maine farmers are producing blooms earlier in the year and later into the fall and winter.
The Maine Flower Collective is working to get Mainers hooked on local flowers by building a network of growers and buyers and increasing the availability of Maine grown flowers.
Common ground radio hour - Febuary 2023 episode
In this episode of the Common Ground Radio, the focus is collaborative marketing models in Maine farming. Host Holli Cederholm is joined by Colleen Hanlon-Smith and Adrienne Lee of the Daybreak Growers Alliance and then joined by MFC growers Melissa Law and Courtney Mongell. They talk about the formation of the MFC, the choice to use a cooperative model, and the goals and values behind the MFC. Different from many other flower cooperatives, the MFC includes florists and floral designers as stakeholders in the collective. Listen to the episode to hear more about the collective from Melissa and Courtney.