Just Northwest of Portsmouth, Ohio, in Otway, you’ll find fields full of tulips, dahlias and sunflowers. This is KB Flower Farm. Its proprietor, Kim Baker, takes great pride in her natural farming methods. “Most of the flowers you buy at the grocery store are covered in chemicals and flown in on jets from other countries,” Baker said. “My flowers are grown here — with love. They’re so much better for the environment and for the people who purchase them.” Baker relies on traditional farming methods, using 3,000 ladybugs for pest control, chickens to create natural fertilizer, and a swarm of bees for pollination.
For Baker, gardening has been a lifelong passion, cultivated alongside her grandmother, mother, and aunt from a young age. Later in life, her garden became a sanctuary from the worries of her day jobs, offering peace and tranquility.
One day in 2021, among her raised bed gardens in her backyard in Hilliard, OH, she got the idea to sell some of her flowers. The idea worked. She started a company. “My husband had other ideas and immediately made it his mission to find a farm for me to grow more flowers,” she said.
In April of 2022, the Bakers sold most of what they owned and moved from a five-bedroom house in Hilliard to a one-bedroom farmhouse on 60 acres in Otway. Kim’s husband, David, drives trucks for a living and wanted to make sure Kim had some company in the house during the week as well as some extra hands to help out on the farm. Luckily, her son Ben Costello, aged 34, and 7 year old grandson, were eager to join her. Ben left his job, and now the trio reside on the serene property along with David, when he’s home from work.
“We’ve got a generational household here, but also, it'll be a generational farm because my grandson is already out there helping us, and he knows that one day this farm is going to be his. He tells everyone,” Baker said.
Making the switch from gardener to farmer is challenging enough, but for Baker, transitioning from city life to rural life was another thing altogether. “When I moved here, I was very surprised to see only 15 houses on our road. In Hilliard, it was like 89,” she said. “This is a small, tight-knit community, so I didn’t expect a lot of support. It’s rural and not the highest-income area. I always assumed I’d have to drive somewhere to sell my flowers — I was wrong. Most of these people have lived here all their lives, but I found very quickly that my small community supports me, an outsider, so much and they cheer me on and they buy my flowers all the time. They are just the greatest people. They know I’m not going anywhere.” Baker’s neighbors act as a focus group for KB Flower Farm, testing how long bouquets last in various conditions and giving her feedback on arrangements.
It hasn’t all been a bed of roses for Baker. The bane of the flower farmer is the growing season. From April to September, farmers can harvest and sell cut flowers. This means the other half of the year, they’ve got no income. To solve this problem, they built a greenhouse so Kim can extend her season beyond the usual months. She’ll have a head start getting her flowers out to customers with a bloom in March and be able to grow through November, using dried flowers for Christmas wreaths.
“To be honest, I didn't make a lot of money this year, but I learned so much. All I learned about the business part I owe to ECDI and the Women’s Business Center because I went to classes on things I didn't even know I’d need — but I needed it all,” Baker said. Baker took 12 classes in 2023 alone. She gained enough confidence from practicing her pitch in one of these classes that she successfully convinced a grocery store owner to consider selling her flowers in the future.
"All I learned about the business part I owe to ECDI and the Women’s Business Center because I went to classes on things I didn't even know I’d need — but I needed it all.”
Baker also needed a loan. “Agricultural loans are a little different. I knew I couldn’t get a conventional loan. I didn't have three years of financial statements showing how great my farm was, but ECDI believed in me. I wouldn’t be anywhere near where I am right now without the help of ECDI and the Women’s Business Center.” With the money from the loan, she bought everything she needed to get ready for 2024, including a tiller so Ben could stop tilling rows of flowers by hand.
Farmers are no strangers to planning, and Baker’s got plans. She wants to sell at farmer’s markets. Later this year, her son and husband will build a roadside stand to directly sell flowers. Eventually, she wants to sell in grocery stores. “The soil out here is good, but every year, I want to make it better,” she says.
Baker remains level-headed about her achievements and challenges. "If I were 30-35, I wouldn't be able to handle setbacks as well as I have. I wouldn't be nearly as successful as I am right now," she said. "I also think every time I sit out there in the middle of my flower rows, and I'm pulling weeds, or I'm watering, and there's no noise — just birds and the wind blowing in the trees and the sunshine on my face — I think, gosh, I could be sitting in an office right now staring out the window. And if I fail, I would go and get a job. But I don't want to do that. I don't ever want to do that. I want to stay out here."
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