Flower Farming in Baltimore City with Hillen Homestead

A few Sundays ago, when we had no weddings on the schedule, Eric and I spent some time over at Hillen Homestead helping our friend Maya do some planting. The phrase “many hands make light work” was so true on this beautiful afternoon in Baltimore.

Here's Eric planting dusty miller! 

New friends and neighbors came out to lend a hand! 

Gardener and past LoCoFlo bride Jen came to plant and water the new perennials.

It was great to chat about all the new offerings Hillen Homestead is going to have this year! 

We're so lucky to be able to work with Maya and Max and their little ones. Since the farm is just 1 mile from our studio, we get to see them often. We're grateful for their hard work, dedication to Baltimore, beautiful flowers and friends. 

Farming with Hillen Homestead!

Last week we took a field trip to Baltimore City flower farm, Hillen Homestead. Hillen Homestead, run by Maya Kosok and her lovely husband Max and their adorable baby girl,  is literally just 2 miles from Local Color Flowers studio. Do you know how lucky we are to have a flower farm so close by? VERY lucky!

Hillen Homestead is located in central Baltimore City on a vacant lot where rowhomes used to stand. It’s not gigantic and it’s not overly picturesque…but man is is productive! It’s a perfect example how urban farming can be a great option for small flower farmers. This will be our second year buying from Maya and we couldn’t be more excited.
Carling and Stacy started by tilling beds and spreading compost from Chesapeake Compost Works.

I planted lots and lots of basil…and ageratum and zinnias.
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We passed our time talking about flowers and farming and designing and business.  What could be better? It was a fun morning for all of us. Not only did we get to spend a day outdoors helping our friends, we also got to have a direct hand in the flowers we’ll be using this summer.  It was another amazing way to connect with our farmers and the flowers they are growing.
Thanks so much to Maya and Max for letting us come help.
Happy Spring and Happy Planting friends!

Flowers from Baltimore’s own Hillen Homestead

Maya Kosok is the farmer behind Hillen Homestead.  Hillen Homestead is a vacant lot Maya adopted from the city to grow flowers, fruit and berries. This sweet little farm is less than 2 miles from LoCoFlo’s studio!

I first met Maya last winter in her role as founder of the Farm Alliance of Baltimore City. We got together to see if we could encourage urban farmers to grow flowers.  Since our meeting 6 months ago, LoCoFlo’s been fortunate to be able to buy flowers, herbs, veggies and wheat grass from several Farm Alliance members including Butterbee Farm, Whitelock Community Farm, and Boone Street Farm.

We’re excited to now be buying from Maya and Hillen Homestead as well. Our first purchase was for asclepias, ageratum and some gorgeous scabiosa. I used the scabiosa immediately as a perfect accent to some arrangements we provided for the Zoo last week.

One of our goals this year was to help develop  and buy from more Baltimore City flower growers.  We’re super excited to add Hillen Homestead to our family of growers!