Lexi Bokenkotter
“Flowers should never be something that someone gets when they are sad or because someone has done wrong. Miley Cyrus is right, you can buy yourself flowers, and you should.” Lexi Bokenkotter says and shrugs her shoulders.
With over 37,000 Instagram followers, Lexi and her husband Ryan have taken the cut flower world by smoke. However, they make a multitude of profits off of almost everything on their farm and I asked Lexi questions about her farm and her life to help me understand how they got where they are today.
On their farm in Dillsboro, Indiana, they raise multiple varieties of spring, summer and fall flowers. They raise and sell chickens, ducks, geese, and turkeys and also profit by selling eggs and meat from these as well. There are four dogs and three cats running around daily on the farm, as well.
I got to know them through finding her Instagram in 2022 and taking one of her soil blocking classes. She had goats and wasn’t sure how to take care of them properly, and asked if I could help her with that as I have years of experience in raising goats. We had a lot to learn from each other.
While Ryan still has a full-time pharmacist job, Lexi quit her real estate career to pursue her farming dreams when they bought their farm in 2019. She is the “grower of all the things” and Ryan is the “builder and logistics behind the farm. Without him, things here would be a hot mess.”
“We just knew this was something we wanted to do one day so when this farm came up for sale, we had the funds and decided to go for it and here we are.” Lexi goes on to tell me that neither her nor her husband have an agriculture/farming background.
The Bokenkotters have been married for eight years and their love for each other can clearly be seen. Ryan will build Lexi anything she may want or need, and Lexi appreciates everything he does for her. If I was writing a piece on successful love stories, they would be toward the top of my list.
Lexi is the grower which means she has the knowledge when it comes to plants. She decided to share her knowledge of growing, seeding, arranging, and even raising livestock through classes she offers right on the farm. This is another way she makes profits.
Her main profit, you ask? She sells her flowers and herbs. Anything from the plants themselves, to bouquets, arrangements, and even events like weddings, craft shows, farmers markets and other parties.
She has subscriptions in place where local customers can choose a pickup location for their weekly bouquet, and they pay for it upfront and can get bouquets for 5 weeks. She offers spring subscriptions which consist of mainly tulips, ranunculus, snapdragons, and daffodils. Summer subscriptions consist of sunflowers, zinnias, lisianthus and so many more types of flowers. Fall subscriptions consist of dahlias, some sunflowers, and other herbs.
Once she went through the seasons with me, I asked her: how else do you make money when the flowers are not blooming, and the chickens and ducks are not laying eggs? And what is she up to when wintertime hits?
She’s planting ranunculus, tulips, and any other early spring flowers she might choose to grow. “These things get planted in the raised beds or in the hoop house while the greenhouse is full of seedlings,” Lexi explains. She also offers wreath making classes, seeding classes, and will have a plant sale in late winter.
“And, once I noticed my Instagram numbers rising, I decided I needed [merchandise] for the people that wanted to support me that couldn’t purchase perishable items.” She said when asked how her whole audience is able to support her farm. “Aside from liking and sharing posts, they wanted to do more, so I finally designed some shirts and bags and now we sell candles and cups, too. People love these types of things around the holidays for gifts.”
“In the winter, we slow down a bit, so Ryan and I try to get one small getaway trip in.” She responds when asked what wintertime is like for her and her home. “My family is all in different states, so last year we went to Montana to see my dad. It’s always good to get away from the farm and we have farm sitters we trust so it’s nice not to worry.”
I really enjoyed hearing how Lexi got to where she was and how she profits from her farm. The cut flower farming industry continues to grow but Lexi reminded me that each farmer offers different things. “Whether its how they arrange their flowers or what events they do, we’re all different.”
She was sure to remind me that the weather is the biggest factor in farming and with her sole income being from the farm, she knew she couldn’t depend on plants to keep them afloat. That is where the classes, and the merchandise, and the events all came into play.
Flower farming is an intriguing career and I loved learning about it from Lexi’s point of view.