Some stories start with a grand plan. Erin Clark's started with five dahlias and a need to get outside.
In 2020, home with a new baby and a world gone quiet, Erin went looking for an outlet. She found it in a 60-square-foot patch of dirt. A neighbor walked by, saw her planting, and the next day her husband gifted Erin a whole tray of tubers. That neighbor turned out to be a dahlia hybridizer who lived right around the corner. That small act of generosity grew into Muddy Hill Flower Farm, where Erin now grows more than 5,000 dahlias on a field her husband once mowed for his dad's cattle.
In this episode, Erin and I talk about the messy, beautiful middle of building a flower farm. We get into soil tests and powdery mildew and the great vole wars. We talk about why she refuses to spray her field, what the Snohomish County Flower Collective means to her, and the brand-new community event she is helping bring to her town this fall.
And at the end, Erin shares something tender about what this work has given her. It moved me. I think it will move you too.
Key Takeaways
- Generosity is contagious. One neighbor's gift of tubers started an entire farm.
- You do not have to start big. Erin began with five dahlias in 60 square feet.
- Local flowers are not the same product as imported flowers. Freshness, vase life, and how they are grown all matter.
- Growing without chemicals is possible. Nematodes, lacewings, neem oil, and patience do a lot of the work.
- Community beats competition. Flower farmers who buy and sell from each other serve their customers better.
- The biggest reward is not the money. It is the confidence and courage that grow alongside the flowers.
Resources and Links Mentioned
Guest Bio
Erin Clark is the farmer and florist behind Muddy Hill Flower Farm in Snohomish, Washington. She grows locally loved cut flowers without herbicides or pesticides on three acres just outside town, and she is best known for her dahlias, with more than 150 varieties. Erin sells through her farm stand, DIY buckets, local wholesale, and the Snohomish County Flower Collective, and she is helping bring the first-ever Snohomish in Bloom celebration to her community this September.
Related Episodes
- Episode 86 with Melissa Stewart of Sweet Bloom Farm
- Episode 61 with Jennifer Joray (the two-part conversation on ticks and organic, no-spray solutions)
***Grab Your Dahlia Design Summit Ticket. Join us September 13 through 18. Six days of dahlia design taught by fourteen farmer florists and floral designers. Whether you're growing your first row or you're already selling to florists, every session is about doing more with the dahlias you already have in the ground. Live Pass is $147. All Access is $247 and you keep every session for life. Come join us: https://thefloweringfarmhouse.com/summit ***
