BIRDESS
A spirit-led Farm offering flowers in the Hudson Valley
We started BIRDESS Farm in 2020 after closing down our businesses and lives of 20 years in New York City. We now work more closely with the land we steward, the communities we’ve moved to and raise our children in tandem with the seasons and cycles of life and growth. Living this way is a precious gift in our modern world. We sell most of our flowers through beloved hyper-local markets such as Random Harvest and Copake General Store . We also sell to select florists and designers.
BIRDESS is a return of honoring wildness and wildlife.
We believe the land is sacred. Farming is not just about receiving, but giving too.
Our Approach with Flowers
We specialize in growing what we call “art flowers” - interesting and beautiful blooms from unique and heirloom seeds. We grow over 200 varieties on less than ¼ acre of growing space using biodynamic, permaculture and organic principles.
We are honored to be a part of the slow flowers and farm-to-vase movements that are leading us back to our floral roots - buying seasonal flowers grown by your neighbor gets you incredibly fresh and vibrant blooms. You also support local farming, reduce your carbon footprint and keep chemicals out of your vases.
We arrange flowers in a loose and natural style that imitates how they grow in the wild. We also include responsibly foraged wildflower blooms in our bouquets and offerings as they are available.
We are farmer-mothers who honor the land we steward, the flowers we grow and all the creatures we impact with our life and work. We farm using biodynamic, permaculture and organic principles as these methods move towards righting a false hierarchy of humans at the top, rather than our rightful places as animals amongst a great web of life.
Growing Experience
Gretchen is currently in the Horticulture Certificate Program at the Berkshire Botanical Garden. She completed a course in flower farming with Erin Benzakien of Floret Farm and studied Permaculture Design with Midsummer Farm. Her CLC Trust Farm Mentor is Chris Cashen of the Farm at Miller’s Crossing and she consulted with Connor Stedman of Appleseed Permaculture to design BIRDESS Farm’s growing operations responsibly from a permaculture perspective. Gretchen and Doro both volunteered at Crespell flower farm and are members of the Hudson Valley Biodynamic Group. BIRDESS is committed to growing using organic and biodynamic principles.
BIRDESS is located on traditional territory of the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation of the Mohicans.