FAIRFIELD — At Heart & Soil Farm, sunflowers and zinnias aren’t the only things in bloom — community connections and friendships are too. Two years after starting the Fairfield flower farm, owner Savanna Crossman is expanding her calendar of on-farm events to bring people together to learn and create. On top of offering pick-your-own flowers every weekend, Crossman has added evening classes where in addition to clipping their own bouquet, guests learn to bake sourdough, make art, arrange charcuterie and decorate cupcakes — all while bonding with friends and neighbors.
“It’s almost meditation,” Crossman said of flower-picking. “Everything else melts away and you’re just thinking about this beautiful thing you’re creating.” Backdropped by rolling green hills that have supported more traditional agriculture for centuries, Crossman walks guests through how to arrange a bouquet — from choosing a focal flower to selecting filler.
She then cedes the stage to another small business owner to teach their craft. “Almost all of the businesses I partner with are moms who have this side business,” Crossman said. “We’re all just trying to make it work and spend time with our kids.
” Last week, for example, Beth from Bumble Roots Herbal shared the benefits of growing an herbal garden and making your own medicine. Attendees learned how to make calendula oil and were sent home with seeds to start growing and collecting their own herbs. On Sept.
12, local artist Kristina Bolduc will demonstrate how to create a barn quilt and lead guests in painting their own wooden quilts. Heart & Soil Farm was also the site of the latest mixer for members of the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce. Attendees networked with other local professionals while clipping black-eyed-susans and candy-colored snapdragons.
When looking for event partners, Crossman said her focus is on “fun” and the kinds of activities she herself enjoys. “I heard once that your customers are usually some version of yourself,” she said Savanna Crossman and her four kids, who have their own farm chores to do. “[The farm] fulfills that little piece of me that you fight hard to preserve in motherhood,” she said.
The daughter of generational Sheldon dairy farmers and sugarmakers, Crossman is a trained soil scientist who spent much of her early career in research. She started the pick-your-own flower farm in summer 2022 and has since doubled the size of the garden. “It fulfills that little piece of me that you fight hard to preserve in motherhood,” she said.
“It’s also something that can be done in the little moments, like when somebody's napping or when they're playing really well, I can pop out and plant a row.” Crossman and her husband Torrey have four kids: three boys and a girl, who gladly take on any farm task asked of them — from weeding and power-washing to collecting eggs and planting flowers. Crossman also homeschools the kids, which she says pairs well with farm life.
During their insect unit for example, they can head right out the front door to classify the bugs found in the flower fields. Her kids also get involved in the business by collecting eggs, tending to the sheep and helping to plant the 10,000 flower seedlings that get their start in the basement in February before being transferred outside in the spring. Flowers planted in the high tunnel, like lisianthus and snapdragons, are ready first with more than a dozen other varieties, like cosmos, dahlias and nigellas following close behind in mid-July.
Heart & Soil is open for pick-your-own flowers from 7 a.m. to 7 p.
m. on weekends. There are also fresh blooms for sale in the farmstand everyday.
This Labor Day weekend, Crossman will open up a brand new sunflower field for pick-your-own. Hours are 7 a.m.
to 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Crossman also offers pick-your-own wedding flowers, an activity that helps give a little more personal touch to the special day. Brides are invited to bring their friends or wedding party to design, cut and arrange their own bouquets and centerpieces. An on-farm picnic with take-out from West End Pizza down the road completes the fun evening.
This fall, Crossman’s popular sourdough classes will continue. In her home kitchen, attendees learn to tend to a sourdough starter and to bake with it, taking home recipes for bread or cinnamon rolls. Keep an eye out for festive holiday-themed classes later this year.
Next summer, classes will move to the new event barn the family is building on the property. Crossman said this will help her to accommodate more people and to continue in inclement weather. “I’m definitely still learning,” she said.
“I like giving myself a little challenge: what can I do differently this year?” Heart & Soil Farm 778 Hill Road, Fairfield Event calendar: heart-and-soil-farm.square.site/events-calendar Pick-your-own 7 a.
m.-7 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday $20 a bouquet, $6 for a mini.
