Rural Stems Flower Farm
Streamlining a desert flower farm from Instagram chaos to one-click sales
The Backstory
Jody has been nurturing plants and animals her entire life, but it wasn't until recently that the stars aligned for her to plant flowers for beauty rather than focusing on the more functional aspects of being a dairy farmer. Despite the desert climate, her flowers thrived, and she found herself bringing groups together to build bouquets from fresh stems - creating community through flowers.
When Jody reached out, she was managing everything manually through Instagram DMs and text messages. Coordinating who was coming to which event, at what time, tracking payments, and handling consent forms was eating up hours she'd rather spend with her hands in the dirt or with her grandkids. She was apprehensive about technology but knew that if we could get it right, a website would give her back the time that mattered most.
My job was to build what she needed while keeping everything simple enough to maintain without losing any of the system's benefits.
The Process
Getting Started
Before our first consultation, Jody had done her homework. She outlined clear goals:
Showcase Rural Stems' offerings
Allow customers to book workshop experiences
Empower her to make minor updates independently, like adding new workshops
She'd also found reference examples of similar businesses, which helped us get on the same page quickly. I could see what resonated with her and understand the landscape she was operating in.
Building the Foundation
I chose Squarespace for its straightforward event ticketing integration and intuitive drag-and-drop structure. This was cost-effective and, more importantly, sustainable for Jody to manage on her own.
We met regularly via video calls to review progress and get feedback. This helped normalize the technical aspects slowly, keeping things from becoming overwhelming. Jody's responsibility was providing visuals - photos of her farm and her logo - and vetting all the copy. Her questions guided what the site ultimately became.
Attending workshops was the main priority of what the Rural Stems Flower Farm website needed to handle to give Jody back time. This screen shot is an example of what we landed on for group events!
Solving the Tricky Bits
The bulk of our work went into structuring the workshop ticketing process. We tackled several challenges:
Consent forms
At small scale, getting digital consent forms ahead of events is a headache - unless everyone provides email addresses for their whole group (and people always bail!). Building a custom solution would've been cost-prohibitive. We landed on a workable middle ground: customers acknowledge there will be a consent form at purchase, and Jody handles physical forms at check-in.
Gift cards
Midway through, Jody asked about offering gift cards. We integrated Squarespace's gift card functionality, making it seamless for customers to purchase and redeem them for events or custom bouquets.
Rentals
Toward the end, Jody mentioned she also rents the farm for photographers and small events! This was drastically different from workshops - bookings needed to sync with her calendar without manual updates since they are one off. After working through the details, I integrated Acuity scheduling to sync her Google calendar with the website, allowing conversations with renters before confirmed bookings.
This is why working in Squarespace for businesses still taking shape is so valuable - adding features is straightforward most of the time. A sturdy foundation meant this "surprise" only took about a week to implement.
Two of our pain points: buying gift cards and solving for photographer rentals. Both great ideas towards the end of our time together that I’m glad we had time for because they add new revenue streams for the farm. This is why a strong foundation is key - it allows for late to the party adds like this without headaches!
Training & Documentation
One of my favorite parts of working with Jody was watching her thrive with something completely foreign to her just months before. Training was built into our plan from day one.
I provided her with:
Custom written documentation for managing her site
A companion YouTube tutorial series walking through key actions
Practice sessions where she created workshops and updated services while I was on standby
She never needed the safety net - she got it.
Screenshots of some of Jody’s documentation and training that I put together to help her learn how to use the website! The YouTube videos were a great source of empowerment that serve as a quick reference still.
The Outcome
Rural Stems Flower Farm now has an easy-to-navigate, mobile-first website that:
Sells tickets to workshops and floral events
Allows customers to order custom bouquets
Serves as a marketing tool for wholesale flower buyers
Enables photographers to book the farm as a backdrop
Processes gift card purchases
The Rural Stems Flower Farm website is secretly quite robust! They have many offerings and Jody’s dreams for the project are even more attainable now that they are backed by an easy to use and navigate website.
The Impact
Time saved: Approximately 15 hours per event (no more Instagram DM coordination!)
Events managed: 5 events (between Aug and Nov of 2025) successfully run through the new system in the off-season alone
Growth: Website traffic growing 30%+ month-over-month
And, most importantly: Jody's not fielding everything on her phone anymore. The system is streamlined, giving her time back to do what she started this for - creating community and growing gorgeous flowers.
“Thank you for everything!! I feel between the handbook and your videos I can handle all things!! I loved working with you—thank you for your patience!”
— Jody Van Rijn, Founder of Rural Stems Flower Farm