Christina Russell, owner-operator of Wild Bean Flower Farm out of Hixbridge Road, took on her first wedding client in 2017 while she was still in high school.

Coming from a farming family, Christina was steeped in the seasonal ebbs and flows of agriculture. It may have helped her realize that farming is indeed a viable career choice. She had fallen in love with growing flowers while helping her grandmother in her flower beds, and as a student at Bristol Aggie, pursued learning the skills she knew she would need to run a cut flower farm. She had chosen to focus on agricultural mechanics at the school, knowing that she would need mechanical skills to run a successful operation. Then, one of her teachers convinced her to get into the floriculture program.

“I’m so grateful to her for giving me that piece of advice; it was really the right decision.,” she said. “Even though they don’t teach you how to grow flowers, I learned floral design, marketing, customer relations, and business skills.” 

Growing cut flowers was a totally different ball game from her family’s viticulture operation. While still a student, she began experimenting on a small plot of land that her family allowed her to use at Westport Rivers Vineyard and Winery. She pursued part-time work on another flower farm, Russells Mills Flower Company, learning and watching how a small but mighty team can manage a successful commercial operation. She leaned into neighborly relations with farmers Shirley and Teddy Robbins at Paradise Hill Farm next door, asking them production-related questions and buying their old farm truck as her first. And she pored over books and online resources to learn about growing gorgeous blooms for her business. She attributes much of her learning to practice and perseverance.

“So much of what I’ve learned, I learned through good old trial and error.”

One skill-set she learned is how to manage a propagation greenhouse and grow flowers from seed. Her greenhouse is a former grafting nursery no longer used by the vineyard. With some support and plumbing skills her Dad taught her, she outfitted it to a seed propagation house with heated benches and a remote monitoring system so she can always keep an eye on the temperature. This energy efficient project was also supported by a small grant Christina received from Bristol Aggie while she was still a student there.

She now grows in several plots around the farm and next door, and has a written lease for her growing areas.  The largest growing area boasts 400-foot beds nestled among rows of grapes, with irrigation headers along each bed end. Rye grass drive-rows and wood chips keep the weeds down, and electric deer fencing lines the perimeter. Any organic material from the operation is composted on-site in the composting operation run by Vineyard Manager Kyle Madeiros.  She borrows tractors and equipment from the vineyard when available, and she has her own work truck and delivery vehicle. When any of the vehicles or equipment need a repair, her brother Austin’s mechanical skills back her up-skills gained from that same Ag Mechanics program she had diverged away from.

  Christina is thrilled to have an employee, a student named Ella, who comes each week to help pick, make bouquets, and learn in the flower fields. Flowers are picked just about every day of the week to keep up with blooming and for multiple marketing outlets. As her business developed, she purchased the iconic horse trailer which she uses to sell bouquets during the summer concert series at the Vineyard on Fridays. She sells bouquets daily out of a self-serve cart at the end of the driveway, which allows people to pick up a bouquet at any time as they pass by.  Christina is in her fourth year of offering a 10-week flower CSA, which has gained popularity every year, and wholesales locally including to Blount Market in Warren, RI, and Pine Hill Gas market in Westport.  And, of course, she does weddings.

At the time of this interview, the beds were abuzz with pollinator activity, alight with an array of colors and corollas, and emanating a vibrance that this next-generation farmer has brought to the scene.

Note: Author Deanna Levanti is a Westport farmer and a member of the agricultural commission.