Flower Farming For Profit

Advanced Flower Farmer Retreat

A mastermind event for seasoned growers

December 8–11, 2026

Tuesday evening through Friday morning | Portland, OR | 20 farms

“Between farming, flowers, passion, life experience, family/kid stuff - the camaraderie that came out of this experience is unheard of in my adult life. It felt unreal and removed from linear time and space.”

Apply For A Seat

Apply by 22 September for early pricing.
Rooms go in the order applications come in.

This is a retreat for advanced farmers. If you’re a new farmer, join this waitlist instead.

What we actually do

Facilitated conversation

This is the bulk of our structured time together. While the format continues to evolve based on participant input after each event, these sessions revolve around topics relevant to your and your peers, including labor and management, the shifting role of the farm owner, planning for middle age and eventual retirement, navigating complex relationships and even marriages with co-farm owners, the quest for balance, the finances of mature farms, and of course, nitty-gritty production topics. New for 2026, we’ll also facilitate some small break-out groups for walk-and-talks.

The hot seat

Fifteen to twenty minutes where the whole room works on one person's problem. You bring one thing, and twenty people who (now) understand your business tell you what they see.

Everybody gets a turn. It's the last thing we do, and both years it's been the thing people talk about afterward.

“I was deeply moved by the care and attention that fellow attendees gave to those in the hot seat.”

“Even when I wasn't in the hot seat there was so much to learn from each person's scenario.”

Lightning rounds

Short, fast, sometimes fun and stupid. “Biggest screwup of the season.” “Favorite office hack.” “New woody obsession.” They break up the heavy stuff, and a surprising amount of the useful material comes out of them.

“Lightning rounds were one of the most interesting and important parts of the process. There was instant perspective shift, opened people up, and got the juices flowing.”

Annual Planning & Retrospection

New for 2026, scheduled time for personal reflection, retrospection & planning (strategic or not). Grab an accountability buddy and go for a walk or head down to the dock alone. We’ll guide you with prompts to get you unstuck or you can go deep on your own annual planning process - and the group will be waiting to hear your resolutions and hold you to ‘em.

And lest we forget…

Coffee talks, late-night hangs, venting sessions over wine, lifelong friendships forged during free time in sitting rooms and kitchen counters, and, new for 2026 - dock sitting, hot tub hangs and delicious, locally sourced, Italian-paced (does that mean slow and beautiful and maybe even a bit too loud - because that’s what I’m going for) meals from our in-house private chef. You may know him as Farmer Matt from B-Side Farm. It’s the best food you’ve ever eaten (vegan or bloody - we’ve got you).

you find out just how wise you are

(Which is pretty freaking wise, tbh.)

Here's the part nobody expects.

You come to get help with your own farm. Then you spend half the time helping twenty other people with theirs — and answering their questions turns out to be how you recognize all the wisdom you’ve gained through all these years of farming. Giving thoughtful advice to others just might be the thing that helps you find your voice, trust you gut, or rediscover some passion that you might have lost -whether through burnout or setbacks or - you know - life.

This is what makes these retreats so special. You’ve been around the block and know your shit. This isn’t a conference full of information you already know - it’s a chance to get in the muck, to go deep, and (dare I say) to figure out who you are and what you want at this point in the game. It’s likely pretty different from the version of you who started the farm way back when.

“Often I would find that I knew the answer to many of my own questions, but I needed to hear the group's validation to know the answer was right. And it wasn't just the feedback I received but the feedback I gave that impacted me: I have answers! I know how to do this stuff! I have a lot of experience and knowledge! Wow!”

“My preconceived notions about who would know more or offer more were dissolved. We all have very different strengths, and areas where we shine, and areas where we need a lot of help.”

“It doesn't make me feel like an imposter like you'd imagine, but rather like I might just have a little mastery too.”

“I am doing a good job amongst my peers, and I'm excited to be more confident in the decisions that I make from this place of information.”

One person put it better than I can:

“You took the very best of us and helped us give it to each other.”

WHo’s in the room?

This is for growers who are generally five or more years in and running a substantial business. This usually means that you’re working at it full time and are grossing at least $100k a year. There are caveats and exceptions, and I invite you to apply if you’re on the cusp.

(That said, If you’re mid-level or a beginner and want to stay in the know for a retreat for YOU, join my waitlist here.)

I screen for years of experience, acreage, employees/team size, and gross sales. I want enough range that you learn something from someone doing it completely differently, and enough common ground that nobody's translating. Of equal importance to me is that no one is fan-girling and no one is put in the position of teaching others exclusively. We tend to get some flower farm rockstars in these rooms (just sayin). They’re not here to be cornered and accosted with farming questions. It’s very much a give-and-take and you need to commit to both. This looks different for everyone, and you’d be shocked how much you’re able to give as a thoughtful, supportive, kind peer - even if you’re on the newer end of the spectrum.

“The high quality of farmers and their farms. I felt like I was truly in an elite group.”

“I really appreciated that the criteria filtered the group to be more on the same level than a lot of other gatherings. It's easier to relate to people when you are on similar scales and professionalization.”

A note about diversity, equity and inclusion at the retreat, and who is still missing from the table.

This is an exceedingly welcoming space. We use pronouns here, and we acknowledge why some of us might be at the table and other’s still aren’t. We want you in the room if you’re a queer or BIPOC farmer, or if you’ve been historically underrepresented in flower farming and agriculture. The last two cohorts were mostly women and notably queer, and participants told us that this was a very welcome surprise.

"The number of LGBTQIA! You have no idea how good that felt. To feel represented and seen in a way that is so f---ing rare. Between farming, flowers, passion, life experience, family and kid stuff — the camaraderie that came out of that is unheard of in my adult life."

At the same time, we’ve got work to do. The two events so far have been overwhelmingly white, and I want this year to be different. If you're a farmer of color considering this, I'd really like you to apply. Please reach out if you have ideas about how to extend this opportunity farther - I’m listening.

This is the third Flower Farmer Mastermind Retreat

My great friend and colleague Ellen Polishuk started the farmer mastermind — she'd been running them for vegetable growers for years. In December 2024 we ran the first one for flower farmers together, at the Claggett Center in Maryland, with twenty-two growers. We did it again last December at Canby Grove in Oregon, with eighteen. The program and format for the flower farmer retreat will continue to evolve as I now run it as the sole facilitator.

Check out Ellen’s fabulous work at planttoprofit.com and seek her out for 1:1 farm coaching - she works with many established farmers as their secret weapon.

Testimonials from past participants

"Our connections have lasted well past the actual mastermind! The virtual support from farmers on certain issues has been so good- Rebecca helping me with quick H2A questions, MaryBeth and I being accountability buddies through her new farm stand opening for mother's day and recently a phone call with Elisa about manager turnover! Wow- it's so nice to talk to people who know not just "about" what I'm going though, but they've lived it too!"

—Maggie Taylor, Delight Flower Farm, IL

"It's hard to describe how impactful it is to be in the same room with other farming professionals with diverse experiences and skill sets who are all invested in helping each other, sharing lessons learned, and lifting each other up. Ellen and Lennie did a wonderful job crafting an environment in which something so special can happen."

—Ellen Kerchner, Ellen's Flowers, CO

"This Mastermind is next level stuff. I felt able to show up and be fully present as all my needs (nourishment, accommodations, etc.) were taken care of with thoughtful kindness. Throughout the entire experience, I felt held by the good, capable hands of our facilitators. 10/10, 5 stars, would recommend! "

— Leah Rodgers, Indigo Gardens, OR

What changed afterward

When we asked last year's group what changed on their farms following the retreat, this is what they said:

Hired part-time remote admin help - rather than just more field help
Added a benefits program for their team
Wrote an employee handbook and job descriptions, and ran the first formal performance reviews they'd ever done
Stopped tracking profitability willy-nilly on every crop and started tracking five to ten of them properly
Restructured their wedding offerings and rebalanced their sales channels
Added insurance policies, upgraded equipment without guilt, raised their own pay
Applied for an FSA grant another farmer mentioned over lunch
Started surprise bonuses for the crew after big pushes

Every decision I've made since then has been pushed through a clarified lens of numbers and effectiveness in a way I had only intellectually understood before but now feel deep in my bones.

It was helpful to learn income numbers from other farms, and that our income goals are not “out there” or outside the realm of possibilities. It helps me feel less hopeless about the possibility of really supporting the lifestyle we want with our farm.

The wealth of practical tips and wisdom I gathered will take months to implement, but the potential impact on my farm is immense.

What it’s like

We asked past participants to describe the retreat in their own words:

Way more useful than a conference and totally worth the expense.

It is a unique experience to be in a space with people in similar stage and scale as you — most everything felt applicable to our operation vs. having to wade through conference lectures to find a few takeaways.

…talking shop in a guided way, but when else do we have that kind of opportunity? It was well worth paying for to have it all organized, make sure the right people were at the table, and make sure we got the most out of our time together.

Being a business owner can be really, really isolating. It's very easy to lose perspective. The Mastermind helped me get that perspective, and realize that I actually am doing a good job and I do actually have things to contribute.

Our connections have lasted well past the actual mastermind. The virtual support from farmers on certain issues has been so good. It's so nice to talk to people who know not just about what I'm going through — they've lived it too.

Treat yo’self

…I mean it

We’ve run this at retreat centers twice, and twice the feedback said the same two things: the facilitation, program and group were wonderful, the beds and the cafeteria food were not. So this year we've taken over a private estate in Portland, OR (Lake Oswego, to be exact).

It’s better described as a mansion. There’s a hot tub. We’re bringing our own private chef. There are a bunch of very large bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms (and soaking tubs), and some regular bedrooms as well.

We have private use of the whole place. A large home gym. A room for watching movies. River access. And did a mention a hot tub?

There are more nooks and crannies than we'll know what to do with, which means the breakout groups have somewhere to go and the late-night conversations have somewhere to happen.

Be prepared to very much feel pampered. Maybe bring an outfit for a murder mystery (if you’re into planning that kind of thing, for I, Lennie, am not.)

PLUS - an (optional) Self myofascial release class

With Clare O'Sheeran Hesterman from Push N Pull Pilates

In this optional on-site session to get it all moving, we’ll learn how to use targeted pressure to massage connective tissue (fascia) and release muscle tension to produce noticeable relief and structural changes to tissues keeping you in habitual movement patterns that may not be serving you anymore.

Matt is cooking!

My fiancé Matt is a professional chef (before I stole him for the flower farm after yet another Covid restaurant crisis), and he's cooking every meal we eat — farm-to-table, and every dietary need in the room handled properly. Coffee from early, snacks all day, wine in the evening.

We eat every meal together at a few sprawling tables. In my experience these table is where half of it happens — the conversation that got cut short by the timer picks back up over dinner and runs until somebody notices it's midnight (or farmer midnight.) Unlike the past mastermind grounds, this space is built for community and dining together and we expect these meals to be absolute highlites of the whole experience.

I felt able to show up and be fully present as all my needs — nourishment, accommodations — were taken care of with thoughtful kindness.

You spend all year feeding everybody else. Somebody feeding you for a change seems fair.

Where you'll sleep

Most people get a room of their own.

The rooms are genuinely different from each other — there's one with a private balcony and its own hot tub, and there are a couple of small ones with bunk beds (though each has its own fun theme). Everybody in a private room pays the same $2,195 (earlybird). You'll pick from what's available when you're accepted, and I'll confirm your room and your price before you pay anything.

There are also a few shared rooms — a real bedroom with two separate beds — at $1,895 instead of $2,195. Good if you'd rather share, or you're applying with a friend. If you indicate that you want one and the numbers end up indicating that we need indeed need to share, you'll know who you're with long before you travel.

To accommodate up to 22 farmers (max, one year we had 22 and one year 18), we have two houses to accommodate all the sleeping arrangements. The main house has the kitchen and most of the bedrooms; a second (quieter) house 6 minutes away has 4 additional bedrooms. Which house you're in doesn't change what you pay. The only thing that does is whether you're sharing.

Rooms go in the order applications come in. That's the real reason to apply early — more than the $200.

Meet your facilitator

I’m Lennie Larkin. I caught the flower bug teaching farming at UC Santa Cruz in 2012, ran a non-profit veggie farm for a few years, then started and ran B-Side Farm for over a decade. In 2023 I wrote my business book Flower Farming for Profit,. Now I coach small-scale flower farmers full time — courses, group coaching, and one-on-one work with farms around the country.

I've peeked behind the scenes of hundreds of flower farms at this point. I know what the P&Ls actually look like. I know how many farmers are paying themselves last, if at all.

My coaching has recently been described as a combination of Ron Swanson and Ted Lasso, and I’ll take it. I’ll support you throughout, but push you when you need it. In this retreat setting, I play the role of facilitator and mindset coach more than farm mentor - because many farmers in the room have been at it as long as I have. You’re here to learn from eachother, and I’m here to keep the trains on time and to help you uncover areas you might be stuck, fearful, or needing to let yourself off the hook.

“Lennie is gentle and firm, kind and honest all in one”

“She really sees people and their situations. She acknowledges the emotions and the practicality, and her guidance always factors in the whole person.”

What does it cost?

$2,195

Your own room, every meal, and the whole program.

A small number of shared rooms are available at $1,895 — a real bedroom, two separate beds — if you'd rather share, or you're applying with a friend. If needed, we have a couple of extra secluded sleeping nooks as well (no one will be placed here unless they request it.)

Apply by 22 September and you get the early price — I will review applications on a rolling basis and get back to you within a few business days. Payment is due within 7 days of acceptance.

And the better reason to apply early: rooms are assigned in the order applications come in. There is one bedroom with a private balcony and its own hot tub, and there are a couple with bunk beds. Everybody in a private room pays the same $2,195. The difference is who applied first.

New for 2026: Scholarship funding

Partial scholarship funding is available for up to two participants, awarded at our discretion.

If the program is right for you and money is what's standing in the way, say so on the application and I'll send you a short questionnaire.

If you would like to contribute to a scholarship to get more people in the room who can’t afford it right now, please email me at hello@flowerfarmingforprofit.com. This year’s participants are being asked to voluntarily contribute a small amount towards scholarships and we welcome additional support from others.

How to apply

Fill out the application. About twenty questions.
I'll read it myself and reply within a week.
If it's a fit, you get a payment link naming your room and your price.
Payment within 7 days.

Rooms are assigned in the order applications come in.