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Date: 2/8/2022
NORTHAMPTON – Many Graces, a unique flower shop that grows their products on a farm in Hadley, is currently conducting a soft opening of its new shop on the first floor of Thornes Marketplace until Feb. 14. An official grand opening will occur on March 1.
According to Kel Komenda, the managing director for Many Graces, the shop wanted to make sure they had a presence within the community before Valentine’s Day while simultaneously conducting crop planning for their farm in Hadley. The shop plans to shut down the storefront after Valentine’s Day to finish out that crop planning, and then conduct the grand opening on March 1.
From its beginning in 2018, Many Graces has operated as part of the CSA model, or Community Supported Agriculture. According to Komenda, under this model, people will buy shares from farms during their offseason to help farmers plan for the coming year, so they know how much to grow. Rebecca Maillet, the founder, lead farmer, and creative director of Many Graces, opened the business under this model.
“She was selling shares in a small amount, and she was growing on a quarter acre of land,” said Komenda, regarding their approach to the business and farm. “There was no refrigeration or infrastructure … everything she would harvest would go out in the community the same day.”
Since its inception, their online sales have increased, but the farm is still mostly operating in a CSA-based format. Komenda and Maillet lease 8½ acres of land in Hadley and grow on about half of that, currently.
“The business is really young, and in a short amount of time, the response to what we’ve been doing has been incredible,” said Komenda, adding that the business has been able to sell to high-end wholesalers in Manhattan, Rhode Island and Boston. “Those people have been avid fans of what we’re doing.”
According to Komenda, the shop is growing over 250 varieties of flowers that continuously change from time to time based on demand and what they find aesthetically appealing. “The advantage of the indoor retail space is really being able to showcase what the farm is doing,” said Komenda. “Which is different than every other florist in town because we are our own supplier. We can showcase seasonal abundance that we can grow in our area.”
Many Graces offers year-round flower subscriptions, botanical décor, cut flowers, houseplants, dried flowers, centerpieces, dahlia tubers that can be planted by local gardeners, and dried-flower terrariums. They also provide wedding and event design consultation, but according to Maillet, those services are almost booked for 2022, and they are already booking for 2023.
Maillet grows close to 10,000 dahlias in various varieties, including a rare orange globe, apple blossom, and verrone’s obsidian dahlias. The shop also sells eucalyptus and some very rare Japanese lisianthus between August and November.
“The health of the plants is very apparent in what we are doing,” said Komenda, adding that the shop grows organically and never uses any sprays in their caretaking process. “That is direct opposition to the global flower industry, which is a very problematic industry … the things that come in are very toxic and are sprayed with a lot of chemicals. We’re eliminating those chemicals altogether.”
According to Komenda, the business is learning something new every year regarding climate change. Sometimes, the land is flooding out due to intense rain, while other times there could be major drought, but there are advantages to growing in Hadley. “In Hadley, the amazing thing for us is that we’re growing on land that contains Hadley loam, which contains a world class soil, which has the ability to drain really well and maintain moisture content,” said Komenda.
The current season of flowers at Many Graces include vernaculis, daffodils, as well as 12,000 specialty tulips that were planted in the fall, among other flowers. At this moment, Many Graces is sourcing from other growers to fill in any gaps before their spring growing season begins in April.
With an ability to offer substantial of volume, Many Graces is planning to turn the hallway outside of their shop into a flower market, based on an agreement with Thornes. “This will be a place where people can come, grab-and-go their daily florals in the summer, and we’ll have lists going out to the community of what they can expect with our fresh harvest,” said Komenda.
Many Graces will continue to offer subscription services and custom arrangement services. They also plan on conducting events where people can better engage with the business and their farm.
“We’ve scaled up the event side,” said Maillet. “We’re taking on some really interesting, exciting, and adventurous design concepts this season, and working with new venues. It’s exciting how much our events have us traveling around the region.”
In the beginning, Maillet was running the farm on her own, and when the pandemic hit, Komenda left their job to join the farm, which has become a permanent move. The business had 12 people on their staff in 2021, and for 2022, Maillet and Komenda are trying to revamp the business in certain ways. They expect to have three to four people working in the store, five people on the farm, and four people on the design side.
Both Maillet and Komenda are first generation farmers who come from working class families. Maillet has a master’s degree in English literature from Mills College in Oakland, California. She was working toward a doctoral degree in English literature at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, when she felt a tug toward the flower business and discontinued her studies. Komenda, meanwhile, holds a bachelor’s degree in English literature and philosophy from a small liberal arts school in the Midwest.
“It’s really a labor of love,” said Komenda, when describing Many Graces. “We’re counting on the support of the community in this space.”
To learn more about Many Graces and what they offer, people can visit their website here: https://manygraces.com/aboutmg. Thornes Marketplace is open Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, 12 to 5 p.m.