As Jody van Rijn, Founder of Rural Stems Flower Farm, likes to say, what started out as “a few flowers in a livestock water trough and a vacated donkey field” has now turned into her dream come true.
For as long as she can remember, Van Rijn has loved flowers and how beautiful blossoms can help evoke memories and feelings.
“I grew up on a dairy farm and married a Dutch dairyman, so agriculture runs deep in our families,” Van Rijn says, adding that after visiting the Netherlands many times and marveling at the beauty of the flowers growing there, she decided to try growing flowers in the desert.
Van Rijn started her first garden in the summer of 2024 with four raised beds filled with flowers from a local nursery.
Next, she tried growing her own flowers from seeds that were sprouted under indoor lights. Van Rijn’s proverbial green thumb proved so successful that she soon had numerous large soil flower beds with drip lines, watering stations, and timers.
“At this point the garden was still a hobby, but soon I needed to create an outlet for the blooms,” Van Rijn says.
After some reading and research, Van Rijn learned about the concept of a You-Pick flower farm, where people purchase a ticket for a two-hour time slot where they learn about the flowers and how to properly cut and process them before creating their own lovely bouquet to take home.
“This idea resonated with me because I enjoy people and I loved the idea of a small connection and community being created at the same time. Providing a peaceful, beautiful and colorful space for guests to enjoy seemed wonderful to me,” she says. “Flowers are a beautiful way to add color, style and aroma to your home. I challenge you to walk past a bouquet of fresh-cut flowers and not gaze, stare and inhale a big breath of their aroma.”
In the spring of 2025, Van Rijn opened Rural Stems Flower Farm on her family’s East Valley farmland.
“We are primarily a public and private You-Pick flower farm, but I also love creating bouquets for orders for different events in life,” Van Rijn says. “Another facet of our farm is photography sessions, and we do a small amount of on-farm sales for bridal florists.”
At the flower farm, Van Rijn utilizes gardening practices that she describes as “tied back into our beginnings.” For example, she emphasizes creating healthy soil and plants by adding nematodes, fertilizing and using beneficial insects to improve the quality of the stems.
“Growing flowers is also beautifully cyclical,” she notes. “We mainly grow hardy annuals which begin their cycle in August by growing from seed, then we plant them in October, where they spend the winter establishing strong roots so when the optimum spring weather presents itself, the plants are ready to bloom.”
As Van Rijn notes, one of the joys of operating the You-Pick flower farm is offering her guests many varieties and color palettes from which to choose.
“I feel that my guests and the blooms have individual personalities and I love to observe those that tend towards the bridal colors like the blushes, pinks, and peaches, the bold and bright colors like the reds, yellows, blues, and purples, or the dark and moody palette.”
As she works with her guests, Van Rijn also enjoys hearing the reasons they feel connected to certain flowers and varieties.
“It can be the memories of sweet peas in their grandma’s garden, the sunflower seeds that they planted with their mom, or even how certain aromas send them back to their childhood as they remember that certain blooms were in their home on a regular basis.”
Van Rijn enjoys spending her days with her guests and a variety of flowers, as well as the many butterflies, beneficial insects, and hummingbirds that stop by on a regular basis.
“Flowers are subtle, but also powerful in their ability to bring a smile to your face, joy to your day, and beauty to your life,” she says.