We started this farm for Max, who has Autism.  Sadly, the unemployment rate among folks with Autism is around 80%, so we decided to start a family business!  A flower farm fits with our love of being outdoors, our desire to be part of a community, and tasks that match Max’s strengths.  Max loves color, has a photographic memory, and has an amazing work ethic.  Some shy away from farming because of all the hard physical labor, but this “heavy work” is exactly what makes Max happy.  Finally, early in my career I’d say that if there were no problems in the world I’d love to work with flowers.  Now I’m old enough to know I can’t solve the problems of the world, but maybe I can make my little corner of it a bit more beautiful.

We hope to have flowers from mid-March through early November!  You can find Little Otter Flowers at the Bedford Farmers Market, and you can order flowers on line at the “buy flowers” tab!  We have subscriptions for spring, summer and fall for pick-up at ElectriCoMarket https://electriccomarket.com/on Depot street Tuesdays, Monday morning and Friday night flowers for pick up at the farm, and Special Occasion and Random Acts of Kindness that we will deliver.   We also do “DIY wedding flowers and special events and host flower arranging events at our greenhouse.  Finally,  designers and florists can contact us at jen.littleotter@gmail.com for availability. Follow us on social media and sign up for our newsletter to stay updated on what’s growing!   

Sorry, we do not ship our flowers.  Shipping is bad for the flowers, and all that packing and transportation is bad for the environment.  If you are not near Bedford, you can find local flowers with the Floret local flower collective https://www.floretflowers.com/directory/.   We encourage everyone to shop local for flowers, produce and anything else that you can!!

Yes!   You can purchase a “Random Act of Kindness” and we will deliver flowers locally from you — what goes around comes around!  We will ship t-shirts and other swag on our “Buy Flowers” page.  And perhaps the most frequently asked question, yes, we are working on little plush otters…stay tuned.

Yes!  Our mission is to grow not only flowers, but also people and community.  We have a three-month rolling internship for folks with Autism to work on building skills and integrating into the local business community.  We also gratefully accept volunteers to help work with out interns.  For more information please contact Jen at jen.littleotter@gmail.com 

That cardboard is key to our “no-till” farming!  We are practicing no-till and regenerative farming which builds up the soil rather than digs up the dirt.  The cardboard provides great worm food, blocks the light that germinates the weeds, and retains moisture reducing our water usage.  We will happily take your brown (non-glossy) cardboard!  Contact Jen at jen.littleotter@gmail.com for pick up/drop off logistics.  For more on no-till and regenerative farming follow us on social media @littleotterflowers and subscribe to our newsletter!

The logo was designed by Patrick Lum.

Patrick  was a 2019 summer intern with Spectrum Works, an organization that works to reduce the unemployment rate among people with Autism (full disclosure: Jen was on the board of Spectrum Works: https://www.spectrumworks.org/.) Patrick loves art, music, math, origami, and 3D animation.  Currently Patrick is taking graphic design and intermediate 3D animation classes at Ramapo College in New Jersey.  Thank you Patrick for the fabulous logo!  We love it!!

No!  I do have a background in business, operations, education and advocacy.  For more on me you can check out my LinkedIn page:   https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-kohn-37093133/  We are only able to take this leap because of the tremendous support and generosity of the community of local flower farmers.  I started this journey reading Lynn Byczynski’s book The Flower Farmer and Erin Benzakein’s Cut Flower Garden.  I have also learned tons from numerous YouTube videos, particularly those from Bare Mountain Farm http://www.baremtnfarm.com/.  I took the Floret flower farming class in 2019, and I am forever grateful to the Floret support community.  Finally we are indebted to Scott Baker from the Agricultural Extension office, Jim and Sandy from Farmer Wannabes and Jen and Ed from Hidden Meadows Farm for all of their support and guidance!!  

It is truly amazing what you can learn if you are motivated and know how to learn (note to all my former and future students…)