About Us
Sweet Acres Flower Farm is a family run business dreamed up by Dolly Ryder & Renee Costa, mother and daughter. We have found an affection for sharing seasonally grown specialty cut flowers with our community here in the Central Valley. Our farm is also our home, it sits on 5 acres but we are currently growing flowers on only about 1/2 an acre. Our farm employs natural and sustainable growing practices, which makes our flowers distinctively vibrant and fresh.
Our Story
About a decade ago my mom and I ventured into gardening together. With minimal experience we poured ourselves over seeds catalogs and ordered way too many seeds (who really needs 50 types of heirloom tomatoes?) but the summer veggies that ensued were monumental, the stuff of dreams, well our dreams anyway. We were hooked. We found over the years the most enjoyment we had from gardening was when it was shared. Watching grandkids, cousins, guests, pick fresh veggies as their eyes light up with excitement has been our greatest pleasure.
In the fall of 2018 we grew our first cut flowers, Cupcake Cosmos and we were floored. We knew very well flowers were pretty but not these flowers they were different. They were untamed, abundant and stunningly beautiful. Never had we seen such beauty in grocery store bouquets. Then it happened we were bitten by the grow-every-flower-there-is bug, similar to the 50 types of tomatoes mentioned before. Upon research we found that many US flower farmers had disappeared and the market for local fresh cut flowers had been replaced by imported flowers grown in other countries, cut weeks before they reach your home and drenched in chemicals to preserve somewhat freshness. Not only does this sound awful but fragile flower varieties like the Cupcake Cosmo have been lost, unseen because they would never hold up to shipping. Enter our hearts for growing fresh local specialty cut flowers for the Central Valley. We have found so many vibrant breathtaking varieties that we can't wait to share with you! Our love story with flowers has just begun.
Hello I'm Dolly
I am a daughter, a sister, a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a friend and now a flower farmer. Most of these come naturally in the course of life, however flower farming was not one of them. I stumbled on flower farming by accident. I read the book "Vegetables Love Flowers" by Lisa Mason Ziegler thinking it would help my vegetable garden and then I went down the rabbit hole..... I entered the world of growing cut flowers. I had no idea what lay ahead but I knew I wanted to be a part of it. It seems that the once common, but beautiful flowers that once flourished in our grandmothers gardens have all but disappeared. However there is a movement spreading across the globe to bring back those beautiful common flowers. You'll find them in "locally grown flower farms" in your city and in your neighborhood. We are such a farm, ready to share with you the most beautiful uncommon flowers you have yet to see...
Hello I'm Renee
Mom of two beautiful little flower girls, Ellie & Scarlett, married to my high school sweetheart, Eddie. My earliest flower memories stem from the fragrant Gardenia bush that stood beside our front porch as a child and the grand Magnolia tree outside my bedroom. I could walk past a tree in full bloom and instantly be brought back to my sweet childhood. Every spring the Narcissus would bloom and the daintiest white bell shaped flowers would emerge. It was enchanting as a child to be surrounded by such untamed beauty. Today I stand in our flower field and cannot help but want to share the beauty that is found in flowers with you.
