A blooming business

Lisa Patton has always had a love of flowers. It started when she was a little girl and has grown into a business known as Red Barn Blooms owned by her and her husband Travis.

“Whenever I was little we were always in the garden. My grandparents had three gardens and my grandma always had a row of zinnias and marigolds,” Lisa said. “At the end of the season, we would save those seeds and replant them the next year. I have always remembered that. I guess it is something that I have always held onto.”

What started out as a vegetable garden with one row of flowers has blossomed into her flower business.

“I just fell in love with it and it just continued from there,” she said.

She considers growing flowers not only theraputic, but also a way to give back and keep her busy.

She began growing flowers in her quarter-acre garden located on Kentucky 269 in Beaver Dam in 2019. In 2020, the Pattons began taking the blooms to farmer’s markets.

Earlier this year, Red Barn Blooms began working with Southern Kentucky Floral Exchange, known as SOKY. It is a partnership with 26 specialty

cut flower growers dedicated to providing locally grown, high-quality, equitably priced flowers and foliage to designers and floral buyers in the Southern Kentucky and Middle Tennessee Regions.

But fresh-cut flowers aren’t the only thing you can get from Red Barn Blooms.

In August 2023, the business began offering freezer beef.

“(Selling beef) was something that we always thought about doing but when our youngest started school last year, the timing seemed right,” Lisa said.

The beef is from cattle raised at Patton Farms which is run by Travis’ family. Travis helps raise the cattle, and Red Barn Blooms then purchases them from Patton Farms.

Travis said the family farm has been selling half and whole sides of beef for a little while and it seemed to be very popular. That is why they decided they would purchase the cattle from the farm, have it cut and packaged to sell it.

“Not everyone can afford even a quarter (of beef) or have the freezer space or have that big of a family,” Lisa said.

Lisa comes up with different packaged meat ideas and specials each month, but customers can also pick and choose what they want straight out of the freezer at the Red Barn Blooms or they can order online.

“They can get as little or as much as they want,” Travis said.

While their freezer beef is popular all year long, spring, with their tulips and peonies, is the biggest season for the farm’s flowers, especially during Mother’s Day.

“I think spring is just the time that everyone is ready for flowers and the colors and need to feel lifted,” Lisa said.

This spring they sold over 3,000 tulips to customers at the farm and through wholesalers.

While zinnia bouquets are available by special order now, the summer is a slower time for flower sales, Lisa said. Other times of the year, customers can buy flowers straight from the farm or by special order.

The fall will offer another variety of flowers at the farm. They will also be offering tulip bulbs and bare-root peonies this fall.

“We have had so many wanting to grow what we grow in their own gardens and want to make that available for them,” Lisa said.

The goal of Red Barn Blooms is to remain sustainable while being able to connect people to fresh flowers and beef, Lisa said.

She and Travis like the small scale of their operation as the quarter acre is ample space for her flowers. While Travis and their children help, Lisa is the one who does most of the planting.

“So, we can’t get too big. It doesn’t take a lot of space to grow a lot of flowers,” she said as she is constantly flipping the beds and replanting to save space.

Red Barn Blooms also offers workshops and events including some for the first time at the farm this spring. In the fall and winter, they offer workshops with fresh Christmas wreaths.

The Pattons are grateful for the support of the community.

“It is the community that helps us with our business. It is their willingness to support a local business where they can see where their beef and flowers actually come from,” Travis said.