The Farm / About Us
About Passalongs Farm:
Passalongs Farm is a 1-acre, no-till, hand-dug, labor of love! We grow and sell cut flowers and plants and create heartfelt floral designs for all occasions – weddings, celebrations, and sympathy. We are located on the outskirts of the village of Florence, Massachusetts, part of the city of Northampton.
Why the name “Passalongs?”
Our founder and owner lived in North Carolina for over 20 years before moving to western Massachusetts. Her family and many of her friends still live there. In the South, there’s a tradition of “passalong plants.” These are plants that propagate very easily and that are often shared among neighbors and friends. Passalongs Farm was named after “passalong plants” as an homage to the way gardening can bring us community and connection.
Growing sustainably
When people think of sustainable growing they usually think first of agricultural practices that prioritize environmental health and social responsibility. Sustainability also refers to business practices and the need for this farm/business to support itself. After transitioning from running this place as a “jobby” to a business, economic sustainability has been a priority as well.
Some of the ways we prioritize environmental health and practice social responsibility are:
- Using crop rotation and cover crops to maintain and improve soil quality. Over half of our plantings are perennials and we are transitioning to closer to 3/4 permaculture as we move through 2025.
- No till / hand dug raised beds. This has been trial and error for us, but we’ve found that not tilling the soil has resulted in healthier flowers, better soil quality, and better weed control.
- Water Conservation: Employing efficient irrigation methods and practices to reduce water waste.
- Pest Management: Reducing or eliminating chemical pesticides by using natural predators, crop diversity, and integrated pest management (IPM). In truth, the way we manage pests is we try to choose plants to grow that flourish in our climate. The most we ever do for insects is pick off Japanese beetles and use organic insecticide on aphids in the spring.
- Biodiversity: Encouraging the growth of diverse crops and plants to support ecosystems and pollinators like bees and butterflies. We grown over 100 varieties of flowers on our farm!
Social Responsibility:
- Fair Labor Practices: Ensuring workers are treated ethically and paid fairly. Ensuring that our prices for our services are set so that we can making a living doing this.
- Community Engagement: Supporting the local community by providing fresh, local produce or flowers, and holding workshops, many of which are very low cost.
- Donating generously to local non-profits, like the Northampton Survival Center and Refugee organizations.
Net Zero commitment
Our owner’s husband, Mark is an energy efficiency professional. He has a keen interest in home energy use and has successfully transitioned our home and workshop to Net Zero. This means that we produce all of the energy we use. We’ve done this by installing lots of solar, insulating and air-sealing our home and the studio, and choosing energy efficient appliances to heat and cool our home. The next step to become fully solar powered is for Passalongs to purchase an electric vehicle for deliveries and errands!
A note from Adrienne:
As long as I can remember, I’ve loved plants and gardens. In middle school I planted a vegetable garden in the weeds in our yard, giving myself an intense case of poison ivy in the process. In high school I had a garden of houseplants lined up in front of my window. During college, I supplemented my publishing internship working at a plant nursery and florist. I discovered working with plants and flowers much more than filing book jackets and answering the phones .
I went on to teach high school, work as a librarian, start a non-profit, freelance in publishing, advocate and speak about parenting children with special needs, and write books. It never occurred to me to follow my original passion until circumstances led me to manage a farmers’ market. People were making a living from their land, honoring all things local, and creating lives connected to nature. I resolved to do the same.
In 2015 my family moved to western Massachusetts after 21 years in central North Carolina. The move meant a lot of things to us. My younger son, who has a neurobehavioral disorder, found better opportunities in school. My husband found new employment. And I worked on learning a new climate and new ways of growing.
Our rustic little house came with a barn, a shed, an outhouse (!) and a very hill, very sandy, but fertile spot of soil. I set to work.
The result is Passalongs Farm and Florist. I started out selling at local farmers’ markets, added a roadside cart in 2016, and in 2017 set up a 4-season floristry design studio. Since then I’ve specialized in personal, thoughtful floral design for special events, weddings, and special occasions.
To see over 4000 images of our story and our work, please visit our Instagram feed.