How One Flower Farmer Builds Community Through Workshops, Plant Dye, and Leaving Space for What Matters
Ep. 88: Farming as Meditation: What Mindfulness Taught Chelsea Willis of Sweet Delilah Farm About Growing Flowers
There’s a swing set on Chelsea Willis’s farm.
It sits between the flower rows and a 30-foot pergola where couples have exchanged vows and friends have gathered around long tables for dinner under string lights. And here’s the thing Chelsea has noticed over the years: it’s always the adults who end up on the swings.
Something about being on a flower farm does that to people. It invites them to slow down. To play. To remember something they forgot they needed.
Chelsea is the farmer behind Sweet Delilah Farm on Sauvie Island, just 15 minutes outside Portland, Oregon. And while her farm is absolutely a place of production (rows of dahlias, thousands of sweet peas, close to 250 rose bushes), it has become something more than that. It’s become a place where people come to learn, to create, and to exhale.
From Youth Counseling to Flower Farming
Chelsea didn’t start her farming journey with a business plan. She started with a question.
With a background in psychology and years spent working with youth coming out of corrections, Chelsea had noticed something. When she brought young people outside, when their hands were in the soil and they were doing something together, they opened up in ways they never did sitting across from her in an office.
She wanted to find a way to bring those two worlds together. And then a small plot of land in a Portland backyard became available. An eighth of an acre with a cute little greenhouse. She took it.
Three years later, when her lease was coming up, she drove past a lavender farm on Sauvie Island with a “For Sale” sign. Two and a half weeks after that, she owned it.
Flower Farm Workshops That Go Beyond Flower Arranging
Today, workshops are at the heart of Sweet Delilah Farm’s business. But they’re not just your typical bouquet-making classes.
Chelsea teaches a Dahlia 101 workshop every spring where participants actually dig tubers, learn to find the eyes, divide clumps, take cuttings, and walk through everything from seed starting to pest management. After the class, attendees get first dibs at her dahlia tuber sale before it opens to the public.
She also partners with a local florist friend to co-teach floral design workshops. Chelsea handles the education side, walking participants through how to grow the flowers they’ll be working with, and then her friend leads the design portion. The hope is that people leave inspired to start their own gardens.
And then there’s the plant dyeing.
Growing Flowers for Natural Plant Dye
One of the most beloved offerings at Sweet Delilah Farm is the plant dye workshop, taught in collaboration with a friend who specializes in natural dyes.
Participants harvest flowers from the farm, learn the dyeing process, and go home with hand-dyed cotton bandanas. The flowers Chelsea grows specifically for dye include marigold (always her favorite), tango cosmos, black night scabiosa (which produces a surprising teal), black bachelor buttons, black-eyed Susans, and dahlias.
The key to getting started with plant dyeing at home? A process called mordanting. It prepares the fabric so the fibers will actually hold onto the color. Chelsea mordants whole packs of bandanas at a time so they’re ready whenever the mood strikes.
And if you live in the Portland area, she recommends checking out Wild Craft Studio for more hands-on plant dye education.
Sweet Pea Seed Production: 88 Varieties and Counting
Sweet peas were the very first flower Chelsea ever planted on her farm. And they’ve become a cornerstone of her business.
This year, she’s growing over 88 varieties. Her favorites include Piggy Sue, King’s Coronation (a striking purple), and Prince of Orange, a vivid orange with hints of red that she recommends growing with a bit of afternoon shade.
Chelsea sells sweet pea seeds starting each fall, typically in mid-October, with a few restocks before planting season. Last year, they sold out quickly, so she’s expanding production this year, squeezing in extra rows wherever she can find room between the dahlias.
She also sells fresh sweet pea bunches at a local nursery, and the scent alone does the selling. Once people smell them at the register, they can’t leave without a bunch.
Why Partnering with Nurseries Changed Everything
Chelsea’s flower truck has been a dream project from the start, a vintage truck outfitted like a little mobile flower shop. But she learned through trial and error that location matters more than anything.
Pop-ups near brunch spots didn’t work because people had plans for the rest of their day. But nurseries? That was the sweet spot. People are already there buying plants. They’re already in the mindset. And they’re heading home, which means they can keep their flowers in water.
She also learned to request a spot at the end of farmers markets rather than the beginning, because shoppers are more likely to grab a bouquet on their way out than on their way in.
Meditation, Mindfulness, and Farming by Intuition
What makes Chelsea’s approach to farming different is the quiet.
As a meditation practitioner, she uses her time alone on the farm as a mindfulness practice. She pays attention to the birds, the bugs, the way the light changes through the season. And that deep noticing has helped her understand pest pressure, recognize when something needs attention, and respond with flexibility rather than rigidity.
She doesn’t farm by spreadsheet. She farms by observation. And she leaves room in her days for whatever comes up, whether that’s a pest problem or a conversation that someone working alongside her needs to have.
She calls it nervous system regulation. And it’s as much a part of her farming philosophy as anything else she grows.
Creating Space for Connection on a Flower Farm
Chelsea’s advice for anyone who’s been thinking about opening their farm to community is simple: don’t overthink it.
It doesn’t have to be a big event. It could be bringing a flower to someone at a coffee shop. It could be a small weekly tea gathering in your garden. It could be inviting a friend to come harvest alongside you.
The point isn’t perfection. The point is connection.
And if you’re an Oregon farmer navigating the permit landscape for farm events, you’re not alone. Chelsea and many other small-scale farmers are hoping for more support for agritourism, because people want to be on farms. They want to experience the land. And small, intimate gatherings shouldn’t require the same hoops as a 500-person festival.
Resources and Links Mentioned
- Sweet Delilah Farm: sweetdelilahfarm.com
- Instagram: @sweetdelilahflowerfarm
- Wild Craft Studio (Portland, plant dyeing classes)
- Sweet pea varieties mentioned: Piggy Sue, King’s Coronation, Prince of Orange
- Rose varieties mentioned: Dainty Bess, Coco Loco, All Dressed Up, Fun in the Sun
Guest Bio
Chelsea Willis is the owner and farmer behind Sweet Delilah Farm on Sauvie Island in Portland, Oregon. With a background in psychology, trauma work, and meditation, Chelsea brings a deeply human approach to everything she grows. Her farm is home to workshops, intimate weddings, u-pick events, plant dye classes, and a beloved flower truck. She grows over 88 varieties of sweet peas, tends close to 250 roses, and is passionate about creating space where people can connect with the land and with each other.
Listen to the Full Episode with Sweet Delilah Farm
There’s so much more in this conversation, from the frogs hiding in the dahlias at u-pick time to Chelsea’s dream of bringing yoga and meditation back to the farm. Listen to Episode 88 of The Backyard Bouquet Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.
And if this story stirred something in you, I’d love to hear about it. Send me a message on Instagram @thefloweringfarmhouse or hit reply to this week’s newsletter. I read every single one.
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Graeme Corbett: Life In Bloom
