meet your neighbors
Finding a Way Through the Farm
Karley Jones is only 14, but she has started her own business, growing and selling about 30 varieties of flowers and plants.
By Kacey Frederick
While still in high school, Karly Jones has become a colorful entrepreneur Karly Jones is a young 4-Her discussion with her Kevin, they had the and actor who has been involved idea to make money selling fresh-cut in multiple local theater produc- flowers. Karly, now 14, is an active member of 4-H, tions with Fort Smith’s Commubeing a county teen leader and a member nity School of the Arts. When she was 12 years old, she wanted of a newly formed club called Legacy 4-H. to raise money to pay for theater classes, She decided to first start selling flowers to so she went to her father, Kevin Jones, members of her 4-H community, which with the proposition that she gets her helped her feel more confident with speaking to people and helped her business grow first job. through word of mouth. “Well…you’re 12,” was his Karly grows and sells roughresponse. “You have plenty ly 30 different varieties of of work to do around the Mansfield, Ark. plants. The list of flowers that farm.” she sells includes snapdragons, She had experience in garzinnias, sunflowers, gladiolas, dening from tending to all dahlias, and bells-of-Ireland. Their sorts of different crops on most popular flowers are sunflowers her family’s farm, and after
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Photos by Kacey Frederick
and zinnias, though Karly’s favorite to grow is the snapdragons. Kevin has made an active effort to avoid pesticides, herbicides, and commercial fertilizers in the farm, and has taught Karly to do the same. Currently, they have about an acre of sunflowers and thousands of other flowers planted and growing. They are planning to create a sunflower field for people to visit and take pictures of and will plant new flowers every two weeks so they remain fresh. She and Kevin are also growing a blackberry, strawberry and blueberry patch, which they hope will bring a nice harvest come next year. They started the fresh-cut flower business around the summer of 2021, and estimate roughly $300 in sales from last year. They expect business to increase even more this year with their new plans. Karly and her father say they already have people calling and asking when their flowers will be ready. “I don’t think there’s any reason she couldn’t generate enough income off
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the flowers to pay her way through college,” Kevin said. “I think in another year she’ll really have quite a business. There’s a lot of interest, and there’s a lot of people calling us.” “I at least want to be able to buy a car,” Karly added. “The goal is a Mustang.” Indeed, the flowers have already begun to attract attention from many groups outside of 4-H; this June the Photographic Alliance of Fort Smith came to the farm to have an all-day photoshoot. Karly also has discussed selling her flowers at a local farm-to-table store called Roots and Fields by creating a “flower bar,” where people can come and choose their own fresh flowers to create bouquets from. Between participating in 4-H, being in a theater production of The Little Mermaid, practicing the fiddle, and playing in a jazz group, Karly still manages to find time to run a successful fresh-cut flower business to help fund her future endeavors. Her business is a part of her family’s farm operation, Blackjack Blooms & Berries. JULY 11, 2022
