16 Questions with Farm Manager Lex Smith

You grew up in Pennsylvania then lived in Colorado. What lured you to the Columbia Gorge? 

Lex: Honestly, a big part of it was farming. My partner and I wanted to find a place that was the perfect combination of all of the things that we love and that allowed us to pursue our individual careers. The Gorge is not only gorgeous, but it has the seasonality that I wanted and missed from the East Coast that Colorado didn’t have. From the first time we came here to check it out, we knew this is where we wanted to be.

What do you remember about your first experience with a garden or with growing things?

My parents completely transformed our yard with landscaping. That was how we spent our summers growing up – my brothers and I were their little workforce. My favorite part of the season was going to the nursery with my mom and picking out the annuals for our pots. She had at least thirty pots that would go on the front and back porches, and we would lay everything out and arrange them together. It was our special little tradition.

My mom started me gardening as soon as I had the motor skills to do it, probably three years old. Just helping, the way little kids help. Then, once I got a little older, my grandma employed me to help take care of her plants, too. I was obsessed with her garden and we always said one day I would get married there. They eventually sold that house so it’s not a likely wedding location, but I have very fond memories of spending time in that garden.

When you went to college you studied Communications.

Yes, a completely different track than what I’m doing now. I got my degree in Communications, but I specialized in Environmental Science. I had a class called Sustainable Agriculture. It was hands down my favorite class of my entire college experience. We were each assigned a little garden plot to take care of. One of my favorite parts about that class was you could either do a final or you could put in a certain number of hours in the garden helping the professor. I’d wake up super early, ride my bike to the garden, and lay down compost or pull hops off of fences or really anything that needed to be done. He would give you instructions, then let you go. That class opened my eyes to the potential of everything you could grow. It was a research garden, so he grew unusual things like loofas and peanuts. It was a massive garden but I didn’t really know where all the produce was going. They would have little sales, but for the most part I would go home from that class with a backpack full of bell peppers. I would just hand them out to people on my way back to my dorm because they are too good to go to waste. Gardening was always something I easily retained information about because I was so interested in it.

Did you make a conscious choice to get a farm job after college?

When I moved to Colorado, I got whatever job I could when I first moved there. The second day living there, I landed a job at a restaurant that focused on local produce. I was chummy with the chefs and would see the beautiful produce that came in and the farmers with our deliveries. I started talking to the chefs, and they were like “oh, yeah, I got a buddy that owns a tomato farm” and “I know this guy that has a farm up at the technical school,” and “I know this guy with a greenhouse.” They were very kind and asked those farmer friends to come in for dinner which gave me the opportunity to talk to them. I started volunteering at a greenhouse the following week, then they hired me almost immediately. It did not pay well, but that was okay. I just wanted the experience because I didn’t have professional experience working on a farm. I ended up working there for two and a half years.

What were you growing?

Mostly greens, herbs, and edible flowers. We grew everything hydroponically on vertical grow towers, which was fascinating and a new thing to learn. The greenhouse was a beautiful place to spend time. It was a rooftop greenhouse in a really cool artsy neighborhood in the city. Eventually they put in an outdoor growing space that became a farm-to-table garden where chefs could rent the space and have gatherings and put on meals for community events. The garden space really took off, especially around Covid. I spent half of my week outside in the garden and half of my week inside the greenhouse. It was an opportunity to get my hands dirty rather than just wet.

You also farmed at a mushroom farm?

I was really interested in sustainability in college. I felt like I learned everything that I could from the greenhouse job, so I wanted to move on to something different. I got connected with a mushroom farmer, and went and volunteered. They needed help and he hired me pretty soon. A couple months later, I became the manager. I had experience managing because of the greenhouse, and I’ve always loved systems, all the moving pieces of a business, and even doing sales. I like a comprehensive view of a business because it helps me do my job better. Mushroom farming was fun, but it was very repetitive. Also, mushrooms grow in the dark, so it was kind of a sad working space. The people were amazing, but I didn’t want to spend my time indoors every day. By then I knew that I wanted to leave Colorado.

You’ve grown on really different farms than our flower farm. What did you learn from those growing experiences? 

From the indoor spaces, I developed an acute attention to detail because there are so many points of failure. When you’re relying on mechanized grow towers to do the work, if you have electricity failures or a pump dies because it’s old, or someone forgot to turn a feeder valve on, so the tower doesn’t get any water, you learn to pay close attention because a single component can cause the whole process to fail. A crop failure means losing money which most farms can’t really afford. Through those farms, I got connected to the food movement and what chefs wanted. I proposed some new, interesting varieties that we weren’t trying before. Some of them were successful, some not so much, because you need varieties that are adapted to these grow environments. Not every mushroom is going to grow well in a commercial setting. Not all lettuce is going to grow well in a vertical tower. 

Coming here from those other farming experiences, what is interesting about flower farming? 

They’re flowers! They bring everyone joy. Something that immediately sparked my interest on our farm was just the variety, the sheer number of different flowers we grow.  So many of which I didn’t know the names of. Now I do, which I’m very proud of. There’s endless potential, flowers come in so many different colors and shapes. With the changing of seasons, we always have something new to look forward to. 

How does growing the flowers affect the way you approach arranging them? 

Through growing, you learn the way the flowers grow and mature, the way they open, the way they lean one way or another, the fluidity of individual stems. Knowing the natural habits of the plants goes into my thinking when arranging them. 

Florists always talk about how stressful weddings are, but I know you are pretty excited about this upcoming wedding season. 

Weddings are a good way for all of our hard work to come to this great culmination. We get to be part of someone’s big day. There’s a lot of effort that goes into that, but when you are at the wedding venue, it’s magical when you see everything coming together –  the table linens, the candles, the band setting up – and then flowers are the finishing touch. It’s fun to be with other vendors setting up for an important occasion. We often see the bride and  bridesmaids’ taking photos, and First Look moments that are special to be around for. I’m really excited for this season. 

Me too. 

And I don’t have to wear overalls and a flannel. I get to wear something a little nicer, which is a good excuse to wear clothes that I never get to wear. (Lex does have some cute set up clothes!)

What is your favorite season? 

Fall. 

Favorite flower? 

Ooh, that’s hard. I feel like each season kind of has its own. So, spring, I feel like fritillary. Summer, I love foxgloves, especially the apricot ones. And then for fall, I do love the heirloom mums, but for me, the movement into fall is kind of punctuated by marigolds. 

Favorite local restaurant? 

I love the Dao Deli pop ups at Common House. There’s always something new and a type of cuisine you can’t find elsewhere in the Gorge. 

Favorite music to play when you are making arrangements for weddings?

Anything I can sing to. Something bubbly, something fun, that makes flower arranging even more fun. The oldies.

What do you like to do when you’re not working? 

I love a good bubble bath or soak – those are essential for this kind of work. I do a lot of gardening at home in my free time. I get off work, and I’m already dirty and wearing the right clothes, so I move from this garden to my own. I’ve gotten really into food preservation, making jams, sauces, and freezing vegetables. The joy of having a vegetable garden is feeding yourself with it. I love going to live music and love spending time by the water, either sitting and relaxing, swimming, or fishing. And I love a good hike. We’ve been really busy.