Dear Ms DeColle, how did you come up with the idea of setting up an organic flower farm?

Because I wanted to become a flower picker when I was a child.

Since I was a child, I have loved picking flowers, making things and talking, but the older I got, the more experience I had in the event sector and in the industrial flower business, the less I found that feeling of the flower meadow – the wonder, the respect – I had dreamt about in my childhood.

At your organic flower farm “Vom Hügel” you are surrounded every day with the beauty of pure nature, with the positive atmosphere of the colourful flower field and with originality. – All in all, very positive and life-affirming things that give you strength. A bit like a peaceful island in a wild ocean full of negative headlines about climate change, social or structural problems and many more. Do you feel more positive overall or are you also worried? And if so, what are you most concerned about?

Yes, I see my project as a fair, sustainable little world in itself. And I enjoy that every day. Nevertheless, we are not an island and have to deal with all social trends and with all legal requirements as well. An example: My team currently consists of 17 employees who work in the fields of agriculture, gastronomy and organisation. Since every hour worked is of equal value to me, they all receive the same hourly wage and work under the same conditions in the company. According to the Collective Bargaining Act, this always presents me as an employer with great challenges and forces me to constantly adapt the employment contracts.

Journalists and television crews visit your organic flower farm at regular intervals. It seems that you have hit a social nerve with your project? What exactly do you think that is?

The longing for nature, authenticity and the “simple life in rural areas” is great, especially in socially uncertain times, I notice this strongly. Do-it-yourself is also in vogue, which is very positive for our workshop offer.

You see your business project less as a company and more as a social learning project. What should we learn? Or better, what should be taught in our schools?

We want to take people into the “depth” of a product – get them involved. From the seed to the finished bouquet of flowers or the breakfast board in the Garten Café. What is needed to be able to harvest? What grows how, what blossoms when?

Feel the seasons, taste – experience with all your senses what it means to create a piece of work or taste a dish of the day with us in November or July. That is why we offer garden tours, workshops and consultations.

What is your definition of a sustainable business project? What should it have and who must all benefit from it for it to be sustainable?

For me, approaching plants, people and ideas in a sustainable way means dealing fairly with nature, i.e. certified organic farming, sustainable use of our resources in the workshop, fair prices and payment of employees.

On your fields of flowers, the flowers grow from the seeds, blossom and wither again – an eternal cycle. In business, we still have the vision of permanent growth. How do you think growth behaves in a sustainable economic system? What other criteria besides monetary/economic growth should continue to come to the fore?

Every system, be it society, the economic system as such, a company, the individual, could strive for balance – fair, sustainable, regional, seasonal – certainly these are good ” keywords” by now, but if we could guarantee a balanced system, then probably a lot has already been achieved.

What are the visions for your organic flower farming? Where will the journey lead to?

There are visions to intensify the meeting between plants, people and ideas – in the area of accommodation. We will certainly also expand our consultation and workshop area. But unfortunately, at the moment, we are more focused on the bare survival of our company than on visionary strategies for the future.

You have created your own little paradise with your organic flower farm, which you are expanding bit by bit. What advice do you have for our pupils and students, who are still at the very beginning? How is it possible to fulfil a personal dream?

The secret of success is very simple and consists in three words: JUST DO IT!