About Handful of Joy

Hi! Thanks for stopping by. We'd like to introduce ourselves and give you a little bit more insight into what Handful of Joy is. 

 

Our names are Alex and Rachel Hogeveen and we have been married for 9 years. Together we have three children. We decided in winter of 2020 to grow a small sunflower patch in our side yard at our property on the corner of Thompson Rd and County Line and run a little flower stand at the end of our driveway for the summer to fall of 2020. We were blown away by the support and decided to expand in 2021 and grow three times the amount of sunflowers and also add zinnias to the mix. In fall of 2021 we also brought in planters from a local greenhouse to sell as well. 

 

In late May of 2021, the opportunity presented itself to buy a farm on the other side of Waterford. We were nervous and excited and quickly got together a plan of what our business model would look like. Rachel's parents have a background in greenhouses and so we came to the decision to put up a greenhouse and grow planters and hanging baskets. As mentioned previously, we tested out the waters of selling planters in the fall that we brought in and it was a success so we solidified that plan. 

 

Over the course of winter 2022, Alex executed the project of putting up our three bay, gutter connect greenhouse which would give us 7,000 square feet of growing space. We also ordered pots, soil, and a purchased a few other pieces of equipment needed to put our plan into action. There were many frustrations and weather delays along the way but we persevered and finished the greenhouse in the beginning of March. We ordered our first plants over March Break and they arrived the following week. 

 

2023 was another year of growth. More varieties of cut flowers, weddings were added to the mix, along with doubling the amount of mums we grew. Traffic continued to pick up at our new farm location on Hwy 24 over the year which has brought on so much excitement for expansion in 2024.

 

2024 is starting off strong with our first ever tulip crop in the ground and in crates with blooms expected before Easter weekend. Along with many more cut flowers to be grown in time for Mother's Day. I'm not going to share all of our secrets for 2024 - you'll just have to follow along to find out. But if you've read this far - we want to say a huge thank you to our community for their continued support. We've faced some major hurdles but with the support of you, we've continued to grow and make more connections thus allowing our business to grow and thrive. Here's to 2024.