Elise Hanks shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Good morning Elise, it’s such a great way to kick off the day – I think our readers will love hearing your stories, experiences and about how you think about life and work. Let’s jump right in? What makes you lose track of time—and find yourself again?
I often find myself losing track of time while watching the bumblebees and honeybees on our farm! It makes me feel so close to nature and so present that even with a long to-do list, I am lost in their world for a while.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Elise Hanks and I am the owner/farmer/florist/herbalist behind Terra Luna. We are a small flower and herb farm in North Philadelphia, focused on growing fresh flowers and medicinal herbs. We grow cut flowers for both retail and wholesale as well as herbs that we turn into a line of herbal goods. We are a very unique operation in our area, as we are the only farm in the neighborhood! We are the definition of a city farm 🙂
Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. What’s a moment that really shaped how you see the world?
After graduating college with a. degree in fashion design, I felt totally lost and unsure about pursuing a career in the fashion industry. I knew that I wanted to try something radically different, so a friend and I joined the WWOOFing farming program and began working on a vegetable farm in Utah. That experience changed my life!
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
After 3 years of growing and selling flowers out of a community garden plot, we were told that the garden would be closed and the lot sold for development. I was devastated. 3 years of incredibly hard work would be for nothing. There are so few places in the city to grow a small farming business that I thought I’d never be able to find a place to restart my operation. I thought hard about quitting, but instead I found a new location. It was an incredibly hard transition, but so worth it. My new location is bigger and better than ever 🙂
Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? What would your closest friends say really matters to you?
I love living in the city, but I also love being a farmer. Protecting and stewarding green space in a city setting is my life’s mission. My friends would probably say that I won’t shut up about the importance of city farms 🙂 Both my business and personal life revolve around this cause. Protecting green spaces in cities in order to give safe space for insects, birds, and humans alike is my #1 goal.
Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. What are you doing today that won’t pay off for 7–10 years?
Being a farmer is playing the long game. Even if there are immediate harvests every season, you are also always thinking ahead…planting plants that won’t be ready to harvest from for 3 or 5 years from now. Unfortunately, making mistakes is the best way to learn in my experience… but often when I make a mistake or have a failure, I have to wait until the following season to try again a different way. So much of what we do everyday on the Terra Luna farm is think about not just today’s harvest, but how it will impact the space in years to come.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.terralunaherbals.com
- Instagram: @terralunaherbals
Image Credits
Rocco Avallone
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