Local fresh flowers for local people
POSY Florals began in 2021 as a seasonal 0.25 acre backyard garden in Manchester by the Sea, MA. In 2022 we expanded to Level Acres Farm in West Peabody, growing a half-acre of flowers. In 2024, we are farming 2 acres of this beautiful local land. Read more about the Farm & Florals team here.
The Farm
POSY Florals is located at Level Acres Farm, 3.2 acres of historic farmland on Lowell Street in West Peabody. This Naumkeag native land was settled in the early 1700’s by Elipphalet Taylor, who around 1760 built the two-family home shown in the featured photo (circa 1920’s). The original Taylor house is still standing and easily recognizable today: it’s the red house next door.
The Taylor family farmed this land and built a homestead on the property, including cows, chickens, a wheelwright smithy, and a shoe shop. Generations of Taylors farmed here until 1911 when the entire property was sold to Durkee, Moulton and Young. These families continued to operate the farm, with the addition of a large egg & poultry business, and sold their produce at the farmstand (which is still standing!) in front of the red barn on Lowell Street. The current land owners purchased the property in the early 1980’s and continued to farm the land themselves, later leasing parcels to local farmers. Many thanks to our fantastic farm neighbor Leo Kenney for collecting, preserving, and sharing this interesting local history of the property.
Through the generosity of the current landowners, we are honored and grateful to be stewarding this land.
At POSY, we consciously farm our flowers using sustainable methods and without any chemicals. Our end goal each season is to leave the soil richer in nutrients, microbes, and organic matter, and to add to the overall biodiversity of the land. Because it’s such a safe and happy place, our farm is also home to stacks of bee hives maintained by Joe from Crystal Bee Supply, and used in the production of Essex County Honey.
The Garden
Our humble, less-than-a-quarter-acre backyard garden in Manchester by the Sea is where POSY got its start. We continue to farm every inch of this property with a focus on perennials like Hellebore, Columbine and Peonies. We also plant new trial varieties of summer annuals in row crop style and plant a ton of poppies for our own enjoyment (and for drying the cool seed pods!).
Sustainable Farming Practices
As a local business, we are committed to purchasing from and supporting other local businesses, and utilizing sustainable methods in everything we do, since day one.
From beneficial microbes, to compost tea, to aggressive pinching (don’t worry, the plants like it!), we use organic methods and no nasty chemicals to grow our flowers.
We cover all of our beds and paths with landscape fabric for water retention and natural weed suppression.
We use drip irrigation to reduce our water consumption and caterpillar tunnels (like mini-greenhouses) to extend our growing season in both the spring and fall.
Mother Nature provides us with the path, we must remain attentive to our plant babies, and work a little harder to travel down that path. It’s totally worth it!
Now Flowering:
If Mother Nature is on our side, POSY Florals harvests its first flowers in May, and the blooms continue growing through the end of October.
Follow us on Instagram at @posy_florals for all of the latest updates and information.
