Discover Faith Flower Farm
By Tammy Thornton
This time of year, as the summer winds down, we take solace by enjoying the late season harvests. Summer’s last call ends fittingly with towering blooms that have the symbol of the sun in their faces—the sunflower. Much beloved for their bold and bright colors, somehow they just seem to exude happiness. Fortunately, sunflowers love our South Jersey soil and hot summers.
Faith Flower Farm in Estell Manor has been growing sunflowers for the public for about four years. Mary Faith, the matriarch of the family, runs the farm with her two adult sons, Paul and Daniel, by her side. Though they both have full-time jobs, they help their mom plan, plant, maintain, and harvest the flowers and other crops on the farm. The Faith homestead has been in the family since 1924, originally run as a chicken farm, like many other farms in the area at that time. Mary’s husband Paul, a carpenter by trade, built raised beds for the farm and their log cabin home. After his passing in 2016, their sons suggested that Mary grow and sell sunflowers for extra income. Today, it’s a thriving farm, with successive beds of 1,200 flowers planted each week from April to September. Mary arranges beautiful bouquets filled with sunflowers, zinnias, strawflowers, ageratum (floss flower), cock’s comb, and other types of celosia. Their story reminds me of an Old Testament Bible verse that talks about rebuilding “beauty out of the ashes…” (Isaiah 61).
In addition to colorful flowers, the 25-acre farm also grows sweet potatoes, cucumbers, and thousands of pumpkins that will be ready to pick in the fall. Mary’s son Paul has found his niche growing specialty mushrooms such as yellow and blue oysters, lion’s mane, and shitake. Harkening to its past, the farm also boasts a few egg-laying chickens.
Every week, Mary prepares her sunflowers to stock vendors for various farmers markets in Atlantic and Cumberland counties. You can find her with buckets of bouquets at the Galloway Green Market in Smithville and the Crops Market in Linwood. She helps Paul sell his specialty mushrooms at the Margate Community Farmers Market held in the parking lot at Steve and Cookie’s by the Bay. Customers can also pick their own flowers on the farm by appointment and special u-pick events.
Like most farms, Faith Flower Farm is always evolving and becoming more productive. Recently Stockton University contacted the farm with a request to tap their red maple trees for syrup. Mary looks forward to reviving the popular “chicken yoga” classes that were a success in the past. She also has many requests for photo ops among the sunflowers and is considering setting up a designated area for photographers. Paul has plans to start an orchard and has planted a cover crop to build the organic matter in the soil. He jokes that he learned much of his farming knowledge by “googling it”. But both men have grown up working the land with their parents and continue to learn through trial and error as well as the camaraderie among fellow farmers. Daniel, a game warden and graduate of Penn State University, gives credit to classes he took while pursuing his Wildlife and Fisheries Science degree, which gave him a deeper understanding of biodiversity and the ecosystem.
Faith Flower Farm is located at 93 South Jersey Avenue, Estell Manor, New Jersey. If you would like more information about the farm or are interested in picking your own sunflowers, check out their social media pages on Facebook and Instagram or make an appointment to visit by calling (609) 476-4326 or (609) 226-3084.
Tammy Thornton is a mom of four, a substitute teacher, and a Sunday school teacher. She is passionate about gardening and cooking, and loves the beach.
