Los Altos resident Charmaine Turbow’s garage doesn’t give off the typical stench of lingering gasoline or dusty furniture that most garages do. Instead, the air is filled with the sweet aroma of peonies, dahlias and chrysanthemums handpicked from Turbow’s garden.
These flowers are part of Turbow Farms, a specialty-cut micro flower farm owned and operated by Turbow, her husband and three children. Turbow initially started the farm in 2018 when a series of traumatic events hit her family, causing her to reevaluate her familial goals and priorities.
“I lost a really close girlfriend of mine to a brain aneurysm about seven years ago, and my husband had lost his mom to a 12-year battle with cancer,” Turbow said. “[The events] kind of shook our household and caused us to remap how we wanted to raise our kids moving forward.”
In the wake of the tragedies, Turbow sought to plan a new direction for her family life by reluctantly scaling back her hours as a chiropractor to pursue her dreams. Inspired by her mother’s aspiration of owning an English-style garden, Turbow took advantage of the existing greenery on her property and decided to repurpose her backyard into a peony field.
Although Turbow’s family initially opposed the idea, one day Turbow’s youngest son noticed a large tractor parked in front of her neighbor’s house. Turbow went across the street and asked the man operating it if he could disc her backyard.
“Next thing you know, we have [him] discing the entire field for $50 and a carton of eggs, and that was the start of the peony field,” Turbow said.
After constructing the peony field, Turbow felt motivated to focus more on her passion for flowers by opening Turbow Farms. Her husband decided to leave his career in law to spend more time with their children and to concentrate on managing logistics for the farm after he and Turbow had their third child.
Turning their backyard into a flower farm brought about many challenges. Turbow and her husband painstakingly relandscaped their entire backyard by themselves while still maintaining a proper play area for her children.
Water consumption was also a large concern for Turbow, as she wanted to make her new garden completely sustainable by planting flowers that require little water and can easily survive through drier seasons.
To address this, Turbow installed a drip irrigation system in her garden. Two large rainwater tanks allowed water to be consciously spread to each plant via gravity. Turbow now says 98% of her farm uses drip watering, and she’s working consciously to reduce the amount of water the farm uses.
According to Turbow, flowers were always about the community and connecting with people locally. For the first five years of the business, Turbow kept the farm relatively private, only selling flowers and offering flower workshops to close friends and family.
Slowly, the farm grabbed the attention of locals, who were intrigued by the niche of a small-scale flower farm. As interests grew, people sought to understand more about flowers, inspiring Turbow to host open workshops for the community.
Turbow said she aimed to share her floral farming in workshops by establishing two types of workshops: one where guests dig up flowers from the garden and another where the flowers are pre-picked for guests to learn about. Turbow Farms now offers a custom floral arrangement subscription throughout the growing season.
Turbow Farms also donates flowers to a nonprofit called the Blossom Buddies of Los Altos, which repurposes them for people in hospice.
Turbow said that helping her community is the highlight of owning the business and has allowed her to connect with passionate people in a similar line of work. In one case, the owner of CharMarron Peony Nursery — a plant nursery in San Jose — has not only mentored Turbow in growing peonies but has also become a close family friend. Turbow also met another woman who was studying to be a landscape designer at Foothill College around the same time she started the farm.
“We’re bonded just because of flowers,” Turbow said. “It’s one thing to have the farm, but having this small network of really good friends who help me push through the year is really spectacular.”
Although the business connected Turbow with many of her now close friends, she said that owning the farm carries a certain stigma.
“We faced a lot of disbelief from others and almost embarrassment because we don’t have a real farm,” Turbow said. “Even showing up to pick up my kids from school with dirt under my nails made me feel a little self-conscious of the work I do compared to others.”
Looking to the future, Turbow said she hopes to continue her success by keeping her business small-scale and helping people recover from the competitive environment of Silicon Valley. Although not focused on expansion, Turbow hopes to continue spreading joy through people’s lives through harvesting and sharing flowers.
“I’m so grateful to have this [farm] where I can share my love for flowers with others,” Turbow said. “My overarching goal with [Turbow Farms] is just to engage with the community.”
One thought on “Los Altos resident’s flower business blossoms from hardship”
Charmaine and family are indeed the best of what having friends is all about. She and I share a passion for flowers and especially peonies and Dan and I are connected by our love of solar energy and our electric cars. It is always such a pleasure to spend time in their garden and their kitchen. The children are indeed a part of the farm and do participate whenever needed. They have the best egg laying chicken coop and they provide a wealth of breakfast foods. I am truly in awe of what they have accomplished in their lives and their love of life in general. They are real family to look up to. BRAVO!!!
Love always from your CharMarron family