Hi, my name is Karolien Tesselaar, and this is my first-ever blog for Thursd.com. Therefore, for the people who do not know me yet, please allow me to introduce myself. People know me as an active, energetic person who enjoys getting things done. An organizer with a passion for marketing and sustainability. I'm committed to the sector through various committees.
My passion lies in sustainability: how can we ensure a healthy balance between people, planet, and profit? I do this with great passion for our company, Tesselaar Alstroemeria, and for our newly released brand 'Miss Alstroemeria'. With a wonderful group of people, we work to deliver the surprising flower: the Alstroemeria! Only in the vase does the flower reveal its true splendor.
Through my blogs, I will tell the stories of my adventures in the floral business, my thoughts about it, and share my love for my number 1 flower: the Alstroemeria.
In my first story, I look back on the holiday period, a transition from a year of big changes to a new year full of chances.
Christmas in the Greenhouse
I love December. It's a bit magical: enjoying feel-good movies in which it's always snowing, happy-end-all stories, and making it cozy at home. Eating things you don't normally eat. Just spending some time at home. At the same time, the business carries on as usual. Plants don't pay attention to holidays; we also work on Boxing Day and New Year's Eve. The working ethos at Tesselaar is: everyone who can come, comes. So we're finished on time, and everyone can go home on time.
So I'm also in the shed in my old clothes. That evening, my husband and I drew a straw: who will help out tomorrow as extra manpower? Just kidding, I offer to cycle to the greenhouse at 6:45. This year, I could really get into the Christmas spirit: slippery roads and a good old-fashioned bike slide. Luckily, I'm not injured, so I'm able to do my work on the bunching machine. Poor me? Not at all! It's a great opportunity to spend 4 hours handling our flowers. You can immediately see which varieties produce almost exclusively heavy stems (naturally, these are the freshly planted Estee and Pink Floyd varieties).
These are ideal varieties for processing; you simply place them one by one on the conveyor belt. The machine can also easily select the grade.
X-rays for Xmas
What probably not all our customers know is that our bunching machine uses X-rays to determine whether a stem is an Alstro Lux, Elegance, or Nature stem. This is a matter of learning: an Alstroemeria has multiple buds and leaves at the top, so the X-ray must estimate whether a stem has more than four buds and is therefore (provided the stem is also thick) an Alstro Lux stem. The trick is to adjust this setting as accurately as possible on the machine.
It's no secret that labor costs have risen sharply; you don't really have the time to free up staff for these kinds of fine-tuning tasks. But it's essential; customers want to get what they pay for: a bunch of 10 heavy stems really must be a bunch of 10 heavy stems. Can I guarantee that 100%? No, unfortunately, the technology isn't there yet. But a morning like this at the bunching machine shows that we can still make improvements here. By observing carefully, adjusting the machine, and, especially, taking good care of our plants during cultivation.
A Family Business
We are a family business in every positive sense. Around coffee break, my husband, Rick, joins us for coffee with our children. They immediately come to help clear away the rejected flowers, each with a broom in hand, busily getting to work. When I thank my daughter for her help in the evening, she replies, "I get paid for that, Mom, don't our people get that too?" See, the entrepreneurial spirit is instilled in me from a young age. But I just want to illustrate this point: by choosing to grow at a single location again, we're much more integrated into our team and the family business.
I'm grateful I was able to pass that on to our children this Christmas. After all, work should bring happiness, right? Just like our flowers do for those who receive them!
