Our Favorite Gear

I’m a kid who likes to play outside.

It’s amazing that I get to do it every day. But the truth is, it’s not always easy.

The Melliflora team has plenty of those perfect days of comfortable temps, clear skies, and endless waves of stunning flowers. But, that’s balanced out with whipping winds when we eat dirt all day, scorching sun, rain, snow, and good old fashioned back breaking manual labor.

Over the years, we’ve tested just about everything in the way of tools and clothes and all the stuff that makes work a pleasure every day.

After all that trial and error, we have our favorites. If you’re a gardener or just love being outside as much as I do, here is all of our go to gear that will make it fun for you to work in your garden or play outside in any weather.

Women’s Workwear

This is serious! Women work outside too and it is only in recent years that there’s been much of a selection just for us. If you are doing manual labor all day, the right clothes make all the difference. We’ve tried a lot of things and we have our faves for sure.

We love overalls. Pockets in all the right places, ease of movement, nothing binds or pinches or bothers you all day. There are plenty of good ones out there. Duluth Trading makes some nice light weight overalls for transitional seasons and Rosie’s Workwear makes one with built in knee pads that I love for days when I’m on my knees a lot.

But the hands-down winner for best overalls ever is Dovetail. Lily and I both own a pair of Freshlys and we often joke that we hate to take them off. They are unbelievably comfortable, they’re rugged, the straps stay put and every detail is designed by people who have actually done a day’s work. They are the best and I’m planning to treat myself to another pair for the 2024 season.

Me in my beloved Dovetail Overalls

The alternative to overalls is the old fashioned coverall. Duluth Trading makes a really nice one that is super comfortable and versatile. It is sleeveless, so you can layer a long sleeved shirt underneath in the spring and fall or leave your arms bare when it warms up.

Sadly, at the time I’m writing this, I don’t see it on their web site, but keep and eye because it might return with the new season.

Here’s Lily wearing her Duluth Coveralls with layers for some early spring work in the field

Duluth also makes some coverall shorts that I adore. I have a green one and one in a print pattern that I live in during the warm season. They also make overall shorts in fun colors and breathable material that I rely on all summer.

Me in my favorite overall shorts from Duluth Trading Company

When we are doing a lot of wet work, I like my dry on the fly pants pants, also from Duluth. They are super comfortable, light weight and they dry fast if you soak yourself with a hose or an irrigation leak.

Outerwear and Winter Gear

We raise livestock on the farm and they need to be cared for every day no matter what. Below zero temps and whipping winds? That doesn’t matter, it’s more important than ever to tend to the animals on those days.

Carhartt is my go to for winter chores. I love the hats that keep my head warm. I have a beat up coat for barn chores and a nicer one that I wear when I go into town.

But the best thing ever is my beloved pair of Insulated Carhartt overalls. They remain one of my favorite Christmas gifts ever. My husband Steve got them a size up for me so I can slip them on over the bulkiest sweaters, and make my way to the barn in any weather.

Seriously, if you have a pair, you can move freely and work outside all day in comfort.

Footwear

Summer and Fall

Shoes are the place where I really have tried everything. I wear a tracker that counts my steps, and at the height of the season, 20,000 + steps a day is pretty typical for me. My first experiments with footwear left me with sore muscles and aching feet at the end of every single day.

Once again, it was a gift from Steve that saved me. He got me a pair of Australian Redback boots and I’ve never looked back. They are super comfortable, and mostly-waterproof (I say that only because I got a good soaker this past week using my foot to break through ice in an animal watering trough….)

They have great support for my feet and ankles so that I can end my day pain free. I’ve had mine for 2 seasons and they remain good as new.

One of my favorite features is that they slip on and off easily.

Because we live on a working farm, people are coming in and out of the house wearing muddy gear all the time. It means a lot to me if those work boots are effortless to take off at the door to spare the house at least some abuse.

Lily, Melliflora’s field manager, swears by her Blundstones and they are just as good if you want to go that direction.

Australian work boots are an investment, but worth every penny.

Winter

During the winter and the muddiest parts of the year, I love my Bogs. I can work outside all day, stay warm and dry, and they are super easy to take on and off at the door.

Tools

Snips

Everyone on the team has a snip on them at all times during the season. If we’re not cutting flowers, we’re pruning or pinching plants, deadheading, trimming design work, cutting bailing twine on bales of hay, snipping strings to build plant supports, and any number of endless cutting tasks.

While we splurge on clothes, we’ve settled on a simple and inexpensive snip as a favorite after trying absolutely everything else. We love this little micro-pruning snip. It can be sharpened to last for years. It has a red handle to make it easier to spot if you accidentally drop it in the field. Its little narrow shape gets into foliage for precision cutting. And since it is inexpensive, they are no big deal to replace. I typically buy a pack of them at the start of the season in case some get lost so there is always a back up.

Gloves

Here’s another place where the cheap ones are the best. We like these stretchy fabric gloves with rubber palms that I can pick up in big packages from Costco or North 40. I keep a basket of them in our tool shed. And because they are inexpensive, it’s no problem to keep the basket full if gloves get lost or wear out.

A Lily Favorite

Lily wears this clip on her overalls so she doesn’t loose her gloves. When I asked her about her favorite gear, the clip was on the top of her list. I might need one myself because I’m always tucking gloves into my pockets or setting them down and losing them. Lily’s clip is an inexpensive and simple solution to keep your gear with you when you need it.

Tool Belts

We have a bunch of stuff that we need with us all the time - gloves, snips, phones (because podcasts right?), rubber bands, sharpie markers etc. And we’ve tried every imaginable way of managing it - filling our pockets and destroying them with snips poking through, setting things down in random places on the farm and losing them (that’s a favorite move).

I’ve tried to save money with all kinds of tool holsters. But they’ve all fallen apart after a while, and each one has been varying degrees of awkward. They’re all designed for carpentry not gardening or flower farming. So they never really functioned the way I needed them to.

Floret has designed a custom tool belt specially for flower farmers and it’s the bomb. It’s an investment, which is why I drug my feet and tried everything else first. Once again, Steve finally bought one for me as a gift and I love it so very much.

It’s hand made from gorgeous leather. Honestly, it reminds me of some of the higher end saddles I’ve owned over the years and I care for it just like my saddles. It comes in a variety of colors, left or right handed, and they will customize if you need a longer strap or anything.

It is comfortable to wear and everything I need is right at my fingertips all day. During the season, I put in on first thing in the morning and only take it off when the work is done.

If you are a serious gardener, flower farmer, or have someone on your shopping list, the Floret tool belt is a beautiful gift that will be cherished for a lifetime.

I can think of so much more! But I don’t want to overwhelm so I’ll save the rest for another favorites list in the future.

In the meantime, if you are looking for the perfect gift for someone who works outside, or dropping hints for yourself, you can trust that we’ve road tested everything on this list. You can’t go wrong.

Have fun shopping.