Hi everyone! Happy Friday! I hope this letter finds you with a breeze coming in through an open window in your kitchen — or better yet, in a chair outside with your toes on the grass. That’s very much the vibe of today’s send, a conversation featuring someone I’m a huge fan of: Richard Christiansen, founder of Flamingo Estate.
Richard is intimidatingly versatile. Beyond building and running Flamingo Estate (with an estimated $10 million in revenue last year), he’s a beekeeper, a prolific writer, and a world traveler who’s hiked Everest and is currently planning a trip to Bhutan (“it’s the happiest country in the world,” he tells me). But more than anything, though, Richard is a farmer in the truest sense: grounded, joyful, and one with nature. It’s impossible not to find a life lesson (or six) in his story, which is why I wanted to share it here.
Inside this issue: My conversation with Flamingo Estate’s Richard Christiansen. We talk about farm life, his definition of success (it’s not what you think), the best floor plan for parties, and why we say “knock on wood,” which has become my new dinner party fun fact. Richard was kind enough to offer BS readers 15% off Flamingo Estate using BEAU15— I’ll share my favorite picks at the end!
Hailee: Richard, I’m such a fan of yours. The timing of all of this — having just received the most gorgeous regenerative farm box from you just last week — feels kismet. I read that you grew up on a farm. My husband grew up on a farm as well. How did that experience affect you?
Richard: Anyone who grows up on a farm, as I did and as your husband did, knows that the margins are thin, the work never stops, and I've learned that what farmers need more than anything is consistency. But I think the farm is the best place to raise kids because it taught me my definition of success, which is to have all your senses engaged. Smelling things deeply, tasting things deeply, inhaling things, touching them. Growing up on a farm gives you the opportunity to do that.
H: I’m having a full-circle moment right now. I played Emily Dickinson on a show for three years, and this conversation is reminding me of some of the poems I fell in love with. She observed and celebrated nature in all its forms. I’m so keen on feeling my feet on the ground right now. It's so amazing that you made this whole brand without seemingly meaning to — is that fair to say?
R: I'm a firm believer in that idea that there's an invisible thread pulling us along, and we just have to feel it. There were so many coincidences that pushed me here. When I was working in advertising for luxury goods — Hermes was our biggest client — I was the boss and the creative director. I was always on a plane. I was so unhappy. I was so unhealthy. I was earning more money than my mom and dad, and I was really fulfilled in some metrics but really unfulfilled in others. COVID was such a gift for me because it crumbled that world. The fact that Flamingo grew out of that was such a joy.
H: Where did the name come from?
R: You'll see when you come over— you must come over to my crazy house. It's a pink house on top of a hill. It's a silly name, but I thought it was fun for the property. I never intended to start a business here in my home. But once we started selling vegetables for those first few farmers during COVID, I was like, ‘Let's just call it Flamingo Estate.’ And one farm became two, became ten. Now, today, we work with almost 130 farms.
H: Your book, The Guide to Becoming Alive, is at the top of my summer reading list. You interview some incredible people in it, like Jane Fonda. What’s one thing you learned while writing the book?
R: I asked all these wonderful people, How do we live a happy life? Whether it was Jane Fonda or Jane Goodall or Martha Stewart, they all said the same thing in their own way: You have to put your phone down and grow something.
H: I love it. If I could throw my phone off a cliff, I would. How do you stay centered?
R: Technology has become the enemy of ceremony in many ways. What we need more than anything is ceremony in our lives — it's why we go to church or get married. The simplest ceremony is just setting a table. It doesn't have to be fancy, but just that moment of sitting across from someone and putting a tablecloth down without the television on and without your phone. It's the simplest, most beautiful thing to do. At home, I’m very disciplined. I don't have a TV. I don't have a microwave. I try really hard to just sit down.
H: I love hosting, and I know you do as well. What does your dream dinner party look like? Where are you? Who's there? What are you eating and listening to?
R: I've been to so many boring parties where there's bad small talk, as I’m sure you have. But you'll see when you come over, this house is engineered for entertaining. There are all these little rooms, like Alice down the rabbit hole. I'm not a fan of open floor plans. You arrive and go through a room, and go down a staircase, and through the garden, and another room to a tiny little bar that everyone crowds into. I really love the idea of taking people on a journey around where you have these accidental collisions and meet someone new. I always have great crystal glasses, and we have a piano in the garden. I care so much about hospitality. I was so remote growing up on our farm in Australia, so we never had guests over. Now, I get so much joy out of it.
H: What’s one small, simple thing we can all do to be more kind to Mother Nature?
R: For all sorts of reasons, we should be buying local. We should be growing our own food or getting food grown in our backyards, which means it's seasonal and fresh. But there has to be a bit of a revolution in how food is sourced in this country. It's a very complicated issue. I think the cost of food has to get more expensive, not cheaper. If we want really good, high-quality food, we have to start paying farmers properly to grow it. If you want to pay farmers well and not use pesticides, that means we as consumers have to pay a fair price. People don't get mad at the markup on a Tom Ford lipstick, but they get furious when we have a 20% markup on carrots.
Hailee: Let’s finish with some quickfire questions!
If you could only eat one thing growing in your garden for the rest of your life, what would it be? Tomatoes.
What is your favorite fruit or vegetable to pick right off the tree and eat immediately? Snap peas.
What is the most unexpected thing you've ever grown or tried to grow at Flamingo Estate? I climbed Everest when I was 40, and there's a rhododendron forest on Everest — beautiful pink rhododendrons. The color of the rhododendrons changes at different altitudes, and it's how the sherpas know where they are. Anyways, I pocketed those seeds and I want to plant them because I wanted my Everest rhododendrons at home, but they wouldn't take.
Describe Flamingo Estate in three words, without using botanical terms. Can I do four? Home of radical pleasure.
In your book, you write about plants and people. Is there a plant that perfectly aligns with your personality? The Tasmanian tree fern. They have a strong backbone, but they're also very delicate. The thing I love about tree ferns is that they lean into their shadows. Most plants like sunshine, but these lean into the shadows. I think it's good for all of us to make friends with our shadows.
TO WATCH: I don't have a TV. But I watch the news. I watch Rachel Maddow.
TO LISTEN TO: I'm Australian, so I love Kylie Minogue. (Ed note: I'm not Australian, and I love Kylie Minogue.)
TO COOK: Japanese dishes. We have a Japanese box launching next month.
TO READ: My favorite book that I'm rereading is The History of the World in 100 Plants by Simon Barnes. It's beautiful.
TO KNOW ABOUT: Plant folklore. Do you know why we say ‘knock on wood'? It's because during the Great Plague, they thought the essential oil in trees would save you from the plague, so if you needed to be lucky, you touched wood.
TO THINK DEEPLY ABOUT: Bhutan! It’s the world's happiest country. I want to go there and work with farmers as a metaphor for what's going on politically in this country.
Thank you so much to Richard for sharing his wisdom with us. I’m so grateful for the conversation. If you want to shop, check out Flamingo Estate. Richard offered all Beau Society readers 15% off, just use the code Beau15 at checkout. It’ll be valid for any purchase made over the next week.
Here’s my order: A Roma Heirloom Tomato Candle, Extra Virgin Olive Oil (or the spicy version soaked with jalapeño peppers — not a big spice girl but Josh likes it), a few bars of the Exfoliating Peppermint Soap Brick for the shower, Tomato Hand Soap to gift, and of course, a hardcopy of The Guide to Becoming Alive.
Love,
Hailee (Beau)
Highlighting your comments on the previous week’s issue. Today, we hear Niya’s response to BS summer bucket list.
“I love this summer list! There is something so sweet about returning to hobbies and habits that bring peace after a busy season. I am also a gardener of sorts! I just finished law school, and I am moving back to California from Texas, so incredibly exciting and also terrifying at the same time. One of the things bringing me peace is that I am moving back to my childhood home in Central Coast wine country with the most adorable farm animals and endless possibilities for a blooming garden. As someone who has done it before, I highly recommend growing anything and everything you can. I have never had better food than what has come from my fingertips. I love that so many of these things on your list are things already on mine; it really makes me feel a sense of community that often feels lost online.” -Niya
