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As a young girl and still to this day, my favorite part about spring in the Peshastin valley is the abundant blooms of wildflowers growing right above our orchard. Balsamroot, Lupine, Indian Paintbrush, Glacier Lily, Bluebells, Fireweed, & Yarro. Every week I take a walk up onto the hill and pick large bouquet of these spring beauties for myself or other loved ones.
Growing up I always thought store bought flowers were a splurge item. I never bought them for myself, and only received them on my birthday or sometimes Valentines day. Around May every year, it is so fun for me to load up at the local nursery and grow my own little hanging baskets throughout summer.
For a period of time before I started taking over the fruit stand, I worked at a resort for many years that hosted weddings. Every Sunday morning while I was opening up buildings, I would sneak into where the wedding was the night before, and steal some of the beautiful flowers left behind that were headed to the trash. I was able to keep fresh blooms in my house from spring all throughout summer.
I sure loved finding ways to keep flowers around me, but I never thought twice about the world of flowers. When I decided to start my own vegetable garden in 2019, I bought a couple packs of flower seeds to grow myself some beautiful blooms.
I bought Sunflowers, Zinnias, Cosmos, and Marigolds. I experimented making bouquets and even sold them at the fruit stand that summer. I had fun getting creative and using grass and different shrubs for fillers.
At the end of 2019 I was approached by two of my friends who were getting married in 2020, and asked if I wanted to do the florals for their weddings. I felt honored and horrified at the same time. I knew I wanted to do it, but I also had no idea how to plan planting for that many flowers and make sure they would all be blooming in time. Nervous but excited I decided to say why the heck not and jump right in.
As we all know, 2020 turned everybody's world upside down. I became very worried about what business would look like for me that summer and if the weddings would even happen. But the fruit, veggies, and flowers kept on and sales at the fruit stand were busier than ever. I launched my first ever 8 week CSA program of fruit, vegetables, and flower bouquets. With plans to invest that money in myself for online master gardener classes. For vegetable growing.
Unfortunately one of those weddings had to be postponed and the other wedding was a two week before-the-date on and off again, relocation five hours away.
When the time came, I loaded up our Airstream with buckets of flowers and headed out. The wedding turned out stunning. However behind the scenes was extremely stressful. I did everything myself and completely winged it. I learned quickly what I enjoyed and what I would prefer to never do again.
Fall came and the flower field was not producing quality blooms anymore, my CSA was coming to an end and it was time to start planning for next years garden. I was reflecting on my season. It was filled with bounty in all aspects of fruit, vegetables, and flowers. I reflected on what I enjoyed the most and realized that spending time with the flowers was where I preferred to work everyday. The vegetables took most of my time and attention but I was always wanting to be over picking and playing with my blooms. I realized that my Instagram feed was filled with flower farmer florists and I was just constantly thinking about flowers.
Registrations were being announced for online classes and I was so interested in the Floret Online Workshop. I told myself and my CSA members that I was going to learn more about vegetable farming but my heart was telling me to sign up for Floret's class. I thought hard on it for a couple weeks, weighed out my options and decided that flowers are what bring me happiness, they are what I want to grow, and this is my future.
Growing up I always thought store bought flowers were a splurge item. I never bought them for myself, and only received them on my birthday or sometimes Valentines day. Around May every year, it is so fun for me to load up at the local nursery and grow my own little hanging baskets throughout summer.
For a period of time before I started taking over the fruit stand, I worked at a resort for many years that hosted weddings. Every Sunday morning while I was opening up buildings, I would sneak into where the wedding was the night before, and steal some of the beautiful flowers left behind that were headed to the trash. I was able to keep fresh blooms in my house from spring all throughout summer.
I sure loved finding ways to keep flowers around me, but I never thought twice about the world of flowers. When I decided to start my own vegetable garden in 2019, I bought a couple packs of flower seeds to grow myself some beautiful blooms.
I bought Sunflowers, Zinnias, Cosmos, and Marigolds. I experimented making bouquets and even sold them at the fruit stand that summer. I had fun getting creative and using grass and different shrubs for fillers.
At the end of 2019 I was approached by two of my friends who were getting married in 2020, and asked if I wanted to do the florals for their weddings. I felt honored and horrified at the same time. I knew I wanted to do it, but I also had no idea how to plan planting for that many flowers and make sure they would all be blooming in time. Nervous but excited I decided to say why the heck not and jump right in.
As we all know, 2020 turned everybody's world upside down. I became very worried about what business would look like for me that summer and if the weddings would even happen. But the fruit, veggies, and flowers kept on and sales at the fruit stand were busier than ever. I launched my first ever 8 week CSA program of fruit, vegetables, and flower bouquets. With plans to invest that money in myself for online master gardener classes. For vegetable growing.
Unfortunately one of those weddings had to be postponed and the other wedding was a two week before-the-date on and off again, relocation five hours away.
When the time came, I loaded up our Airstream with buckets of flowers and headed out. The wedding turned out stunning. However behind the scenes was extremely stressful. I did everything myself and completely winged it. I learned quickly what I enjoyed and what I would prefer to never do again.
Fall came and the flower field was not producing quality blooms anymore, my CSA was coming to an end and it was time to start planning for next years garden. I was reflecting on my season. It was filled with bounty in all aspects of fruit, vegetables, and flowers. I reflected on what I enjoyed the most and realized that spending time with the flowers was where I preferred to work everyday. The vegetables took most of my time and attention but I was always wanting to be over picking and playing with my blooms. I realized that my Instagram feed was filled with flower farmer florists and I was just constantly thinking about flowers.
Registrations were being announced for online classes and I was so interested in the Floret Online Workshop. I told myself and my CSA members that I was going to learn more about vegetable farming but my heart was telling me to sign up for Floret's class. I thought hard on it for a couple weeks, weighed out my options and decided that flowers are what bring me happiness, they are what I want to grow, and this is my future.
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