I went to a friend’s birthday party Sunday and she introduced everyone at the table, saying a little bit about each person and how we all might know one another. When she got to me, she said, “This is Sara. She’s a flower farmer.” She went on to mention my kids and some other things, but the fact that she said “she’s a flower farmer” really hit me. “She’s a flower farmer.” Me?
After the introductions, the lady next to me asked, “So how long has it been your dream to have a flower farm?” I laughed a little. Honestly, it’s not been a lifelong dream or even something that was on my radar a year and a half ago. Scrolling Instagram one day last fall I stumbled across a flower farmer’s page and spent the next hour diving into all her posts filled with beautiful flowers. I thought, “This is a thing?” In my experience, flowers came from a florist, or the grocery store, and they’re not always this stunning. But this, growing beautiful flowers on your own land and sharing them with your community, seemed somehow magical.
Then I texted the link to my husband with the comment, “We should do this.”
He has always been the biggest supporter of my brand of crazy and while I am a “let’s learn everything we can, plan it out six different ways, and worry about it for a year” type person, he is a “let’s just jump in” kind of guy. Before I knew it, I had a stack of books and an even bigger stack of seed packets. And he had a John Deere tractor.
I feel like I have stumbled into a whole new world with a strange language that I’m still trying to master. There is a lesson nearly every day, whether it’s on seeds, or pinching plants, or soil, or the weather - or the fact that you should floss your teeth BEFORE you spray the fish fertilizer on the plants. I have learned so much, and still have so much to learn.
One thing I learned right away was how amazing the flower farming community is. I guess it makes sense, though. At the heart of flower farming is sharing what you grow. I’ve found so many flower farmers on social media who are so generous with their knowledge. While books and online courses have certainly helped, it’s these daily little lessons or tips and tricks that have helped pull me through the year. So many of them seem to prescribe to the philosophy of “share the knowledge, spread the beauty.”
Sadly, I’ve also learned that “one size does NOT fit all” when it comes to flower farming. What works for one farmer, may not work for me. And it’s not just a climate thing. This has been a hard lesson for me. I am definitely the type of person who expects things to turn out right if I just follow the instructions. More and more I’m realizing the “instructions” for growing flowers are just helpful guidelines. It’s an adventure in balancing intuition and knowledge… oh, and whatever twist Mother Nature has in store.
I’ve also learned that failure is a part of success. I killed SO MANY PLANTS this year. SO MANY! During the early part of the growing season, my motto was “Thrive or Die.” I’d walk the rows of the raised beds mumbling that to myself, and maybe the plants. Sadly, many chose die. It’s a struggle to watch your work fail. But I kind of think it made the flowers that did bloom that much more beautiful.
As I dive into year two, I know there will be more lessons, more opportunities to grow (not just the flowers, but also myself), and more opportunities to fail. All I’m okay with all of that. While the work can be hard, frustrating, and sometimes confusing, I was mostly right… it is somehow magical and I can’t wait to share it.
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