End of 2023 Season Thoughts

Ah, our first snow. How fitting for my final thoughts on this past season.

The end of the season is always quite welcomed by my dirty hands & tired limbs. When the first frost takes the dahlias, signaling what’s to come, it is bittersweet. A pending rest, so embraced and needed, paired with a termination, a demise of so much hard work. It then feels like a race to complete all of our tasks before winter stamps her foot, “no, I mean it, it is done.”

I like it that way though. I like to work so hard all season long only for Mother Nature to force me into resting and stopping, if only for a short time.

This year was one of great change. I left my off-farm job after 5 years of trying to make more hours in a day for all that needed to be done. I am so happy. So grateful. I feel myself coming into my own as a tiny business owner, figuring out how to create longevity and not something that consumes itself. At the same time, I am making greater connections with those who support me in my community. That is my goal. I feel that bringing you to the farm, into what I do and how I do it is incredibly important. Yes, I love to get bouquets into your hands from the Market House, the flower cart, the CSA pickups. But even my longtime customers find new appreciation when they get to see where it comes from, how it came into their hands, who made it happen.

For this reason and because my CSA members make a commitment to me and my farm (when the snow is falling and they only have dreams of warm weather and flowers to hold), I will be having a member's only day(s) to celebrate your special connection to our farm. The details are still in the works but know it will be fun!

This is just one new thing we’ll be doing in 2024. Plus more workshops, more flowers, more joy! Oh, and you’re the first to hear… I’m getting a GREENHOUSE! NEXT WEEK!!! Dying over here, let me tell you. But that’s a post for another time… I can’t wait to share it with you.

When it comes down to it, I want to be made to feel a certain way and then project that onto my customers.

What does that mean?

It means I want to create beauty and magic from flowers, from working with my hands, from using old structures in new ways, and new structures in old ways. I want to dream, secret garden dreams, little girl dreams, and make them a reality. I want to feel like this work is a salve to your soul and mine too because the world is hard. Not just globally (but of course globally) but in our own lives too. I’m very aware we each have our own battles, the day to day dealings on top of carrying the world’s troubles too. Sometimes we just need a deep breath, a small escape, something that is just ours. That’s what I want to create. It’s tiny. Maybe it’s frivolous. But for me, the times when I feel happiest, those times are almost always tiny. Picking the first flower of spring, seeing the field come to life, feeling the soil on my hands, watching a snowflake fall. Small is big. Small is magic.

So thank you. Thank you for allowing me to try.

Thank you does not cut it but I mean it from the depths of my heart. Thank you for indulging my dreams, for being the building blocks of connection, for creating community. Thank you for buying yourself the damn flowers because, girl, you deserve it.

Thank you!

Until next season, hibernate when you can, & see the beauty of this season.

It is there if you look for it.