2020 Magic & Madness
Like many, the intensity of the last year has left me feeling a bit like I have been pushed through the per viable eye of the needle not quite on the other side, scratching my head wondering when this place of strange I’m in will ever subside.
I have been running and pushing my flower farm forward with an urgency, a dire NEED to fill my heart full so full of beauty the nagging lingering grief over my son would be silenced to barely a whisper for the last 7 years. Everything has had to be perfect. Covid didn’t even slow me down. On top of the sold-out farmers market every Saturday, our Flower CSA’s, Business Deliveries, and Flower Stand -we had 6 sold-out events in 90 days! Not a small feat by any means.
With snow sprinkling from the heavens the last week of October, I was in tears, the planning for season 2021 loomed before me. My exhausted shingle-ridden body although healing knew it couldn’t put in another August or September for that matter like it did this year.
Tissues in hand future questions are what I was asking myself.
What to say yes to, but more importantly what needs to be a no?
How was I going to incorporate more self-care while keeping up with farming? Where was I going to cut back in order to keep doing what I most desire? And that is providing and designing amazing locally grown flowers for my awesome customers.
Don’t get me wrong, the next year of promising blooms, and thankfully the customers’ floral thirst is very much still motivating. I love flower farming and every planned awesome event we offer here. But this girl is tired. I’m sure it has more to do with Covid than I realize, however on my typical day over the summer I took a minimum of 14,000 steps and oftentimes more. One dinner tour day I topped 24,000 sole numbing strides!
I think a spoonful-of-sugar review is what the doctor ordered of the best year my business has ever had is exactly what I need.
My hope also is to visually fill your cup (and mine) to the brim while keeping our little farm’s triumphs well documented for my ever-increasing obsession with growing and sharing all the beautiful blooms that I can.
Flower Covered Floats & Team Flower
New years day Parade floats, dripping en masse with millions of flowers lined up as far as the eye could see. I was a little kid in a candy shop! Not even jet-lag diminished my enthusiasm for attending the float review of the famous Rose Parade in Pasadena California. Something that had been on my bucket list since forever.
The following day I was to attend the 4-day Team Flower Conference where I was scheduled to give a talk on time management a couple of days later. I know the irony. The event started at the impressive Huntington botanical gardens featuring 16 stunning themed gardens covering 120 acres. I was not disappointed.
Market Van…
Meet Sugar Cube.
Every piece of infrastructure, equipment or work vehicle All Dahlia’d Up acquires fills me with such pride. This year was the first year we had a box van to take flowers to market in. Talk about a game-changer. Being able to have everything needed every market Saturday in one place and not having to load or unload is one less physical activity to do. YAY!
She is a bit used with a few quirks but she works like a dream. I even put dahlia seat covers in her too.
Tulip Time
On our farm tulip harvest starts during the very same time in May thousands of flower babies need to go into the ground. It’s already hectic, top this with a pandemic that left people HUNGRY for color, for human interaction and connection. Flowers from right off the farm fit the bill perfectly! Our 11,000 tulips were inhaled in less than four weeks! No tiptoeing through tulips was had.
Despite the long wet spring they pushed up through and showed their first snips of color right on Mother Day, their brilliant bounty was beyond comparison.
Tulip season was the exclamation point of what was to come.
Pandemic Pivot
It all started with needing more focal flowers to go with the hundreds of other blooms I was growing for our market bouquets and how the pandemic hit the peony growers which left exporting their blooms near to impossible.
Every year at the South Anchorage Farmers Market we’re known for continued sell-out every Saturday all summer long. My goal every season is the same…to bring more flowers. So that’s why when we had a delay in the blooming of our dahlias a natural fit was to contact some peony growers that I know.
I was delighted by the outcome. We created so much beauty collaborating with not, one, not two, but three different peony farms. The reaction from our customers was the same. They couldn’t be purchased fast enough.
A big thank you to Wildberry Meadows in Wasilla, Scenic Place Peony, in Homer and Peony Express, in Trapper Creek saved our market bouquets and our bottom line.
Mama got her first John Deere
Her name is Miz Green because she can get sh*t done! Talk about an upgrade from the little faded red sears roebuck freebie “special jobby” I had been using for the last 20 years. What was a 2-hour job has pleasantly turned into 20-30 mins tops! I feel like a queen touring around. I mean mowing the yard.
More Merch
Something about having merchandise other than blooms to offer our flower fans feels just right. We started a couple of years ago with our dahlia love pendants, book Flower Power and market bags. For 2020 we brought in water bottle stickers, mugs, and comfy hoodies. I love this picture of our crew showing off in front of the famous Sweetpea tunnel.
The Summer of Photographers
It’s what happens when you have 4 dinner tours, 1 flower school, and update your branding in 90 days.
Not that I plan to top this record of the most events in one summer ever again. Having all the photographs to immerse myself and share all winter fills my soul tank up.
Again, it’s been so enjoyable collaborating with the photographers, having flower fun, learning, and capturing the magic together.
Up next. The photographers and my favorite snap of each of the events.
It’s so hard to choose.
Peter Luchsinger, of Pal Photography. The word that comes to mind is “real” in his captures. We had never had a male photographer before. It was fun to see what he sees through the lens.
Shiloh Powell of Shiloh Powell Images. Passionate, giving it her all-out best. She’s eager to provide the best quality she can. Her love of flowers is why we chose her. (well and she’s is a pretty cool chick) Shiloh captured two different events as the two photo choices show.
Sydnee Carle of Alaskan Gypsy Photography. I could adopt this girl if her mom would let me. Her use of color is inspiring. It’s like she’s in my head.
Amber Lanphier, of Love Adventure Photography. An expert in every sense of the word. This lady knows light. She’s also a dear friend. She was hired for her ultra-professional on-point branding photography. She gets me and believes in the power of flowers.
A NEW Favorite Fleur, that’s french for Flower.
Radiant Rich Ranunculus imprinted themselves on my heart right off the bat in June. I’m not sure why I had shied away from them for so long, Really. The pictures tell all. We only grew about 100. But don’t worry we are adding hundreds more for season 2021.
Hello Pumpkin
I was pumped to grow pumpkins this year. The goal was to have enough pumpkins to sell and have available for our Fall Feels Dinner Tour. And we did.
I’ll give myself a 7 out of 10 for having success in growing them. I grew 6 different varieties and some did better than others. The goal this next season will be to only grow the few that did well. And maybe a couple for testing.
I noticed once you picked one up, it was forever “yours” to keep.
Floral Storytelling
Normally, this time of year I’m jetting off to floral conferences to be around other flower people and learn more about “all the things” flowers. But Corona had other ideas.
Thank god for Zoom, online workshops, and writing. I’ve been having a grand time learning about simile and metaphor.
Did you know red is more than just red? Red is crimson, Red is a fire engine, Red is fine wine, Merlo or Pin Noir and Cherry. How many different ways to say the different colors of the rainbow?
One of my assignments was to describe what’s in my windowsill and how it’s a metaphor for my life.
Here it is…
“Love grows here from the past till the now with a white-skinned pumpkin in a milk glass compote, an amber flute for that “perfect” single stem that you just can’t throw away, many vessels waiting their turn. A trinket dish full of untold treasure, a wishbone for later, a penny for your thought, a shoofly pod, readers, and a miniature waxy mouse crafted by silly fingers while we waited in an airport somewhere last year.”
-My windowsill reflects my love of life and flowers. That I cherish the past and ultimately that I live with a touch of whimsy and awe over the present.
If you are still reading THANK YOU. The idea behind a year in review is to share 10 highlights from your life aka. seasons.
Adding the photos I’m hoping wasn’t too much for the brain.
Here’s to a flower-filled 2021…
Up next will be our “More Flowers” forecast where I share what’s on my heart for the future of the farm and for life in general. I think you’ll like it.
