Our Story

One Woman & The Four-Legged Help

From the time I was young, I have wanted to farm, and now I do. That is the short version of the story.

The long version winds through many settings and stories and merely shows that where I am right now is a culmination of many small events that have placed me here. I have always loved growing things and have farmed in several different locations and climates from oasis farming at the bottom of the Sahara desert to more temperate regions with four distinct seasons in the USA.

I bought my farm in 2016 and decided on growing flowers out of all the other options, partially because my land is well suited to growing things and partially because I’d been keeping our church’s grounds for several years with the aim of cultivating greenery and flowers to have fresh material for church decorations throughout the growing season. I found quickly that I had a knack for designing and arranging, so growing my own flowers was a natural step.

Of course, being a small business just starting out, I do most of the work myself. People ask me about my flower business and I’m forced to admit that I’m a one woman operation at this point. I also teach high school biology and chemistry and luckily, this dovetails fairly well with the timing of my growing and selling season. There are a few trying weeks of overlap on each end of the school year, but we all survive just fine.

Because of this reality though, I have to be very efficient and think about how best to get it all done. My family will help out from time to time when things get hectic or technical, but the real time savers are the four-legged ones who live on the farm with me. Each has his or her own job and are thus working animals who are as valuable as any hired employee could be.

She’s an amazing farm dog. She takes her job of running all wildlife out of the yard and flower beds very seriously. Being such a high energy dog who watches everything that moves, Molu is very well-suited to this job. Not only do I not have a deer problem because of her, I have no groundhogs, rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks or birds eating my decorative berries either. She even digs up the moles and voles if she sees the ground move or gets a whiff of one. So, the bulbs are safe too!

Willie went from my neighbor’s well-cared for couch-potato to faithful farm dog. When his owner passed away, I tracked him down from Animal Control and asked to adopt him. He already inhabited the periphery of my farm when his owner let him out to have some outside time, so it wasn’t hard to transition him to living on the farm. After a period of mourning for his previous owner and home, he’s adjusted and sticks to the farm now, always following three feet behind and to my right. He still gets to sleep inside at night but is very content to be outside during the day where all the action is. His coming to the farm filled the vital role of car alarm. Before Willie, people could drive up while I was working and literally walk out to where I was and startle me because I’d never hear them approach or their car come in. Now, Willie cheerfully announces every vehicle or person that arrives on the farm with his deep throaty barks.

And yes, he grew up as a stray under a garage and that’s how he got his name. I adopted him because he’s the most avid hunter I’ve ever seen in a cat. He’s always watching for prey out in the fields and barns. He comes home covered in dust (and I know he’s been exploring down groundhog holes) or wet (and I know he’s been out regardless of rain) or a little battered (and I know he’s been tangling with creatures he shouldn’t be). But you just can’t keep a good cat down.

Finally, come the horses, Lenten, Leo and Ra-Ra. Lenten is my model. He’s got about the worst nature possible for a horse, but his every move is beautiful and romantic looking with his coal-black coat and long, flowing mane and tail. So, he’s great to have around when staging photos on the farm. Then, there is Leo who is a gentle giant with a flashy face because of his white stripe. He has modeling potential too, but so far he’s just not as photogenic as Lenten. Lastly, there is Ra-Ra who is slender, willowy and suitably tall. He’s a bit manipulative of the other two but overall a sweet-natured horse. The three of these boys have two jobs. One, they generate my fertilizer for the flowers (which I compost carefully with dried materials) and two, they provide a mental soothingness to my soul when I need a break from flowers and all the “hectic” that comes from running and working the farm. I merely have to go to the barn for my brain to shut off, muscles to relax and a peace washes over me as I listen to them chomp on their hay.

In the end, it takes all of us doing our parts to make this farm work. Yet, when I look at all the craziness and work to be done, I still feel that I’m the happiest I’ve ever been in my life. I love working for myself and growing things, both flowers and the business, and all in all, this is a pretty good life.