Susan got so excited about making those small bouquets in old bottles and about the idea of making this dream work that she ran out to get some fresh (and salvaged) lovelies going for her friend Erik over at Blue Sky Bakery in Park Slope. One sold too, straight off the counter with the baked goods. Can you believe it?
Blue skies and sunny days by the way totally coincide with the growing of flowers (though we need some gray ones for the rain too) and the stuff that comprises the ingredients of bakeries. It's really encouraging to us that a business that cares about the ingredients in their food is excited about our flowers. It makes us feel that we really are on the right track slowly pursuing our dream. (It's one thing to convince yourself that an idea is good, and seriously you have not read a gazillion emails from me madly trying to convince you on the topic. I need no convincing. It's another thing entirely to have that echoed back to you and really necessary to give you the push you need to move forward. So we owe Erik a great big thanks for that.)
I completely believe that there's a market out there for some small locally grown bouquets. I guess we're gonna see now if that market is really there or rather if we can find our way to it, and then if we can continue to patch together the space in the sun to get it done properly. We know that people are going to eventually come around to the idea of this old practice of florists being the growers of flowers, just as they are embracing the idea of organic farms or supporting their local foodshed through farmers markets or CSA's. We're just starting out, but the idea is to build something small, something we can care for and grow organically. I had a feeling that those little old bottles would excite Susan, but I had no idea how much.
This post is in celebration. We don't know what the future will bring, but it's important to recognize a milestone. (A book on cycling gave me that fantastic bit of advice.) In a way, every bouquet is just a celebration of a moment in time; a bloom, a bud, a branch in the life of a plant, so it's fitting.
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5 comments:
I think that (locally grown bouquets) sounds wonderful. I would totally support something like that!
I think locally grown bouquets are a great idea. The momentum for all things local is there, and so is a less fussy, natural flower design aesthetic. Go for it! People respond to businesses that show enthusiasm and passion for what they do. The garden center I work at has started carrying locally made compost and planters and the response has been really positive. We've also started carrying more plants that lend themselves to cutting for flower arrangements and using that as a selling point. Us city folks need as much nature in our lives as we can cram into a tiny space. Less fuel to get it here? In season? Awesome.
Jen. Thanks for the good vibes. If you ever make it down to the city, give a shoutout. We'll whip something up for you. If we make it up near your neck of the woods in the Catskills, we'll stop in at your shop, hopefully to find it busy with customers.
Begina, sounds like a great place to work. I think lots of people are excited about vegetables right now, which is awesome, but we could use lots of flowering things for the bees and other beneficials and for joy. Not sure what city you are in and if real estate is at as high a premium, but the real challenge will be access to affordable space to grow. We've got some little patches here and there for now. Just moving slowly, having fun and with an eye to the future. Hope you sell lots of compost and sweet plants this season.
Sounds like a good idea. Actually, what sounds good about it is your enthusiasm for it.
My wife's mom was a market gardener, but when the competition got tough, she moved into flowers at the farmer's market. She was the only one, and my wife will tell stories of driving around Minnesota stealing wildflowers and weed flowers for her mother's arrangements. They went like hotcakes as they used to say.
You're onto something.
Well, I think I might know of a few places where some sweet weeds can be found. I'd need more than a few paniers on the bike though. Perhaps one of those trailing thingamajigs with wheels? Now that would be the life. Two loves rolled into one. Sounds like your wife had some fun growing up. Here's to your garlic dreams and weeds and future flowers then.
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