Grown on a small, sustainable flower farm in Brooksville, Maine
My story
I moved to Brooksville with my family from DC in 2021. We had a tiny rowhouse in DC and also were lucky to have a tiny yard (a few hundred square feet between the front and back). I loved that little piece of land but there was only so much we could do with it. We never expected to leave the city, nor did we really want to, but COVID changed everything.
I owned (and still do!) a boutique staging company in DC and was used to doing everything. When we moved to Maine, my days changed a lot. I was managing the business from afar. Early on, I spent most of my days outside planning my gardens and really got a lot of pleasure out of it. I spent too much time on Instagram and started following flower farmers, and at some point, the two collided.
The learning curve has been steep. I have killed many, many seedlings. Last year was awful with not knowing what I was doing plus the horrible weather. This year has been much better so far but not without casualties. I can’t count on the weather but I’ve got my fingers crossed that next year things will start to fall into place.
Grown with care
While I have killed many a seedling, I spend a lot of time thinking about how to be more sustainable. I grow using soil blocks and wooden garden trays so have managed to mostly keep plastics out of the systems I have set up. I don’t use pesticides or herbicides. I also grow lots of natives for both selling as cut flowers, and eventually will be selling as seedlings and most importantly, sharing with the creatures.
And more…
While it’s mostly about the flowers for me, I will also be having a regular spring seedling sale as well as a fall native plant sale (this one has been harder for me to figure out than I’d like to admit). We also have loads of chickens so sell our eggs at both the stand at our house and Buck’s Harbor Market. And I’m really excited that I will be selling some of my own produce at the stand this summer as well as some of my husband’s knot-work. I’m determined to mix things up and keep it interesting.