As I walked As I walked through the spring flower field this morning, I could have sworn it was April. The ranunculus are blooming their heads off in billowy heads of pale salmon, happy yellow (so happy, in fact, that they calmed my annual start-of-the-season nerves), bold pink, and the softest blush you ever did see. Tulips, a new crop for us, have just begun their show. A few of the early varieties are at their peak, but the late French and Parrot varieties are soon to begin forming buds.

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The 2018 farm and wedding season was bright, busy and productive here at B-Side, and I want to take some time to share some of our highlights with you before charging ahead with 2019 plans. On a farm, winter seems to be the only time available for reflection. Not only are we just too busy in the height of the season, but there’s a thing, and I swear it’s real, called Farmer’s Brain, and it takes hold by about mid-June and doesn’t let go til, well, any day now, fingers crossed.

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Being an organic flower farmer, I'm fueled by the tenant that if I treat my soil like gold, everything else will fall into place. It's therefore pretty hard to see my nutrient-rich, hand-grown flowers go through so many nasty compromises in the steps between the picking them from the field and ultimately arranging them in a vase.

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Each month a board member from the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers sits down to do an hour-long Q&A live video that's open to any and all of our 1,500+ members. These are my typed-out answers to the questions I received, on topics of floral design, growing flowers for weddings and for sale to florists, and starting a small flower farm. 

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There's no reason you can’t have the wedding of your dreams that also supports your highest ideals of green living. Here we think out of the box to get you thinking of ways to support sustainable practices throughout every aspect of your wedding planning from your florist, to your caterer, and your venue. We want you to feel great about your wedding!

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After seven seasons of farming, I managed to take a real vacation in the heat of the summer (a real feat for this line of work). But, unable to turn it off, I of course spent it not by ‘getting away from it all’ and leaving the flower and farming world behind, but visiting farms and attending the fabulous Slow Flowers Summer in Seattle. I’d love to share with you guys some highlights from the two sessions that really inspired me to make the trip.

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Oregon puts on a mean Small Farms Conference, with over 900 attendees this year and concurrent sessions on all things farming. I was delighted to present a session on how farmers can start to think about adding floral design work - specifically wedding flowers and workshops - into their plans. I've pasted my slideshow below in the hopes that some of you out there can glean some good information. Thanks for reading! 

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I was a teacher long before I was a farmer, much less a floral designer. So when I finally came to my senses and realized that my life's work was waiting for me out in the flower fields, I approached flowers with an eye towards education. I payed attention to my own process of learning the requisite skills both out in the fields and in the design studio. What came easily? What was trickier than it seemed at first? There's something really special about being an adult learner. It's humbling and instills in you a sense of empathy.

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Farming is one of those areas where experience means everything, and you can't fake it for long. Most farmers therefore know that we’ve much to learn from one another, particularly from those among us with more years of experience in our ever-growing field, more notches on the belt, bigger, gnarlier calluses on the hands, and honed-in muscle memory of how to run thriving farms season after season. 

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I come from the world of annual vegetable growing, and in my first few years of growing flowers I avoided scary, pristine, expensive plants like roses for fear I would kill them all, and quickly. But now I’m growing more and more for my own  wedding floral design and the time has finally come to grow garden roses! Sweet, fluffy, sun-loving, delicious garden roses in creams and peaches and pinks and yellows and one magenta for good measure!

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