I'm proud to announce that I've officially signed on as part of the Slow Flowers community, an online directory to florists, shops, and studios who design with American-grown flowers for the eco-conscious consumer.
Slow Flowers was actually the catalyst for my move into floriculture. I was first introduced to the concept in the quarterly Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener publication (Summer 2014), where I learned that "eighty percent of the flowers sold in the United States come from outside our borders, but that is changing."
You may already be familiar with Slow Food, which advocates for "food that is good, clean and fair for all." Just like Slow Food, Slow Flowers are also "local, seasonal, and sustainably grown."
To be honest, I hadn't thought much before about flowers as an agricultural product. Already avid about local food, this article -- to indulge in a pun -- planted a seed.
Our area was already seeing growth and support for locally-grown and produced food, but I hadn't heard much about local flowers. I started to envision my backyard, which is a bit small for vegetable farming, to be filled with rows of abundant flowers.
I spent much of 2015 learning all I could, and became obsessed enough to decide flower farming would be my new career. In May of 2016, I finally broke free from a desk job to spend the summer working on a flower farm in Maine and afterwards began to build my own business.
I love seeing all aspects of the growing process from seed to harvest, and the beautiful end result has inspired my creative side to pursue floral design as well. Locally-grown flowers have a vibrancy to them that just isn't there with blooms that have had to fly thousands of miles. Just as a vegetable in season has more taste, and more meaning when you know who grew it, Slow Flowers are connected to a time and place and truly bring nature into our living spaces.
